Defense rests in former Wake County teacher murder trial
RALEIGH (WTVD) -- The defense in the murder trial of a former Wake County teacher accused of killing her husband rested Thursday morning after Joanna Madonna stepped down from the witness stand.
Madonna claims she killed her husband, Jose Perez, in self-defense when she asked him for a divorce in 2013.
Closing arguments are expected to start Monday morning.
On the witness stand Thursday morning, the state peppered Madonna story of the events leading up to the fatal stabbing.
She told jurors Perez pulled out a gun when she told him she wanted a divorce and shot himself in the face and arm.
She also testified that she was taking him to the VA hospital for treatment when they got into a struggle and Perez allegedly pulled out a knife.
However, Perez's doctor previously told the court that he was too frail and sickly to hurt anyone.
On Wednesday, Madonna laid out a troubled timeline of her life. She told jurors she was adopted at a month old, her father was an alcoholic, and her mother told her she was ugly on the inside and out.
At age 5, Madonna said two of the neighbors' kids molested her and at 16 her adoptive parents kicked her out of the house. From there, she began a life filled with drugs and alcohol abuse.
Madonna explained she had her first child with a drug dealer she claims date raped her. She detailed two marriages in which she had two more daughters, both relationships that deteriorated and ended in divorce.
Then, she met Jose Perez at an AA meeting. At the time, they were both married but separated from their spouses. Madonna said her relationship with Perez started off platonic but quickly grew into something more, despite her finding Perez unattractive.
Madonna described in depth the lies she said Perez told her before and during the marriage: that he had terminal cancer, had property in Puerto Rico he could sell to buy her and her three daughters a house in New York, hidden financial woes, and so on. She said eventually she uncovered the deceit, but stayed with him, saying she loved him. Anytime she talked about leaving, she told the jury Perez would threaten to kill himself.
Finally in June 2013, shortly after Madonna said she discovered he was cheating with a woman in Florida through a Facebook message she sent to Perez, she made up her mind to leave for good.
The day of the murder, Madonna said she drove to South Carolina to visit her nephew who had cancer; he was a weapon enthusiast and insisted she take one of his guns with her when she left.
Once back home in Wake County, Madonna said she planned to take Perez on a drive to his AA sponsor's house, and would tell him then she was getting a divorce.
"I told him that I knew he was drinking, I knew he was cheating, I was done with the lying and this time I'm not backing down this time," she told the court.
That's when Madonna said Perez began to panic, telling her he was going to have a heart attack and she needed to pull over.
