NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. — He painted himself as a tough-talking, old-school gangster. He hated loudmouths, lousy gamblers and men who mistreated women. He had a heart black enough to murder and tender enough to worry for his victim's children.

But did this man, the purported author of an anonymous letter confessing to involvement in the murder of a computer analyst named William McGuire, ever exist?

Prosecutors seeking a first-degree murder conviction against McGuire's wife, Melanie, say no. They maintain the fertility clinic nurse invented the colorful character and mailed the letter to the state attorney general in a last-ditch effort to steer the investigation away from her.

Lawyers for McGuire, however, have suggested that the victim inhabited a world of criminals and compulsive gambling and was likely killed because of it.

On Tuesday, a prosecutor read the four-page single-spaced letter aloud in court in a monotone belying its lurid contents.

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"[I]'ve got nothing for the wife, or against her. But I read about those kids. The father they're better off without, but they don't need a Ma on death row," the author typed.

The letter arrived at the office of then-state Attorney General Peter Harvey in August 2005, as a grand jury considered charges against McGuire, 34. By then, detectives had determined that she had been having an affair with a married doctor and had purchased a gun two days before her husband, William, was last seen alive. The 39-year-old's remains were pulled from the Chesapeake Bay in May 2004. He had been shot. Copies were also mailed to McGuire, her attorney, her lover and a newspaper.

Jurors hearing the letter for the first name Tuesday appeared fascinated, with some leaning forward in their seats as Assistant Attorney General Patricia Prezioso read it. The defendant, wearing a lacy beige sweater, squinted at the black and white words on a projection screen.

In the letter, the author lambasted William McGuire as a braggart, a bore and someone who was "bent" sexually.

"He was a victim all right. Of his greed, his big ego, and his even bigger mouth," the author wrote.

He asserted that McGuire was in the process of taking a large insurance policy out on his wife and planned to kill her. He also referred to the victim as a problem gambler and a routine philanderer.

"The funny part is that he was a pretty good player but his ego wouldn't let him lose. He won a lot, but when he lost, he lost big and chased the money as hard as he chased some of the tail that hangs around those places," the author wrote.

He urged Harvey and his investigators to leave Melanie McGuire alone. To bolster his claim of involvement, he offered inside details about the murder, including the fact that the victim was only wearing underwear when dumped in the bay. Arguing at one point that the petite McGuire could not have carried out the murder herself, he stated that it took two "and at one point three" men to commit the crime.

Outside the presence of the jury, State Superior Court Judge Frederick DeVesa observed that the letter "could either be a document that was designed to hinder the investigation as the state alleges, or it could be a document from somebody who wanted to help out the investigation."

The jury, the judge said, will determine the truth.

The letter is one of two anonymous letters that prosecutors allege McGuire sent to authorities as they zeroed in on her. She faces additional charges, including fabricating evidence and hindering prosecution.

An FBI linguist who specializes in the analysis of anonymous communications began testifying Tuesday afternoon. He said he compared the unsigned letters in the McGuire case to letters the nurse is known to have written as well as transcripts of wiretaps of her phone calls.

He is to testify about his conclusions when court resumes Wednesday morning.