PERRY, Ga. — Only two men in the state of Georgia have died from ethylene glycol poisoning, a prosecutor said during closing arguments in the murder trial of Julia Lynn Turner. One was married to Turner and the other was the father of two of her children.

"You have a better chance of winning the lottery," lead prosecutor Patrick Head told the jury of seven men and five women before they began their deliberations Friday afternoon.

"The simplest solution is correct: Two men died of ethylene glycol poisoning, two men were having a relationship with Lynn Turner," Head said.

Turner, 35, is charged in the 1995 killing of her husband, Cobb County police officer Maurice Glenn Turner, 31. Turner is also a suspect, but has not been charged, in the 2001 antifreeze-poisoning death of Forsyth County firefighter Randy Thompson, 32, with whom she had been having an affair at the time of her husband's death.

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Both men's deaths were initially ruled heart failure, but later changed to homicide when medical examiners found they both had died from poisoning by ethylene glycol, a fatal chemical in antifreeze.

On March 2, 1995, Glenn Turner was admitted to the emergency room complaining of flu-like symptoms, but was released after reportedly feeling better. He died alone at home the next day.

Six years later, Randy Thompson died shortly after visiting the ER with some of the same symptoms. His death was also initially ruled heart failure, but when a Georgia Bureau of Investigation medical examiner found calcium oxalate crystals — the telltale sign of ethylene glycol poisoning — in Thompson's kidneys, authorities exhumed Glenn's body and found that he had the same crystals in his kidney tissues.

"She picked a weapon that she thought would not leave a trail," prosecutor Russell Parker told jurors Friday, "But it did leave a trail — a trail of calcium oxalate crystals."

In a dramatic final flourish to the prosecution's case, Head read aloud a poem entitled, "The Poisoner," that was projected on a screen over Lynn Turner's mugshot. "I'm a different kind of killer as you can see," Head read, "I'm a poisoner, can you catch me?" The word 'Guilty' flashed over Turner's photo.

One juror turned away during the reading and appeared to be intentionally avoiding the presentation.

Defense: No direct evidence

Because of the similarities of the deaths, Superior Court Judge James Bodiford allowed prosecutors to present evidence about Thompson's death and his relationship with Lynn, even though she has not been charged in his murder.

But defense attorney Jim Berry told jurors that the deaths of the two men were not so similar at all. When Turner visited the ER, in addition to nausea and vomiting, he had suffered from several days of classic flu-like symptoms including runny nose, congestion, fever and diarrhea, which are not common symptoms of ethylene glycol poisoning.

But Thompson checked into the ER with a sudden onset of nausea, vomiting and disorientation, which are an indication that he consumed antifreeze.

In fact, the defense contends that Thompson's two prior overdoses and the financial troubles leading up to his death point to a possible suicide — that Thompson drank the antifreeze on his own.

Defense attorney Victor Reynolds pointed to what he considered a shoddy investigation conducted by police in 1995 when Turner died. Police collected no evidence, made no taped interviews, and never recovered the can of gasoline and bottle of antifreeze found in the basement.

"Why do you think they're introducing evidence on Randy Thompson? Because they don't have any evidence on Glenn Turner." Reynolds said.

"If Lynn is smart enough to almost get away with a murder for six and a half years, why wasn't she smart enough to cremate his body?" Reynolds asked. "If she's so doggoned smart, why didn't she increase Glenn's insurance?"

Salacious details about the defendant's adulterous affair, her financial troubles and her lack of emotion at both men's funerals were revealed throughout the trial, and Reynolds asked jurors not to let gossip and innuendo distract them from a lack of direct evidence linking Turner to her husband's murder.

"They've proven that Lynn is not an emotional person. They've proven she doesn't act the way you or I might act," Reynolds said. "Is she guilty of acting inappropriately at a funeral? Maybe so, but look in the indictment and see if she's charged with that."

Turner, dressed in the same blue dress and jacket she wore during opening statements, held her composure during the closing arguments. But she broke down, outside the presence of the jury, and hugged a friend in the ladies room, counting to three and standing up straight before returning to the courtroom.

After her indictment in November 2002, Turner was on house arrest, and required to wear an ankle monitor. Since the trial began she has been free to move about the courthouse.

If convicted, Turner faces life in prison.