presentation for specific beauty, brought to you by junee brands. >> nothing in this case makes sense. >> they say doctors make the worst patients, no matter how sick. >> is it his high blood pressure? is he having a heart attack? >> but this doctor wasn't just sick. he was dying. >> no one knew exactly what it was. >> and then, they found the crystals. >> it's a poisoning case, which are very rare. >> but solving the medical mystery didn't solve the main mystery. who poisoned him? >> he took a drink of it and said, "there's something wrong with this." >> was money the motive? or was there another reason? >> everything about this case is nuts. it's sex, lies and audiotape. >> turns out this busy doctor also had a busy love life at

>> she loved him. >> i think she loved dr. blumenschein. >> i said, "why?" she said, "it was just sex, evette." >> who wanted the doctor dead? >> who has the motive? it's the person who isn't getting what they want. >> i'm lester holt, and this is "dateline." here's andrea canning with "fatal attraction." >> reporter: there is a place in houston, texas, they call the "mecca" of medicine, m.d. anderson cancer center. >> their goal is making cancer history. and so the best and the brightest work there. >> reporter: a hive of top-tier physicians researching, saving lives. >> i was never a number. i was never just a patient. i was a human being. >> reporter: but what happened when one of their own became dangerously ill? >> i was shocked. it's crazy things happening. >> i never imagined that that would happen to anybody that i know. >> reporter: not with cancer,

>> it was the worst kept secret at m.d. anderson. >> hollywood couldn't write this script. it's unbelievable. and that's why it's true. >> reporter: it was around midnight, january 27th, 2013. a 48-year-old man wobbled through the doors of m.d. anderson, slurring his words, disoriented. >> keep in mind, he didn't go to the emergency room at a standard hospital. >> reporter: ryan korsgard is a reporter with nbc station kprc-tv in houston. >> he went to a cancer hospital. >> reporter: perhaps just where he felt safe? >> perhaps. and his office was also there. >> reporter: maybe he felt safe there because the sick man was george blumenschein jr., a doctor specializing in neck, head and lung cancer at m.d. anderson. like many of his talented peers dedicated to researching and curing cancer, dr.

blumenschein's life seemed to revolve around his work. >> the people who worked with him said he revealed very little about his personal life. he didn't talk about anyone he was dating, anything along those lines. >> reporter: now, this very private man was at m.d. anderson not to be examined but to research his own symptoms. friends at the hospital urged him to go straight to the e.r. >> and it sounded like it was tough even to coax him into the emergency room. >> so i'm sorry, but i'm in a little drama. >> reporter: george's girlfriend, evette toney, a scientist, shot this video on her cell phone as they sat outside the e.r. she wanted to show george that he wasn't acting normally and convince him that he needed to check himself in. the video would later be crucial to solving a mystery. >> i've gotten progressively discoordinated. >> reporteo

articulate doctor like this was a strange sight. sandy molina is a friend and former assistant of george's. what's george like? >> very charming. he's a great guy. >> reporter: she says that george was professional, friendly and always had a good bedside manner. was it just the way he greeted you? >> yeah, the way he greeted you, i thought he was very respectful, caring. patients did call me and make comments about him that he's a great doctor and they're so glad he's their doctor. >> reporter: but now the doctor was the one in need of care. george's research partner, a doctor named ana maria gonzalez, was also with him outside the e.r. ana had seen him at the office that day and later at a business dinner. that cell phone video documents her describing his symptoms. >> he was a little slurred. for people that know him he's still slurred. >> reporter: finally, george agreed to be examined. and in the small world of m.d. anderson, word spr

had checked into the e.r. what's your gut telling you, though, when you're thinking about what he could be sick with? >> first thing was like, oh, my gosh, is it his high blood pressure? is he having a heart attack? or you know, what is it? is he stressed? >> reporter: doctors suspected george might have suffered a stroke, but his mri was clear. whatever was wrong, it was getting worse. >> he's deteriorating quickly. his health is going downhill. >> reporter: just a few hours after arriving at the e.r. the doctor was unconscious, his organs failing, and he was rushed to the icu. >> there seemed to be concern that he might not make it. >> reporter: through the night, george lay near death as his loved ones stood vigil outside the room. inside, the medical staff wondered exactly how had their colleague ended up here. and it wasn't long before police were wondering the same thing. >> when we come back, as doctors work to save one of their own, someone notices something strange.

