NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Is evidence of an affair evidence of murder?

Davidson County prosecutors rested their first-degree murder case against Martha Freeman and her lover, Rafael Rocha-Perez, on Thursday, after a jury viewed pictures of the defendants naked, as well as images of semen-stained beach towels and lingerie.

Prosecutors are hoping to convince the jury that the couple were having an affair and that Freeman enlisted Rocha-Perez to kill her husband.

In searches of the couple's upscale south Nashville home after Jeffrey Freeman was beaten and strangled to death on April 10, 2005, police seized articles of clothing containing Rocha-Perez's DNA, along with Playboy and Penthouse magazines with his prints on them.

They also found a closet fashioned into a makeshift living space, complete with a foam mattress, blanket and radio.

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Prosecutors introduced the evidence to bolster their theory that Rocha-Perez secretly lived in the home while conducting a sexual relationship with Martha Freeman and was there the evening Jeffrey Freeman died.

"We don't have to prove every fact about who struck him, who strangled him. We just have to prove they were there," Davidson County prosecutor Tom Thurman told the court Thursday in a hearing outside the presence of the jury. "Clearly, we have a person who was murdered and these two people were the only people there."

Thurman conceded the case against the two defendants was largely circumstantial, a fact Rocha-Perez's lawyers have seized to undermine the state's case.

"They've obviously proven that Mr. Rocha-Perez was present inside the house. They've obviously proven he had sexual relations with Ms. Freeman," defense lawyer Peter Strianse told the court while asking for the case to be thrown out. "Whether those circumstances are sufficient to prove a conviction for first-degree murder is the basis for this motion."

But Judge Randall Wyatt agreed with Thurman that testimony from a neighbor who saw a Hispanic man fleeing the scene lent credibility to the state's case.

That neighbor testified Tuesday that she saw a man who looked like Rocha-Perez running into the construction site, where police later found the undocumented Mexican immigrant hiding.

Perhaps the most damning evidence against Rocha-Perez was the discovery of Jeffrey Freeman's wedding band in the interview room where he was questioned.

Nashville Police Det. Brad Corcoran testified Thursday that he did not notice the gold band until after he removed Rocha-Perez from the room and brought Martha Freeman in.

"She looks down and says very excitedly, 'What's that doing here?" Corcoran testified as several members of the panel took notes.

"Was Mr. Freeman's wedding ring missing from the scene?" Thurman asked.

"Yes, it was," he said.

As the lead detective on the case, Corcoran testified that he initially suspected that Rocha-Perez's closet hideout had been staged.

"You later changed your opinion after finding out all the facts?" Thurman asked Corcoran.

"Yes, sir," the witness said.

A scenario with Rocha-Perez living in the closet suits Martha Freeman, whose lawyers accused her former paramour of killing Jeffrey Freeman.

Without denying it outright, lawyers for Rocha-Perez have resisted that theory, suggesting that Martha Freeman set him up as a "fall guy."

The jury will never know for sure, after both defendants declined to testify Thursday. The pair face life in prison if convicted.

Lawyers will present closing arguments Thursday afternoon.