Martin MacNeill Murder Trial: Jury selection to begin for Utah doctor accused of killing wife to further affair

(CBS) SALT LAKE CITY - Jury selection is scheduled to begin Tuesday in the trial of Martin MacNeill, a Utah doctor who is accused of killing his wife in 2007 so he could continue having an affair with a younger woman, reports the Salt Lake City Tribune.

Michele MacNeill, 50, was found unconscious in a bathtub in the MacNeill family home in Pleasant Grove, Utah by her 6-year-old daughter on April 11, 2007. She was later pronounced dead at a local hospital.

An initial autopsy report determined she died of natural causes but three years later, at the urging of her eight children, her cause of death was found to be the combined effects of heart disease and drug toxicity.

Diazepam, Oxycodone, Promethazine and Zolpidem were all found in her system, according to CNN. The manner of death was thus changed to undetermined and Martin MacNeill became a suspect.

Michele MacNeill had undergone a face-lift procedure at the request of her husband shortly before her death, according to legal documents obtained by CNN. Martin MacNeill had accompanied his wife to the plastic surgeon and even gave the doctor a list of medication he wanted for Michele, an arrest affidavit reportedly says.

CNN reports legal documents show Michele MacNeill told her daughter she believed her husband was trying to overmedicate her following the surgery. Michele MacNeill also reportedly confronted her husband about his alleged infidelities in the days leading up to her death.

MacNeill was charged with first-degree felony murder and second-degree felony obstruction of justice in August 2012.

Prosecutors say he gave his wife a deadly combination of prescription drugs because he wanted out of his nearly 30-year marriage.

Within weeks of his wife's death, his lover, 31-year-old Gypsy Willis, moved into the family home, assuming the role of nanny, according to preliminary hearing testimony last year, reports the Salt Lake City Tribune.

CNN reports Willis is slated to be a star witness for the prosecution throughout the trial and at least one of the couple's children is also expected to take the stand.

The trial is expected to last five weeks.