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on, and off, the court. degree. it won't let you down. >> reporter: in the early morning hours after he was admitted to the e.r., dr. george blumenschein lay unconscious. he was in critical condition in the icu of the very hospital where he practiced medicine. >> i was worried about him. >> reporter: were you just really praying that held

>> oh, of course. he's a great person. >> reporter: no one was sure why this perfectly healthy man in his 40s was working one day and on the brink of death the next. >> it was a race against time because no one knew exactly what it was. they knew that there was kidney failure. >> reporter: did they just start running a battery of tests? >> they started doing tests, and that's when they found these crystals. >> reporter: crystals in his system? that can be a sign of anything from dehydration to kidney stones. but looking at those crystals under a microscope, one of george's doctors made a startling discovery, an unusual chemical formation, a deadly one. it was ethylene glycol, most commonly known as the toxic ingredient in antifreeze. it damages the heart, attacks the kidneys, and just a half a cup can kill you. this must be just a shock to everyone when they realize that this top-notch doctor has taken

>> absolutely. you're a doctor. you know everything that goes into your body. how was this introduced? >> reporter: george was in and out of consciousness and being kept alive on dialysis. now that doctors knew what was making him sick, they called in investigators to figure how it happened. >> it's a poisoning case, which are very rare. we don't see those very often. >> reporter: assistant district attorney nathan hennigan has a background in science and medical crimes. he and his partner, justin keiter, had to consider every possible way the poison got into george's system. >> he wanted to find out this was all a mistake. maybe he's accidentally ingested something somewhere else.

than to know that someone did this to him. >> reporter: accidental poisoning was not so farfetched. in its pure form ethylene glycol is used in labs all over m.d. anderson. it's colorless, odorless and has a sweet taste. but after checking out the accident theory, it seemed unlikely. george hadn't been in a lab recently. >> we couldn't establish that he had access to ethylene glycol at all. >> reporter: lieutenant mac sosa was a university of texas police officer and part of the investigative team. the former houston homicide detective took his job at the medical center as a quiet retirement gig. you would deal with things like stolen lunches from the communal fridge, a missing dolly. not exactly houston homicide. >> they have their own forms of crimes, but nothing on the same scale as municipal law enforcement. >> reporter: lieutenant sosa looked at george's case and found it puzzling. if this wasn't an accident, there were still other possibilities. suicide came to mind. did you ask dr. blumenschein, "did you try to take your own life?" >> yes, i asked him. there was no history of any mental health issues or

>> reporter: he said, "no," i take it. >> yes, ma'am. >> reporter: satisfied that this was neither suicide nor accident, there was only one conclusion left, someone tried to kill george. it's starting to look like a prominent doctor was poisoned. what's your gut telling you? >> at first the only thing that we can do is try to narrow down who was around the doctor. >> reporter: the first person they wanted to talk to, of course, was george's live-in girlfriend, evette toney. the woman in charge of the emergency room that night had concerns about evette toney, and she told you that. >> she indicated that we needed

to look at evette. she shared food with him. she shared wine with him the night before any of this. >> reporter: evette told lieutenant sosa she didn't have a clue why someone would want to hurt george. she suggested that maybe it was a random act. >> she was throwing out all kinds of hypotheses and hypotheticals. she actually tells detective sosa, "well, i don't know, maybe he was an unintended victim and he was the victim of some psycho waiter that wanted to hurt a lot of people." >> reporter: there wasn't a psycho waiter. none of evette's theories made sense. investigators wanted to know more about evette and her relationship with george. they found out that the couple dated on and off for about a decade. they'd lived together, then broken up, and she'd recently moved back in. dr. blumenschein is somewhat of a commitment phobe? >> dr. evette toney said that she had real issues with the fact he didn't want to a commit, and she said that her remedy for that was they were going to have a baby. >> reporter: now that they were trying to start a family, george

george's common-law wife. investigators wondered if she had anything to gain financially if george was killed. how much is he worth? >> he's worth several million dollars. and that fact alone is motive. >> reporter: they pressed that lead, pulled his insurance papers, and requested george's will. would she have been entitled to his money if he died? >> no, this man didn't even have a will. and everything was left on the insurance policies to his brother. >> reporter: dead end there. still, lieutenant sosa put in a request to do surveillance on evette and george's house. did you ask evette toney, "did you have anything to do with this?" >> yes, ma'am, i did. >> reporter: what response did you get? >> she said, "absolutely not." she offered her financials, she offered anything under the sun. she offered to submit to a polygraph. >> reporter: she even turned over the bottle of wine she and george drank the night before he got sick.

