Doctor on trial in death of wife doesn’t testify

February 25, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

CLEVELAND (AP) — The Ohio doctor accused of killing his wife with cyanide apparently had a last-minute change of heart and decided against testifying at his murder trial Wedneday as the defense rested its case.

Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Deena R. Calabrese, informed that Dr. Yazeed Essa intended to testify after the noontime break, reminded him that he wasn’t required to take the stand. She suggested that he think about the issue at lunch.

When the trial resumed, defense attorney Mark Marein told a hushed courtroom awaiting Essa’s testimony that the defense’s case was finished. The courtroom crowd spilled into the corridor and into a second hallway where TV news magazines have been taping the trial.

Essa, watching from the defense table, was wearing a dark suit and, following his practice throughout the trial, a wedding band.

The defense team didn’t specify why Essa didn’t testify. Attorneys are under an order barring them from commenting.

Attorneys and the judge, without the jury present, worked on exhibit and jury-instruction issues after the defense rested.

Essa, 41, has pleaded not guilty in the death of Rosemarie Essa, 38. She died Feb. 24, 2005, after taking a cyanide-lace calcium tablet and crashing her SUV into an oncoming car near the couple’s home in the upscale suburb of Gates Mills.

The prosecution has said Essa poisoned her to free himself from a loveless marriage. The defense has suggested a mistress wanted to get rid of Essa’s wife so she could marry the doctor.

Essa, a Detroit native whose family is from a Palestinian territory, was an emergency-room doctor at Akron General Medical Center and fled to Lebanon after police seized drug bottles at his home. He gave up an extradition fight and was returned from Cyprus to Ohio last year.

If convicted, Essa faces a maximum sentence of life in prison, with the possibility of parole after 20 years.

Skipping testimony in his own defense allowed Essa to avoid cross-examination by the prosecutor and questions about damaging trial testimony, including:

UA witness who had helped Essa get an apartment in Beirut testified that Essa bragged about emptying his wife’s calcium supplement capsules and refilling them with cyanide.

UThe victim’s sister testified that Essa acted strangely and displayed a bottle of calcium capsules after his wife was poisoned.

UA nurse who was his mistress testified that Essa asked before his wife’s death if she would stay “if something bad were to happen.”