ELLSWORTH (AP) — The prosecution and defense are ready to make their closing arguments in the trial of an Ellsworth man charged with killing his wife on Christmas Day 2013.
Prosecutors say Christopher Saenz fatally beat Hilary Saenz because he thought she was having an affair. The defense contends the brain bleeding that caused her death was caused by a pre-existing condition stemming from a car accident 10 years earlier.
An autopsy revealed multiple injuries including a lacerated liver, bruised lungs, fractured sternum and brain bleeding.
The defense urged the judge to focus on the fatal injury — the brain hemorrhage — and not the 50 bruises on her body. A judge is hearing testimony without a jury at the request of the defense.
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