clean. the lieutenant decided to call off the survellance. the cooperative, mild-mannered girlfriend hardly seemed like a killer to him. so if not evette toney, who in the world wanted dr. george blumenschein dead? did you worry there was somebody responsible out there? >> yes. >> reporter: so? >> and if they didn't succeed, were they going to try again. >> reporter: that's exactly what investigators were thinking. they placed a guard at george's door. >> at that point, we didn't know if anyone would attempt to go into his room and try to do it again. >> reporter: you were concerned about his life? >> yes, ma'am, very concerned. >> reporter: a second murder attempt? >> yes, ma'am. >> coming up -- behind closed doors at the hospital. >> the plot started to thicken.

>> reporter: two weeks after he was poisoned, dr. george blumenschein was still suffering, his body ravaged by the toxic chemical ethylene glycol. after digging around in his personal life, investigators were no closer to figuring out who wanted george dead. so they turned their attention to his professional life. but to the investigators' surprise, many of the brilliant scientists at m.d. anderson were less than chatty. the doctors who you were dealing with are very private people. >> they are, yes. >> reporter: and very intelligent. were they eager, willing witnesses?

>> no. >> reporter: did they want to be part of this? >> no one wanted to be a part of this case. >> reporter: still, one of george's closest colleagues made herself available. dr. ana maria gonzalez, george's research partner, the co-worker who was by his side as he checked into the e.r. a fellow workaholic, ana knew the details of george's life at the hospital. how often were they together working? >> seemed like all the time. they traveled together. they worked either in his office or her office. they were always on the phone. >> reporter: dr. gonzalez, who was born in colombia, was a fast-rising star in breast cancer medicine. her research garnered international attention. the susan g. komen foundation even produced this video about her work. >> i truly believe that she holds the cure for women in the world. >> reporter: as patients like silvia lieber saw it, dr. gonzalez was nothing short of a miracle worker. >> she has this compassion and understanding about the disease and about the wosh

>> reporter: dr. gonzalez also treated nadine eidman. >> i was never a number. i was never just a patient. i was a human being who had a full life. >> reporter: did she immediately put you at ease? >> she absolutely did. you know, she's really small of stature, but she's feisty. and she said, "we're just going to go after this." and i said, "yeah, you and i are going to get along just fine." and we have. >> reporter: ana met george years earlier when she referred a patient to him. soon after, she invited him to collaborate on a research project. multiple studies followed. they were invited to lecture and travel around the world. after working for george, sandy molina took a job assisting ana. >> i know she was trying to get his career going, writing more grants, and helping him get promoted, and he wasn't the most organized person. >> reporter: so ana really had an impact on george's life? >> yes. >> reporter: was he very grateful for that?

>> i think he was. >> reporter: how eager were you to talk to dr. gonzalez? >> very eager. she knew his habits, his schedule, about the timeline that i needed information on. >> reporter: ana provided valuable details about the day george got sick. she told the lieutenant she and george worked in their offices at m.d. anderson, then attended a business dinner together that evening. she witnessed his condition slowly worsen and even followed george as he drove himself to the hospital around midnight. and every minute that you can account for i would imagine helps you put together that

>> reporter: what does she tell you? >> i asked her for an account of the week prior to him going into the hospital. >> reporter: ana told him all about george's week, the details of his busy schedule. she was sharing a lot. but as lieutenant sosa listened, he had a hunch she might also be leaving something out. so he went back and pressed george and ana's reticent colleagues for more information. what was up with george and ana? >> sosa starts to find out that there might have been something more than just a working relationship with doctors blumenschein and gonzalez. >> reporter: the plot started to thicken. >> i think people started to realize and put pieces together. >> reporter: even though the folks at m.d. anderson weren't

