Kathleen Desilets was found naked on the grass outside of her Massachusetts home five years ago, and prosecutors are working to convince a jury her husband pushed her.
She suffered serious injuries, including a tear in her heart, when she went out the window of the Princeton house she shared with her husband, prominent dentist Roger Desilets.
In Worcester Superior Court, the trial was underway Tuesday, more than five years later.
The 71-year-old is accused of shoving his 65-year-old wife out of a third-floor window in 2011. The prosecution and defense both say the couple's 44-year marriage was shattered earlier that year.
"Roger Desilets had an affair that was off-and-on-again, and his wife found out about it," said defense attorney Michael Wilcox.
But the night before her death, Assistant District Attorney John Bradley told jurors, Kathleen Desilets learned her husband believed she was cheating and hired a private investigator to follow her.
"They had a violent confrontation on the third floor of the house," Bradley argued.
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Roger Desilets' attorney says the defense will prove that it was his wife who initiated the violence.
"She was highly intoxicated and under the effects of Valium that she took that night," Wilcox said.
After opening arguments, the jury visited couple's home in Princeton.
Witness testimony will begin Wednesday, as long as the weather allows.
