MARTINEZ, Calif. — Murder defendant Susan Polk completed her testimony Friday with laughter and tears as she made an impassioned plea to jurors that she not be punished for finding humor in an interview she conducted with Court TV.

"You've used the words 'shocked' and 'appalled' many times, Mrs. Polk," prosecutor Paul Sequeira said during recross-examination. "But do you recall saying in an interview on Court TV that you talked about it in a joking voice — the different actresses that might play you in a movie?"

Polk said in an interview with Court TV's Crier Live that Winona Ryder could portray her in a movie version of her life and that Anthony Hopkins, who played Hannibal Lecter in the movie "Silence of the Lambs," could play her dead husband, Felix Polk.

Polk is accused of stabbing her 70-year-old psychologist husband to death with a paring knife in October 2002. She claims she acted in self-defense after slipping the blade from Felix's grip.

Polk replied that she was "sandbagged" by the Court TV producer who posited the question, and then giggled as she recalled the details of the interview and why she still believed that Lecter was too nice of a character to play Felix.

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"This is funny to you?" Sequeira interrupted.

"I thought so," Polk said, continuing to laugh.

Sequeira had no further questions.

Polk paused to gather her composure and gaze at the faces of the jurors. She began to tear up as she described her seriousness in childhood, her struggles in her marriage, and her mother's admonitions to "have a sense of humor!"

She said that later in life, reading "Bridget Jones's Diary" helped her not take herself too seriously.

"I could look at my life as a tragedy," Polk said, her voice trembling as deep sobs rose in her throat. "Or I could see it as a triumph. And I made a conscious choice that no matter what happened in my life I wasn't going to be a victim."

"Is it a crime to be able to find some humor in my situation?" Polk asked herself while smiling at the jurors. "I don't think so."

Polk also called a self-defense instructor and martial arts champion to the stand Friday.

Laura Castro-Shelley, a fifth-degree black belt in Shaolin Kenpo with more than 30 years experience practicing and teaching martial arts, said it was her first time testifying as an expert witness.

Castro-Shelly was called by Polk to support her claim that while her husband was four inches taller and 65 pounds heavier than Polk, the "fight-or-flight" response made it possible for her to defend herself during their altercation, while sustaining relatively few injuries.

"Small woman are considered by men to be frail, weak and prey," the witness said to explain how Polk's claim that she was on her back on the floor while her husband was attacking her was a likely scenario.

Prosecutors say Polk had planned to kill her husband the night she visited him in the cottage of their Orinda home with a can of pepper spray in her pocket, and they have theorized that Polk also brought the paring knife with her into the cottage.

Castro-Shelley, a robust woman who wore a black pantsuit and a black turtleneck despite the June heat, said that she took up martial arts as a teen to protect herself from an abusive father.

"I believe it's animalistic," the witness explained when asked how a woman Polk's size could survive being punched three times, sprayed in the eyes with pepper spray and thrown to the ground. "You become the lioness in the wilderness. You will protect yourself. You will protect your babies ... You will fight back knowing that this could be your last breath."

"If her life is at stake, she would defend herself?" Polk asked hypothetically.

Castro-Shelley leaned into the microphone. "Yes," she said. "To the bitter end."

As she left the stand, the witness strode past the defense table to shake Polk's hand.

"Thank you," Polk said. "You were great."

Polk expects to rest her case early next week.