them from whispering about george and ana among themselves. did ana know that people were gossiping? >> i'm sure she did, and i'm sure some of it got to her, too. but she and i never really talked about it. >> reporter: lieutenant sosa asked ana point blank were she and george having an affair? she denied it. he also asked george the same thing, and george also said no. but the investigator wasn't convinced. the question nagged at him. now, weeks since he was poisoned, george was out of the hospital, feeling stronger and back at work. the investigator decided to invite him out for a drive, away from his girlfriend and colleagues. in the car, george finally confessed. he and ana were partners in more ways than one. were these quick trysts that they were having, or was this a deep, emotional connection? >> i never got an indication from dr. blumenschein that it was a deep connection. it was just a fling. >> reporter: george told the lieutenant the affair went on for a year and a half. he said it was a casual thing, but sometimes when they travelled to professional conferences, they'd share a room. a sort of co-workers with

in fact, the day he got sick, he'd stopped at ana's on the way to work. >> they go upstairs. they have a sexual liaison. >> reporter: he carried her up the stairs. that sounds like kind of romantic, not a casual, "i'm not into this." >> they were having some sort of a romantic, casual, sexual, romantic thing going on. >> they split a shot of vodka before they left for m.d. anderson. >> reporter: to investigators, this prestigious hospital was looking more and more like the setting of a soapy daytime drama, drama that changed the shape of the investigation. >> any time you have a love triangle the different points, the vertices of that triangle, are going to be the ones you look at. you have evette. maybe she's mad because she's got a cheating boyfriend, and she wants to get revenge. and you have ana, who's the other woman. >> reporter: poking around george blumenschein's professional life had led investigators right back to his private life, giving them a dramatic new theory of the crime. >> coming up, one secret is out, but there are many more. >> who has the motive? it's the person who isn't getting what they want, who has to have what they know they can't.

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>> reporter: the first big break in the investigation into who poisoned george blumenschein came when the doctor finally admitted he was a cheater. he was carrying on an affair with his esteemed research partner, ana maria gonzalez,

while going home to his girlfriend, evette toney. investigators went back to talk to evette. evette did have a motive. her guy is having an affair with another doctor. >> the thing about evette is she didn't know about this affair until after blumenschein was poisoned. >> evette toney is so naive and so clueless as to what's going on, she says, "yeah, no, no, there's nothing funny going on. they're really good friends. i've asked him before and he's told me no." she doesn't know what's going on. >> reporter: she told investigatiors that george only fessed up about the affair a few weeks after he was poisoned. so with evette essentially cleared again, investigators turned to the other sharp point of this love triangle, dr. gonzalez. and george had some interesting things to say. as he told it, in the weeks before his poisoning, ana's affections intensified. she called and texted him

the same things he owned. >> buying the same type of car that he has, buying the same type of watch he mentions. she buys herself the exact same luggage. >> reporter: after he was hospitalized, george believed ana might be behind the poisoning, but he kept his suspicions quiet until pressed by investigators. george broke off the affair with ana, but never told her why. instead, he decided to secretly record their calls. >> i feel that, you know, i helped you, a lot. and i feel completely betrayed. the fact that you and i, you know, slept together, it's out of the picture. it's the friendship that hurt, because i trusted you. that's what hurts. >> reporter: george later gave the recordings to investigators, and in those calls, they heard a woman distraught over the lover she couldn't have and jealous of the woman who had him. >> it's just not worth it anymore. it's too late, you know. as i say, she won. you know, go have a kid, have a good life.

>> you listen to that, you can hear it in her voice. she says, "she won, she won." >> it's too late. she won. >> reporter: she needed dr. blumenschein to continue her research. they had a special bond. why would she want him dead? >> little did dr. blumenschein know how special that bond was that she wanted. who has the motive? it's the person who isn't getting what they want, who has to have what they know they can't. that's her. she wanted more. >> reporter: and it turns out, prosecutors thought ana had opportunity, too. she had access to ethylene glycol in her lab. and she and george had been together the whole day he got sick, giving her plenty of chances to slip him the poison. on may 29th, 2013, police arrested ana on charges of aggravated assault.

