By Chris O'Connell
Court TV
TUCSON, Ariz. — He asked a convicted felon. He asked a man to whom he delivered his urine samples. He even asked a lover to get her husband to do it. Several witnesses testified Thursday and Friday about how Dr. Bradley Schwartz repeatedly solicited them to hurt or kill Dr. Brian Stidham in the months before his former business partner was murdered. Stidham's body was found in the parking lot of his medical practice on Oct. 5, 2004. The 37-year-old father of three had been stabbed more than 15 times, and his Lexus was discovered miles away. Prosecutors say Schwartz, 41, hired Ronald "Bruce" Bigger to kill Stidham and to make the murder look like a carjacking. Phone records and eyewitness accounts link Schwartz and Bigger on the night of the murder, as well as the day after.
Schwartz's attorneys are expected to argue that police did not fully investigate the slaying and have suggested that a carjacker murdered Stidham. Aisha Henry told jurors Thursday that Schwartz constantly asked her to help frame Stidham. When she refused to claim that Stidham molested her son, Schwartz came up with another scheme that involved her husband. The fact that Schwartz and Henry were sleeping together at the time didn't seem to faze the doctor, she said. "He wanted [my husband] to hurt [Stidham], to beat him up and specifically crush his hands to where he couldn't work ... and, I believe, putting acid in his eyes so he couldn't see," Henry testified. Henry said she refused Schwartz's repeated offers and up to $3,500, but when her family met with financial difficulties, she decided to lead the doctor on. "I led him to believe that [my husband] would do it," she told jurors. "I lied to him because we needed money." Another prosecution witness, Stephanie Nagel, testified that the defendant asked her on a date at a federal courthouse where the two were required to submit urine samples because of pending cases — Schwartz for illegally prescribing pills, Nagel for forgery. "He flirted. He hit on me. He asked me out a couple times," Nagel said. "But I was in a relationship, and he just wasn't my type." The flirtation turned bizarre when Schwartz offered her $500 if she could recommend a person "who could take care of someone for him." Though she never followed through on Schwartz's offer, she said she later told police about the incident after learning of Stidham's murder. Carlos Ogas, a phlebotomist who worked at a laboratory where Schwartz also went to submit court-ordered urine samples, told jurors that Schwartz made a similar offer to him in a back room. Several more witnesses whom Schwartz apparently asked to harm Stidham are expected to testify Friday afternoon and next week. Court TV Extra is streaming it live on the Web. | 
