"48 Hours" Preview: Betting Her Life

It's hard to say what's most horrifying about Jeff Wright's death - the fact that his wife Susan did it, that she stabbed him 193 times, or her claim that it was self-defense. Susan Wright has spent the last six years in a Texas penitentiary reflecting on the bloody end to her marriage and longing to see her children.

"There was so much left out of the first trial," says Wright, in an exclusive interview with "48 Hours Mystery." "I wish that my attorneys would have worked a little harder... I left my life in their hands and I trusted them."

During the sometimes theatrical 2004 trial, prosecutors went so far as to bring the couple's bed into court in order to paint Susan Wright, a former exotic dancer, as a cold-blooded killer who lured her husband to bed, tied him up, then brutally murdered him and dumped the body in a hole that he himself had dug for a home improvement project.

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"She used that bed as a murder weapon, just like she used the knife. The bed was part of how she committed the crime," says Prosecutor Kelly Siegler.

According to Susan Wright, she was the victim of domestic abuse and she killed Jeff after he raped her and threatened her with a knife. She also explained her behavior after killing her husband - cleaning the bedroom and emptying their bank account - as part of a fog. But a jury did not buy it. She was found guilty and sentenced to 25 years. However, with the emergence of Misty McMichael, wife of retired Chicago Bears defensive tackle Steve McMichael, Wright's fight and the courtroom dramatics were far from over.

While she may not have known Susan Wright, Misty, a former dancer, was once engaged to Jeff Wright and was familiar with the abuse Wright claims to have suffered. Unlike Wright though, Misty, filed a police report and fled one night while Jeff was out. But Misty never testified at Wright's first trial.

"I was a topless dancer for 10 years. Whoo, whoo! Big wow... Does that mean I'm a crack head whore? No it does not," Misty tells "48 Hours Mystery." "Does that mean Susan's a liar? No it does not. That just means that was our choice of profession."

Now, with the help of Misty's testimony, Susan Wright will head back to court, risking the possibility of life in prison in the hope of regaining her freedom.

Richard Schlesinger reports for "48 Hours Mystery: Betting Her Life," Saturday, May 15 at a special time - 10:25 p.m. following the CBS movie, "The Bourne Ultimatum."