ana's patients didn't believe it. >> i didn't understand it. that was devastating for me. she was what held me together. >> she's incapable of that. she heals people. >> reporter: last fall, ana's trial began. the courtroom was filled with family and patients there to support her. she is so highly accomplished, she is about 100 pounds, she doesn't exactly look like a killer. did you worry that the jury would have a hard time convicting someone like dr. gonzalez? >> worried about it every night and every day. holy smokes, this is a doctor. who in their right mind can look at her and think this is someone that was capable of doing such unimaginable things? >> reporter: prosecutors told the jury how this so-called casual affair with george blumenschein wasn't so casual to ana. >> and it led to her absolute

obsession. >> reporter: a string of colleagues testified she couldn't contain her feelings for george. >> it seemed like ana was very infatuated with dr. blumenschein. >> whenever we discussed any topic, really, within a few sentences george's name would come up. she loved him. >> i think she loved dr. blumenschein. >> reporter: the affair was the worst kept secret at m.d. anderson, according to this doctor. >> were you ever under the impression that there was more than just a work relationship between the defendant and dr. blumenschein? >> i had heard rumors, yes. >> reporter: the doctor also said she and ana weren't even close friends, but that didnt stop ana from volunteering details about the relationship. >> she told me a little bit information about their intimacy. basically, she said that they were seeing each other. >> reporter: another doctor testified about a curious conversation with ana the morning after george was hospitalized. ana told her that george was poisoned.

before doctors even confirmed it. >> she told me that george was very sick and he was in the icu, and he had ingested ethylene glycol. >> she told you that monday morning? >> monday morning. >> reporter: and the witness also recalled a conversation with ana that sounded to her like a confession. >> she then told me, while quite tearful, that she had ethylene glycol in her labs, as did most m.d. anderson. she said, "i'm going to get in so much trouble for this." >> reporter: knowing the jury would wonder about the other woman in this love triangle, the prosecution called evette toney to the stand. she testified how she only found out about the affair after george became sick. >> i felt so stupid. i mean i was -- i trusted her. i trusted him. >> reporter: the prosecution asked evette what everyone in court was thinking. why was she still with george? >> because i know the affair with tef

sum of who he really is. we're still working on our relationship. it's a work in progess. >> reporter: then evette told the jury about what happened when she confronted ana. >> did she seem to care? >> no. >> did that hurt worse? >> yes, it did. >> what did you say? >> i said, "why?" she said, "it was just sex, evette." >> reporter: but the prosecution thought it was about much more than that.

>> everything about this case is nuts. you couldn't write this script in hollywood. it's sex, lies and audiotape. >> reporter: the jury was about to go on a wild ride full of wicked plots and homicidal obsession. >> coming up, ana is the one on trial, but george is the one in the hot seat. >> i was wrong. it was the wrong thing to do. >> when "dateline" continues. i want you to stay this bright blue forever, that's why you'll stay in this drawer forever. i can't live without you, and that's why i'll never ever wash you. protect your clothes from stretching, fading and fuzz with downy fabric conditioner. fading and fuzz with downy fabric conditioner. it smooths and strengthens fibers to protect clothes from the damage of the wash. so your favorite clothes stay your favorite clothes. downy fabric conditioner. so if you have a sink, and the ship is sinking, is it a sinking sink? scrubbing bubbles toilet gel, freshens and cleans with every flush. spend less time cleaning, and more time thinking about the important things. sc johnson ...better than a manual, and my hygienist says it does. but...

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>> she became absolutely and totally obsessed with him and wanting him. >> reporter: they argued that ana, the successful doctor, had been on a downward spiral, doing crazy things to stir up trouble in george's relationship with evette. things like sending evette an unsigned letter, declaring that ana and george were having a baby together. >> the anonymous letters she's dropping off, this is all an attempt to manipulate george away from evette. >> reporter: the prosecution said the manipulation didn't end there. ana told george that evette was behind a series of threatening phone calls she received at her office. according to the prosecutor, those phone calls never happened. >> m.d. anderson has an incredibly sophisticated phone system that tracks every single call, and we have all those records. there ain't any anonymous phone calls. >> reporter: and strangest of

just a month before the poisoning, ana staged an assault on herself. she told anyone who would listen that evette orchestrated the whole thing. >> she said she worked with a private investigator to try to find out who it was. she said that they traced this person back to louisiana, and he was a relative, i believe she said a cousin, of evette toney. >> reporter: but investigator sosa told the jury he thought her wounds were actually self-inflicted. you felt that they were inconsistent with the supposed attack that had happened? >> that's correct. >> reporter: the person who'd seen ana's apparent obsession up close was the object of it, a reluctant george blumenschein took the stand. >> are you a private person? >> i would say yes. >> how private? >> very private. this is not easy. >>ep

