by Shanna Hogan
* * *
Although the defense had lined up other expert witnesses who had reviewed the autopsies, Spencer decided to rest his case.
“We made that decision because we thought the state’s expert witnesses were so inconsistent with their testimony that there was still reasonable doubt,” Spencer recalled. “In hindsight I wish I had made the decision in trial to call the expert witnesses.”
At the conclusion, the defense asked the judge for a directed verdict, saying there had been no evidence presented to warrant a charge of obstruction of justice, much less murder.
The judge denied the motion.
47.
“On April 11, almost seven years ago, Martin MacNeill murdered his wife, Michele.” Chad Grunander’s voice was outraged and impassioned as he pointed at Martin. “The defendant carried out a cold and calculated plan to murder his wife. Make no mistake. The defendant’s fingerprints, if you will, are all over Michele’s death.”
In the gallery, Michele’s daughters listened to Grunander’s closing arguments on November 8. Rachel sat still, at times closing her eyes. In the second row Alexis and Linda stared straight ahead.
Grunander stood at the podium, wearing a blue suit and striped tie. On an easel in front of the jury he placed an enlarged picture of Michele sitting in a chair wearing a white blazer and pearls, her hair pulled back. Michele looked elegant and beautiful, her expression serene.
“A trial like this is about the truth. It’s not about games. It’s not about gotcha moments among the attorneys or the witnesses. It’s about getting to the bottom of what happened to Michele MacNeill,” Grunander continued. “And that is that she was murdered by her husband.”
The motive, Grunander said, was Gypsy.
“The defendant had a beautiful wife—a lovely family. But things had changed because he and Gypsy were together,” Grunander said. “Martin’s secret life with Gypsy Willis was beginning to intersect with his life with Michele. He was going to have to make a choice between Michele and Gypsy.”
In his speech, Grunander saved one of the most biting remarks for Gypsy.
“At trial, Gypsy Willis testified her relationship was casual. She took the stand and talked about the death of Michele MacNeill on April 11, 2007, like it was any other day … It was offensive.” Grunander’s voice rose. “It was transparent. Her desire to protect the defendant and her minimizing of the relationship. Don’t be fooled by her act. Let’s call a spade a spade. She minimized just about every opportunity she could get when talking about the relationship and her knowledge.”
Grunander reminded jurors of what he called the most significant evidence of motive: the falsified military ID application in which Gypsy and Martin claimed to be married, listing a wedding date of April 14, 2007—the day Michele was buried. “Ladies and gentlemen, that is nothing short of an admission of guilt. That screams to you what happened on April 11, 2007,” he said. “The defendant may as well have said in his application that ‘I murdered Michele.’”
The evidence of the planning was overwhelming, Grunander continued. He referred to the drugs prescribed to Michele as the vehicle Martin used to kill. Martin had tried to use those drugs to overdose Michele at the first opportunity he was alone with her, Grunander said.
“They were also his cover to hide from the almost perfect murder. And I say almost perfect murder because along the way he left a number of clues. A number of clues that all point to him as the murderer.”
Grunander’s words dripped with disdain as he spoke of the testimony from the defense’s health and safety expert who had claimed a single person could not possibly lift Michele alone.
“Ladies and gentlemen, how about getting inside the tub and straddling her?” Grunander said as he himself stepped inside the tub and mimed lifting a body. “Grabbing her by the shoulders … Why not do anything you could to try and save your wife’s life?
“But he couldn’t do anything. Because he had a hurt toe,” Grunander said sarcastically. “Or maybe he has cancer? He was using that cane off and on.”
The prosecutor was assertive as he pled with the jury not to have mercy on Martin. “It’s time for the truth to have its day,” he said. “It’s been almost seven years since Michele’s death. It’s time for the truth to come out. Do the right thing and convict Martin MacNeill of murder and obstruction of justice. Thank you.”
