Day Thirteen: Thomas Dixon Murder Trial, Dixon takes the stand

Lubbock, TX - Dr. Thomas Michael Dixon has taken the stand Thursday to testify in his own case where he has pleaded not guilty to murder for hire.

Dixon took the stand confidently as he presented to the jury his relationship with Richelle Shetina, the woman allegedly involved in the love triangle between him and Lubbock Dr. Joseph Sonnier.

He spoke of how he began dating her after he met her at his medical spa in Amarillo where he gave her Botox injections.

His wife Shannon learned of the affair and filed for divorce a day later, which eventually took a year to finalize.

During this year Dixon and Shetina dated and once the divorce was official Dixon says she pressured him to meet his children.

Dixon wasn't ready and said the relationship became volatile as she also pressured him for an engagement.

He said week by week he never knew the Shetina he would get, whether she'd be kind or vindictive.

When Shetina began dating Sonnier, Dixon says she would compare the two by writing Facebook posts and that it hurt his "male ego."

Dixon says he never had intentions to hurt or murder anybody. The defense is making a point to prove Shepard was not a trustworthy man and deceived Dixon.

He says he trusted Shepard and they were friends, but has since learned of his deceit. Dixon claims to not know Shepard's 30,000 fraud, bankruptcy and theft of money from a woman's dead father.

He says he did plan with Shepard to follow Sonnier and he is not proud of it, but again he says there were no intentions of hurting anybody. He says with time, he realized Shepard wasn't the man he thought he was.

The messages seemed sinister and implied some kind of plan to mess with Sonnier. Dixon's attorneys prove these messages were out of context and reports state a good majority of these messages were missing.

As Dixon went through the texts, he explained each ones context, proving he did have a plan to watch Sonnier, but that was it. He says he didn't even know Shepard committed the murder and says he never even knew he had the weapons to do it. Just before the prosecution took to questioning Dixon, he stated he had no involvement in the murder of Sonnier and that he realizes his actions to get photographs of Sonnier were stupid and hurt others.

He says he just wanted to prove to Shetina that he was right. The prosecution revealed Dixon didn't want to be involved in a murder, which is why he didn't tell police about Shepard. Dixon says he knew Shepard had been down to Sonnier's house that week and was afraid his actions might have something to do with the murder. Prosecution also revealed Dixon lied during the initial police visit he received at his home to save himself from being connected to the murder.

Dixon says he is telling the truth today, to which the prosecution replied, "isn't that what Dave Shepard said during his testimony?"

Testimony will resume Friday morning.

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