TUCSON, Ariz. — During opening statements in the murder trial of Dr. Bradley Schwartz Tuesday, both the prosecution and Schwartz's own lawyer agreed that the pediatric ophthalmologist was a drug-addicted philanderer who spoke openly to patients and lovers alike about physically harming, and even hiring someone to kill, the doctor he blamed for his financial and professional downfall.

Prosecutor Sylvia Lafferty presented a detailed outline of how Schwartz followed through with his threats, saying that his rage at Dr. Brian Stidham drove him to murder.

"The defendant was angry. His anger turned into a grudge. His grudge festered into an obsession. His obsession erupted into the toxic rage that led him to plan and conspire to murder Dr. Brian Stidham."

Schwartz believed Stidham stole patients and business by opening a rival practice across town. While Schwartz was in rehabilitation for his addiction to prescription drugs, many of his patients began seeing Stidham.

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According to investigators, Schwartz told several people that with Stidham out of the picture, his business would pick up again.

But Schwartz's attorney Brick Storts argued to jurors that, despite the doctor's obvious character flaws, prescription pills, infidelity and nasty words do not a murderer make.

"Because you make a bad comment to somebody about somebody else and wish for something to somebody else, that doesn't make the state's case beyond a reasonable doubt that you're the person a person that's involved with a killing," Storts said.

"You can't wish somebody into a conviction for first-degree murder. You may want to, but you can't."

Schwartz, 41, is also charged with conspiracy to commit first-degree murder.

Prosecutors say that Schwartz hired Ronald "Bruce" Bigger, a patient and small-time criminal, to kill Dr. Stidham, 37, and to make the murder look like a carjacking. Bigger's case has been severed from Schwartz's and the alleged hit man will be tried on the same charges later this year.

Stidham's body was found in the parking lot outside his practice on the night of Oct. 5, 2004. The doctor, who was still wearing his medical scrubs, was stabbed 15 or more times, his skull was fractured, and his 1992 Lexus was later found miles from the murder site.

Witness statements and phone records linking Bigger to several calls made from a nearby convenience store place the alleged hit man in the area at the time of the murder, and near where the victim's car was eventually found, Lafferty said.

Those same calls were made to Schwartz's cell phone, Lafferty said.

After the slaying, the prosecutor said, Bigger took a cab to a restaurant where Schwartz was on a date with a woman, and the three drove Bigger to a nearby hotel where the doctor paid for his room.

A surveillance videotape from a Tucson bank the day after Stidham's murder showed Schwartz — dressed in his medical scrubs — withdrawing $10,000 from an account and then calling Bigger while still in the bank.

Bigger went to Las Vegas soon after, Lafferty said.

"Bruce Bigger is now flush with cash, a lot of it. Enough to take two friends on a spree to Las Vegas."

The nature of the case against Schwartz puts Storts in the unusual position of having to defend his client while at the same time effectively defending Bigger. During his statements, the lawyer acknowledged this to the jury.

"If Mr. Bigger didn't commit the crime, Dr. Schwartz is innocent," Storts said, then went on to explain how the prosecution's timeline in the case made it difficult, but not impossible, for Bigger to be the killer.

There was a "19-minute window of opportunity" from when Stidham turned his security system on, to when Bigger called Schwartz from a Denny's more than six miles away, Storts said.

In that time Bigger had to kill Stidham, steal his car, dispose of any bloody clothes, ditch the car, and then appear perfectly composed to everyone who saw him, Storts said.

"Not one drop of blood or any other evidence of violent crime is seen on Mr. Bigger," he said.

Court TV Extra is streaming it live on the Web.