Testimony continued for the fourth day in a wrongful death trial with the video deposition of Barbara Roberts, who was convicted in the 2006 kidnapping and shotgun slaying of Martha Darlene Roberts.

Vernon Roberts is suing Barbara Roberts, his ex-wife, and Dr. John Schiess for punitive damages concerning the murder of his wife, Martha Darlene Roberts. Schiess pleaded guilty in August 2008 to a lesser kidnapping charge in connection with the Cherokee County, Ala., murder.

The trial resumes today at 9:30 a.m.

Both sides have indicated the trial will wrap up today.

Barbara Roberts testified via video she and her co-defendant Schiess were dating at the time of the murder and would often stay at each other’s homes.

However, when Vernon Roberts’ lawyer, Andy Davis, began asking about her and Schiess’ whereabouts on the day of the murder, she began to invoke her Fifth Amendment right.

She often mumbled, almost unintelligibly, her right to not incriminate herself and grew visibly agitated repetitively tapping her fingers on a pad of paper as Davis continued the questioning.

During the trial there have been several instances where both defendants have invoked their Fifth Amendment right.

When that happens, Rome Federal Court Judge Harold L. Murphy said, jurors may make some assumptions about the defendant speaking but not about the other defendant.

“You may draw an adverse inference against that person and conclude they may have said ‘yes,’” Murphy instructed the jury. “You do not have the right to draw an adverse inference against the other defendant.”

Schiess’ lawyer, Gregory Price called into question several portions of the criminal investigation, including the veracity of Barbara Roberts’ earlier statements against her co-defendant.

“You’ve in fact told people Bob Schiess is innocent of these allegations, is that correct?” Price said.

She mumbled an assertion of her Fifth Amendment rights in response.

Cherokee County Sheriff’s Investigator Mike Hicks, who participated in the criminal investigation, recited what, according to Barbara Roberts, were the final words of a woman struggling for her life.

“Let me go. I live nine miles away,” Hicks said, recounting what Barbara Roberts told him about Darlene Roberts’ final moments. “I don’t know who you are from Adam, you have plenty of time to get away.”

She told Hicks that Darlene Roberts escaped her bonds after the ambush and fled, running toward the edge of the pasture pond and attempted to hide in high grass near a pasture pond, he testified.

She was then killed, shot three times at close range with a shotgun.

Barbara Roberts also provided several details about the murder scene, including that a black Dodge truck was used to blockade the road, Hicks said. According to previous testimony, Schiess owns a black Dodge truck.

On the other hand, Hicks said, Schiess remained silent after arrest.