Grimacing, Martin scowled at the prosecutor. The defendant took off his glasses and dropped his head in his hands.
* * *
“Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, it’s a pleasure to be with you, participating in our justice system,” Randall Spencer began his closing argument. “I hope I haven’t done anything offensive. It certainly wasn’t my intent. I hope that … that both our efforts … we’ve endeavored to represent both our positions in as effective a manner as possible.”
Dressed in a gray suit, Spencer recounted the Aesop’s fable that Susanne Gustin had used in opening arguments. “My mother also taught me idioms like don’t judge a book by its cover. This is a case where those principles are applicable. My client, Martin MacNeill, was living an alternative lifestyle. There’s no dispute to that.”
The defense had to concede Martin was a cad and a cheat. But the prosecution hadn’t proved there was a murder, let alone that Martin committed it, according to Spencer.
“These are all circumstances. Not all circumstances are circumstantial evidence,” he told jurors. “There are reasonable interpretations of all the circumstances consistent with an odd and eccentric man, generally.”
Reviewing the opinions of the medical examiners, the defense attorney pointed out that no one could agree it was a homicide—aside from the medical examiner he called “Nancy Grace’s expert.”
“There were many inconsistencies and problems and variations and evolutions. There might also be fabrications,” Spencer said.
If the medical examiners could review all of the information and fail to conclude it was a homicide, then a jury couldn’t either, Spencer claimed. Surprisingly, the attorney then gave the jury permission to do just that.
“It’s certainly your prerogative to do so. I don’t mean to be suggesting that it’s not. You are the ultimate finders of fact in this case.” Spencer laced his fingers. “But you do have an obligation to consider the evidence.”
Spencer dismissed the importance of Martin’s mistakes. “Michele arrives at the hospital, Martin continues to be hysterical. He says some things that are certainly odd. The ten thousand dollars comment is odd. I have no explanation for that other than it’s odd,” Spencer said. “Certainly it’s not necessarily indicative of homicide—much more consistent with a very hysterical man who just lost his wife. He may have been living an alternative lifestyle. But he was clearly hysterical at the loss of his wife.”
Finally, Spencer implored the jury to examine the evidence closely. “There is an abundance of reasonable doubt. When you get back to the jury room I certainly hope you will evaluate the evidence. And as you review it and consider everything you’ve learned in this case you will return with a verdict of not guilty on both counts.”
As Spencer returned to the defense table, Martin sagged in his chair. Almost imperceptibly, his eye twitched.
48.
Jurors had sat through thirteen days of testimony with more than five dozen witnesses in a nearly monthlong trial. At 1:57 P.M. on Friday, November 8, the five men and three women entered the jury room to decide Martin’s fate.
Michele’s loved ones were nervous but confident as they stepped out of the courtroom, surrounded by news media.
“We’re anxious but hoping for the best,” Linda Cluff said as she left the courtroom.
Alexis publicly thanked the prosecutors. “We’re just very grateful that my mom had a voice.”
Martin returned to his holding cell optimistic, according to his attorneys. “Mr. MacNeill has been very anxious for this day to come,” Spencer told reporters.
The mi
nutes crept by slowly in Provo as both sides waited for the verdict. Day turned to night and still there was no word from the jury room.
Television and newspaper reporters crowded the corridors outside the courtroom. Around the world thousands who had followed every moment of the trial periodically checked their cell phones, iPads, and laptops, excitedly waiting for the final act of the real-life reality drama.
At 9:30 P.M., the bailiff was handed a note: a jury question. Proceedings briefly resumed as the judge and attorneys heard the query: “Is it Utah law the surviving spouse inherits the estate regardless of what a will says?”
Both sides considered the answer before the judge decided he felt less information was better. The judge sent his reply: “The law relevant to the case is in the instructions.”
An hour later the jurors requested to listen again to the 911 call. An attempt was made to make a copy of the call, but this was prevented due to technical difficulties.
