FILE - In this Nov. 1, 2013 file photo, Pleasant Grove physician Martin MacNeill speaks with his defense lawyer Randy Spencer, during his murder trial in Provo, Utah. The trial of MacNeill, accused of killing his wife continues this week as the prosecution tries to convince jurors that MacNeill knocked his wife out with painkillers and other drugs after insisting that she get a face lift, then left her to die in a bathtub in 2007. (AP Photo/The Salt Lake Tribune, Al Hartmann, Pool,File) (The Associated Press)
PROVO, Utah – A judge has ruled that jurors in the murder trial of a former Utah doctor can hear testimony from his cellmates that he was glad she was dead.
The decision came Tuesday outside the presence of the jury before regular proceedings resumed in the case against Martin MacNeill.
The judge also ruled the cellmates can testify that MacNeill called his wife a bitch when he was serving time on a fraud charge.
Lawyers spent an hour arguing over what the inmates will be allowed to testify about.
Prosecutors are expected to wrap up their case on Tuesday or Wednesday. They are trying to persuade jurors that MacNeill knocked out his wife with painkillers and other drugs after insisting that she get a face-lift, then left her to die in a bathtub in 2007.
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