MARTINEZ, Calif. — Felix Polk died from heart disease, not the 27 stab wounds inflicted upon him by his wife, according to an expert witness who testified Thursday in Susan Polk's first-degree murder trial.

"I believe Dr. Polk died of a coronary event while assaulting his wife," retired forensic pathologist Dr. John Cooper said of the 70-year-old psychologist.

Felix's injuries, Cooper said, were "relatively trivial" — only a contributing factor to his death — when compared to what he determined to be 75 percent blockage of Felix's left main and interior descending arteries.

Polk, 48, is defending herself against charges that she willfully stabbed her husband to death with a paring knife in October 2002. Polk claims she acted in self-defense.

Cooper said he reviewed the autopsy report written by forensic pathologist Dr. Brian Peterson. He also looked at the same graphic autopsy and crime scene photos that jurors have seen. Felix was laying face up, partially naked, in a thick pool of dried blood when detectives found his body.

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Peterson's conclusion that Felix suffered from "27 stab incise and blunt force injuries," was both "technically inaccurate" and "excessively dramatic," Cooper testified.

Peterson previously testified for the prosecution that Felix had defensive wounds to his arms, hands and feet; significant wounds that penetrated his chest, lung, stomach and kidney, the deepest at about five inches; and blunt force trauma to the back of his head, likely from being hit with a heavy object.

He said that Felix's hardened arteries may have made it more difficult for him to fend off an attack, but they were not the cause of his death.

But defense witness Cooper disagreed, and he gave seven reasons why he believed Polk acted in self-defense.

Felix was about 5-foot-9 and weighed 175 pounds — far heavier than the frail-looking defendant — creating a "physical improbability factor," Cooper said.

He also pointed to "direct evidence," such as a bruise on Polk's face, a bite mark on her hand, and her hair in Felix's right hand.

He described the "distribution" and "multiplicity" of the stab wounds, and the blood pattern flowing down Felix's chest and thighs to his knees, but not on his shins. These details, Cooper said, indicated the "relative position of the two combatants," suggesting that Susan was on the ground and Felix was kneeling over her in an aggressive position.

The defensive wounds were heavily skewed to the left, Cooper said, but clumps of Polk's hair were in Felix's right hand, indicating to the witness that Felix was blocking the knife with his left arm and attacking his wife with the right.

Prosecutors have theorized that Polk hit her husband on the head with an unidentified object to incapacitate him first.

Cooper called it "a bogus suggestion."

If Felix had been hit in the head, while in an upright position, Cooper posited, he would have more blood down the back of his head and neck.

Polk more likely suffered a heart attack during the struggle, fell flat back, and hit his head against the floor, Cooper said.