But prosecutors described the deaths of both Keitha Frank Turner and Betty Frank as premeditated, saying Albert Turner cut their throats "through and through" in front of three young children in December 2009.

In opening arguments Wednesday, defense attorney Patrick McCann said Turner killed his wife in a rage of jealousy and fear that she would leave him. Keitha and Albert Turner had a troubled marriage, he said.

"He was obsessed with his jealousy and didn't seek help," he said. "He became increasingly stressed and believed that she was having an affair. The prospect of losing them pushed him to the edge."

Crime scene

Fort Bend County Assistant District Attorney Fred Felcman said that on the afternoon of Dec. 26, 2009, Keitha Turner left home with her four children and headed to her parents' house less than 2 miles away. Her husband came to his in-laws' home bringing a gift for his wife. She refused the gift before he left.

McCann said it was his gesture to amend their troubled relationship.

Around midnight, Keitha Turner went to bed with her youngest daughter while the other children were playing video games in another room, said Felcman. Turner showed up at his in-laws' house, walked straight to the bedroom where his wife was and fatally stabbed her. When he saw Betty Frank coming out in the hallway, he cut her throat, Felcman said.

McCann said after Keitha Turner was stabbed, his client was about to leave the house when his mother-in-law appeared.

Jurors heard a 911 call, where one of the children was frantically trying to talk to a dispatcher and to her mother at the same time.

"My mother is bleeding. She's going to die. Hurry! … Mom, don't die! Keep breathing!" she screamed. Then she was heard crying, "My grandma is dead. He killed her, too. He stabbed her with something in the neck and it's cut open … Grandma I love you. Please don't die!"

Jurors also saw a video clip and photographs taken by Rosenberg police investigators. In one, Betty Frank was seen lying in a pool of blood and her clothing soaked red in front of a second-floor bathroom. The wall and toilet were splashed with red. In the bedroom where Keitha Turner was said to be sleeping with her 5-year-old daughter that night, the pillow and bed were smeared with blood and a red pool was seen on the floor. Blood stains were seen all along the stairs leading to the first floor and the door.

Patrol officer Shayne Mocha recalled officers were trying to find a T-shirt and a towel to stop the blood that was squirting from Keitha Turner's neck while she was trying to communicate with the officers.

Turner fled after the rampage and went in hiding until his capture 2½ months later in Concord, N.C., following a nationwide manhunt.

'A good person'

Darren Frank, Keitha Turner's brother, said his sister had been contemplating leaving her husband for three months but was afraid to do so for fear that he could become violent. In the 911 call, a daughter tells the dispatcher, "He is an abusive father."

"But we had never imagined something like this would ever happen," Darren Frank said in a telephone interview before the trial.

Outside the courtroom on Wednesday, Turner's sister, Juanita Dawsey, described him as "a good brother, very protective."

"He's not violent. He's a good person," said Turner's mother, Lillie Turner.

The trial resumes today in Judge Brady Elliott's court in Richmond.

zen.zheng@chron.com