PERRY, Ga. — A Georgia woman on trial for killing her husband by feeding him antifreeze quietly wept in the courtroom Thursday, her first visible display of emotion, as she watched her mother testify for her defense.

Prosecutors say that Julia Lynn Turner murdered 32-year-old police officer Glenn Turner in 1995 to collect on a $100,000 life-insurance policy and monthly pension benefits. Turner is also a suspect, but has not been charged, in the 2001 antifreeze-poisoning death of her former lover, 31-year-old firefighter Randy Thompson, with whom she was having an affair at the time of her husband's death.

On March 2, 1995, Glenn Turner visited the emergency room complaining of flu-like symptoms. He died at home the following day. Thompson died six years later after visiting the ER with some of the same symptoms, and both men were originally thought to have died from heart failure. But when medical examiners found the presence of ethylene glycol — the main chemical in antifreeze — in Thompson's body, Turner's body was exhumed and tests revealed that he had ethylene glycol in his system as well.

With Lynn Turner as the only link between the two men, both deaths were ruled homicides.

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Because of the similarities, the court ruled that prosecutors may present evidence about Thompson's death and his relationship with Turner, even though she has not been charged in his murder.

And in the past 11 days, jurors have heard from a string of state witnesses who invariably described the defendant as a money-hungry, controlling woman who shed not a single tear at either man's funeral nor attended the viewings.

On Thursday, the defense attempted to portray Turner in a softer light.

"She's not an emotional person. She just does not show openly her feelings or her emotions," said Helen Gregory, Turner's mother, who told jurors that her family was "all that way."

Helen Gregory

Defense attorney Victor Reynolds asked Gregory about her recollection of Turner's behavior on the day of Glenn's death. "She was crying hysterically and I asked her what was wrong," Gregory said. "I shook her and said, 'What is wrong?' And she just said 'He's dead.' That's all she ever got out."

Gregory also said that her daughter has never participated in the viewing portion of funerals, including the funerals of her four uncles, and two grandmothers.

Outside the courthouse, Gregory told Courttv.com that she and her husband have been at home during the trial trying to keep things "normal" for the defendant's two children by Thompson, Blake, 5, and Amber, 8.

"Lynn sat the children down and explained what was going on and they understand. They're OK with what's happening," Gregory said, adding that her daughter was a very forward person and that "most people resent that." As to how the two men could have coincidentally died from antifreeze poisoning, Gregory told Courttv.com that she had doubts about the validity of the test results.

In fact, the defense's theory is that Glenn Turner did not die from ethylene glycol poisoning, but from his enlarged heart. Defense lawyers also implied in their opening statements that Thompson's death may have been a suicide, but did not present any direct evidence to support their claim.

Expert: Tests not conclusive

Jurors also heard from a toxicologist Thursday who questioned whether the calcium oxalate crystals — a classic byproduct of ethylene glycol poisoning — found in Turner's exhumed body could have come from another source, such as embalming fluids, or the flowers and other materials decomposing inside his coffin.

Dr. Robert Palmer

"A number of plants have oxalate in them," said Dr. Robert Palmer, a toxicologist in private practice in Colorado. "The plants supply the oxalate, you supply the calcium, and you have calcium oxalate crystals."

Palmer stated that his main concern was that, because calcium oxalate crystals were found in Glenn Turner's kidneys, those crystals and all of their attendant properties should have been present in his other organs as well. In their absence, he could not say for certain if ethylene glycol was ingested before Turner's death.

"I don't believe that the evidence supports the cause of death," he said

On cross-examination, Palmer acknowledged that, after reviewing Randy Thompson's blood and urine tests, he agreed that Thompson died from a fatal ingestion of antifreeze.

The defense began and rested its case Thursday, presenting just five witnesses who mostly spoke to Lynn's character. In contrast, the prosecution spent almost 11 days and called 68 witnesses, ranging from family members to forensic pathologists and insurance sales agents.

Closing arguments are expected on Friday morning. Court TV is broadcasting the trial.