Visalia man on trial for killing wife takes the stand

VISALIA, Calif. (KFSN) -- A Visalia man on trial for killing his wife back in 2007 took the stand in his own defense on Wednesday.

Terry Geller claims he accidentally shot his wife, Tena. The case was first dropped by the district attorney's office seven years ago, but in 2012, a grand jury indicted Geller on murder charges.

Geller told jurors he was not arguing with his wife the night he killed her. He insisted over and over again it was an accident.

Geller appeared to choke up when his attorney started asking him questions about the night he shot and killed his wife. Geller says he was only trying to clean his gun when he got it out of the drawer of a bedside table.

"Took it out. There was a towel laying on the ground, I picked the towel up, I wiped it up," said Geller.

Geller says he took the bullets out, dusted the gun and then put them back in. Then, he says it accidentally went off.

"I let my thumb slip, and that's when the (expletive) thing went off," said Geller.

Geller looked at jurors several times, telling them he would never intentionally shoot his wife and that he loved her.

Prosecutors paint a different story. They say the couple often argued and liked to drink. Investigators say Terry Geller sat on the edge of his bed and fired one shot into the closed bathroom door where his wife was on the toilet. Instead of coming to her aid, prosecutors say he opened the door, saw her lying on the floor and then made a 9-minute call to his parents.

Terry Geller Sr. and Helen Geller took the stand on Wednesday, defending their son's actions.

"He said he accidentally shot Tena," said Terry Geller Sr.

"The first words he said to me was, 'Mom' and the way he said it I knew something was wrong, and I knew he was in a state of shock," said Helen Geller.

After he hung up with his parents, Geller says he called 911. He told attorneys on Wednesday how he felt after he shot and killed his wife.

"I don't know the words to explain it, it's just oh my God no, you know," said Geller.

The district attorney's office will continue cross examining Terry Geller Thursday morning. The jury could start deliberating the case as early as Thursday.