Trial to begin for Utah doctor charged in ex-wife's death
SALT LAKE CITY - A jury trial is set to begin this week in the case of a Salt Lake City pediatrician charged with murder in the 2011 death of his ex-wife - a university biologist and mother of their four children -which was profiled on the CBS News television program "48 Hours."
John Brickman Wall, 51, has maintained his innocence since his arrest in April 2013 despite being accused by prosecutors and his oldest son of killing Uta Von Schwedler.
Jury selection is scheduled for Tuesday with opening arguments set for Wednesday. The trial is expected to last four weeks.
Police called the death suspicious when Von Schwedler was found in the bathtub of her Salt Lake City home, but Wall wasn't charged until nearly 18 months later.
Prosecutors said there wasn't a single piece of evidence that broke the case open, but instead a combination of factors that converged to lead them to believe Wall was the killer.
Some of the key pieces included DNA evidence under the victim's fingernails that didn't rule out Wall; the fact that von Schwedler died in part due to an overdose of Xanax but didn't have a prescription and was not depressed; and Wall's inability to explain his whereabouts the night of her death.
The medical examiner ruled that Von Schwedler, 49, died from drowning as well as fatal amount of Xanax.
Wall's attorney, Fred Metos, has suggested cuts found on Von Schwedler's body may have been self-induced, triggered by suicidal thoughts from the Xanax she self-ingested. The prosecution's reliance on DNA linking Wall to the crime is marginal at best, Metos says.
Prosecutors have also presented Wall's bizarre behavior and comments before and after the death to bolster their case. During an evidentiary hearing last year, a mutual friend of the couple testified that Wall asked him, "Would it be bad if Uta wasn't here anymore?" A police detective said Wall couldn't tell him where he was that night or even when he had last seen his ex-wife or been to his house.
Metos contends officers intimidated Wall in that interrogation by yelling at him and telling him lies.
After the couple divorced in 2006, they become ensnarled in a bitter custody battle. Police say John Wall told people that his ex-wife was ruining the good things in his life and blamed her for his problems.
The couple's oldest son, Pelle Wall, fueled speculation about his dad being a suspect even before he was arrested by saying he believed his father did it and asking the court to remove his two youngest siblings from his father's custody.
He testified during a bail hearing that his father is a dangerous man who should not be released from jail, saying he was so afraid of his father when he was living with him that he slept with a pellet gun and a knife.
He said his father came into his room the morning after his mother died said to him and his three siblings, "Uta is dead and they think I did it." He curled up in a fetal position on the bed and said, "Only a monster could have done this; am I monster?" and "What if I did this and I don't remember? How do I know what I do when I'm asleep?"