In exchange for her testimony, Prosecutor Mike Frye granted her immunity. The prosecutor called her in an effort to counter the defense's claim that Ellis was a devoted family man. Cantrell fatally stabbed his estranged wife /*Charlotte Ellis*/ in May 2008. But his attorney says the man committed the crime in a fit of rage after finding Charlotte in bed with another man.
Psychiatrist Avak Howsepian testified Cantrell was already unstable because his son was hit and killed by a construction vehicle. Howsepian said, "He relayed to me quiet convincingly and repeatedly his sense of helplessness at the time and being horrified of the incident occurring."
The prosecutor wants to prove Cantrell planned to murder his estranged wife, but the defense will ask jurors to find Cantrell guilty of a lesser crime, saying he killed his wife in the heat of passion.
Both the prosecution and the defense rested their case late Tuesday afternoon. Wednesday morning at 10, attorneys will present their closing arguments. Then the jury will begin deliberating Cantrell Ellis' fate