Hours passed. Midnight came and went. The jury still debated.
Then, after eleven hours, word spread—a verdict had been reached.
It was 1 A.M. on Saturday, November 9.
Exhausted and bleary-eyed, the attorneys, Michele’s family, and reporters filed back into the courtroom. In the front row, Alexis sat beside Linda and Michele’s other sisters, holding hands. Sitting nearby, Rachel glanced up at the ceiling, her lips trembling.
Martin smiled and winked at his attorney, who joined him at the defense table. As the jurors funneled back into the jury box, he placed both hands on the wooden defense table in front of him, literally bracing himself for the verdict.
At 1:10 A.M., Martin stood beside his attorneys for the reading of the verdict.
“We are on the record with the State of Utah v. Martin Joseph MacNeill.” Judge Pullan crossed his arms. “Has the jury reached a verdict?”
“Yes, Your Honor,” the foreperson replied.
The bailiff passed the decision to the judge, who scanned it, his expression unchanged, and asked for it to be read by the clerk.
“We, the jury, having reviewed the evidence and the testimony in the case, find the defendant, to count one, murder”—the clerk paused—“guilty.”
Martin remained motionless, his eyes widening ever so slightly.
Gasps came from the gallery. Michele’s family yelped with joy, before dissolving into tears.
Shoulders shaking with agonized sobs, Rachel released the breath she had been holding. Linda embraced Alexis, her eyes closed tightly as she cried.
The verdict for count two, obstruction of justice: also guilty.
With a resigned frown, Martin took his seat.
Sentencing was scheduled for January 7, 2014. Martin faced fifteen years to life, with an additional one to fifteen years for the obstruction of justice. He essentially faced a lifetime behind bars.
The convicted murderer hugged Randall Spencer. With his hand on the lawyer’s shoulders, Martin smiled slightly and said, “It’s okay, really.”
Until that moment Spencer believed, perhaps more than Martin himself, his client would be acquitted. “I think Martin took it better than we did,” Spencer recalled. “I was thinking ‘I’m not okay.’”
Relief washed over the family as they left the courtroom, surrounded by flashing cameras and reporters holding microphones and recorders in their outstretched arms.
“We are just so happy he can’t hurt anyone else,” Alexis told reporters, tears streaming down her face. “I can’t believe this has finally happened.”
The attorneys also addressed the media.
“We’re absolutely thrilled,” prosecutor Grunander said, smiling. “It was amazing to meet with this family. This has been so long in coming for them.”
A weary Spencer darted from the courtroom. “Of course I’m disappointed, but I don’t have any comments right now,” he told the media throng.
* * *
At her home, Gypsy learned of the verdict through the Internet. She felt sick to her stomach.
“I was shocked. It took me a little while to pull myself together,” she recalled. “I never, ever, ever thought that it would—it would come to such a thing.”
* * *
And just like that, the case seemed finished. The more than six-year crusade to get justice for Michele was complete.
The morning after the verdict, Alexis awoke and a relieved smile came across her face as the memory of the previous night flooded back into her consciousness. She reminded herself it was over.
“And now I can move on, and my mother would want us to move on and focus on the good things that we have to come,” Alexis said on Nancy Grace the Monday after the verdict. “I’m just so grateful that this is over and justice was served.”
But the saga of Martin MacNeill was far from over.
49.
With a steady hand, Martin gripped the blade he had pried out of his disposable razor. Removing the prison jumpsuit he wore from his bottom half, Martin drew the blade across his upper thigh. Digging deeper into the flesh, he pierced the femoral artery. Blood gushed rapidly from the wound.
Glancing around his jail cell, his eyes passed by the handwritten suicide note he had placed on the bed bolted to the floor.
It was the evening of December 5—less than a month after the verdict—and Martin was prepared to die.
* * *
Just weeks earlier, on November 18, Martin had been back in court, looking ragged and deflated. Shoulders sagging forward, he shambled into the courtroom wearing a red-and-white-striped prison garb, his hands cuffed to the chain around his waist.
