Lester Holt

The prosecutor played that 911 call.

The prosecution was establishing Dr. Ferrante's attempts to lead everybody that he encountered, starting with the 911 operator.

And he said, well, I think she's had a stroke.

So steering it.

Steering it.

Then when Autumn finally died, according to the prosecutor, Ferrante said something that he thought would keep the cause of death secret.

Lois Klein testified that her son-in-law said flatly he did not want an autopsy.

The prosecution had described a man who had lost control of his wife, killed her, and then tried desperately to cover it up.

Defense attorneys Bill Diffenderfer and Wendy Williams.

You get this picture of a jealous guy whose career is being eclipsed by his wife, thinks she's got a lover, and bang, she's dead.

Well, that's the spin that the Commonwealth put on this thing, and obviously we think the reality is that's not the case.

They said the prosecutor's alleged motive here made for great melodrama, but it was miles away from the truth.

Bob Ferrante, they countered, was a brilliant researcher and a loving man devoted to helping his wife, not hurting her.

And to sell that image, they flabbergasted the courtroom by calling the defendant himself to the stand.

So in this case, the defendant made that choice.

I've often said that it's risky at best.

The minute the defendant takes the stand, we now have the government's proof versus the defendant's credibility.

A gamble his defense team said Ferranti was willing to make.

He wanted jurors to see him for the man he was, one who loved his bright, complicated wife.

Yes, he conceded he had been a jealous husband for a brief moment, but then he and Autumn had kissed and made up in the weeks before her death.