He remained in the jury box, shackled alongside other inmates waiting to see the judge, for a routine pretrial hearing for the sexual assault trial scheduled for December.
Randall Spencer approached the podium, addressing Judge Samuel McVey, the original judge on the murder case.
Spencer asked for a delay, telling the judge he was exhausted from the murder trial and he didn’t feel he could adequately represent Martin. “I’m not in a state where I could possibly try this case in December,” he said.
Spencer also requested permission to withdraw as counsel on the case. The request to withdraw was denied, but the trial date was moved to February 4, 2014.
“Weighing the rights of the victim against those of the accused, a two-month continuance would not be excessively long,” McVey said.
The judge added that the date was firm and would only change if “somebody is in the hospital.”
When Spencer left the courtroom, he was ambushed by reporters. They asked how Martin was handling the verdict.
“He is not doing well,” Spencer said. “It is very tough on him to be convicted of something he always professed he didn’t do.”
* * *
Seventeen days later, on the afternoon of Thursday, December 5, Spencer stopped by the jail to visit with Martin.
While Martin had been dejected following the verdict, that afternoon he was content and even a bit upbeat. After discussing a possible appeal with his client, Spencer left the jail.
At 5:30 P.M., a corrections officer passed by Martin’s cell and handed him a disposable razor to shave his face, as part of the jail’s hygiene protocol. The officer would return to collect it about fifteen minutes later. By then, Martin had dismantled the razor and slashed his artery. The blood poured from Martin’s leg, dripping onto the jail floor.
Minutes later, during a routine check of his cell, officers found Martin bleeding and quickly radioed for help. The guard unlocked the cell, rushing to Martin’s side. Glowering, Martin turned away from the deputy and attempted to hasten the blood flow.
“Martin was unhappy he was interrupted in his suicide attempt and not cooperative with treatment efforts,” sheriff’s sergeant Spencer Cannon later said.
Paramedics soon arrived and treated Martin’s wound. He was taken by ambulance to Utah Valley Regional Medical Center in Provo. At the hospital, Martin’s wounds were stitched. He
was listed in stable condition and informed he’d make a full recovery.
“He was discovered early enough by guards so his injuries were not life-threatening,” Cannon commented.
When Martin’s defense attorneys heard of the suicide attempt, they rushed to the hospital. Spencer and Gustin tried to visit their client but were not permitted to see him. Gustin later spoke to the media.
“Randy and I are really shocked and saddened by this … He seemed kind of upbeat. So it came as quite a surprise,” she told reporters. “Obviously in any case like this, it’s always in the back of your mind, in a big murder case like this, that someone may kill themselves. We weren’t concerned about any overt signs or anything that would trigger us to let the jail know he would [try to] take his life.”
News of the suicide attempt also reached Michele’s loved ones. Linda Cluff said she believed her former brother-in-law finally realized he would spend the rest of his life in prison and was looking for an easy way out.
“The first thing I thought when I heard about the suicide attempt was ‘He can’t stand this,’” Linda said in an interview. “I’m glad that he survived. I want him to see what it’s like in prison … I would like to see him face life behind bars because that’s more justice to me, because he’ll have to face what goes on behind the prison walls, which to me is a harsher penalty.”
She also didn’t believe Martin felt any remorse—just pity for himself.
“I believe that it is not about remorse for any actions that Martin did. I believe that he is incapable of feeling remorse,” she told the press. “This is not a shock. It’s just another portrayal of who Martin really is.”
Given Martin’s history of suicide threats, the MacNeill daughters also were not surprised. The day after the suicide attempt, Alexis issued a statement.
“My family continues to struggle to heal and move forward with our lives after the murder of our beloved mother. Our lives have already been torn apart,” the statement read. “We do not pretend to understand the senseless, distressful, and hurtful actions of our father.”