needed george to rehash their relationship, how casual sex turned into something that almost killed him. >> it's hard saying no to her. she doesn't accept no. >> would you often tell her that this was a bad idea? >> regularly. >> reporter: george recounted how ana initiated their affair one day in his office. >> at some point, she sat on my knee. she said, "just shut up let me sit on your knee. it's not a problem." she started to kiss me on my neck. i remember what she would say, she said, "i'm going to eat your ear." >> reporter: but the prosecution didn't pretend their victim was an angel. >> well you didn't stop her. did you? >> i didn't, no. >> you cheated on evette. >> i did. i cheated on evette. it was the wrong thing to do. >> reporter: george said he was always clear with ana. he wasn't leaving evette, but ana was still demanding. >> she accused me of not returning phone calls. >> reporter: ana, according to george, went over the top with fancy gifts, like gold jewelry from columbia, and a $5,000 watch.

"well, i can get you the guys version. would you like it?" i'm like, "you know i don't want that. that's too expensive. i don't want it." and then suddenly, "i bought it for you. here it is." >> reporter: and he said she forced him to accept a thousand-dollar suit. >> i'm like, "ana, i don't want a suit that i haven't seen." "no, no, no, you need a suit." i was like, "fine. if that's what you want to do, go ahead and do it." i ended up giving it to goodwill, and i felt like it was again pushing the boundary. >> reporter: what finally pushed ana over the edge, claimed the prosecutors, was when george and evette started talking babies and marriage. george recalled ana made this bizarre offer. >> she said, "you know what, i'd have a kid with you." "well, that's kind of you to say." "no, no, no, i can have a kid with you, and i could move to europe for a year, and i can come back and you could be the uncle." and i was like, "no, thank you. that's not what we want to do." >> reporter: the prosecution argued if ana couldn't have george, no one could.

>> the defendant had a fatal attraction. >> reporter: is dr. gonzalez glenn close? >> she fits the role, without a doubt. >> she's a bunny boiler. >> reporter: and then, the prosecution had george tell the jury about the day he almost died. >> the only thing that had been strange was that cup of coffee, the coffee that i had on sunday. >> reporter: and that was the key to the prosecutions case. ana served george coffee during their morning rendezvous. it was the only thing he said he drank that day before he felt sick. >> when you started drinking it, did you notice anything about it? >> it was incredibly sweet. >> reporter: ethylene glycol has an intensely sweet flavor. george told the jury ana served the sweet coffee at her home and then brought more of it in travel mugs to the hospital. within hours of drinking it, he was lightheaded and slurring. >> i couldn't even remember who i was talking to or why i was

>> reporter: and by night, he was in the icu. >> what's so hard about reliving this part? >> because i almost died. >> reporter: to button up their case, the prosecution called a leading expert in ethylene glycol. >> based on the time frame for when symptoms appear, i would conclude that he had ingested the ethylene glycol on sunday morning. >> the only thing he drank that morning was the coffee. and it was the coffee that strangely tasted sickeningly sweet. >> reporter: according to the prosecution, ana spent the day with the man she was trying to kill, watching him deteriorate and following him as he finally drove himself to the hospital. >> we were working. >> reporter: the prosecution entered that cell phone video into evidence and told the jury

ana was right there next to george, smiling, pretending to help when she knew full well what was wrong. >> coming up -- now, it's the defense's turn. the case against ana? >> nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, nada. >> will the jury see it that way?

>> reporter: as the case against dr. ana maria gonzalez unfolded, she stood stoic, in a suit that seemingly overwhelmed her frame. nadine eidman, her former patient and now friend, came to court with ana each day. >> she just held on to her emotions, because she didn't want to fall apart in front of her family. but we get back in the car, and we'd would cry. we would pray, we would -- i'd scream. >> reporter: but now it was ana's defense team's turn to hit back. derek hollingsworth, andy drumheller and billy belk were ana's attorneys. they called her devious, dangerously deadly, diabolical. "fatal attraction." do you think that that started to stick with the jury. >> well, i mean, that was clearly what their goal was.

i thought that the prosecutors' theory of the case, this diabolical killer, was a bit of an overreach. >> reporter: certainly, the defense told the jury, ana cared for george, but not in the outrageous, homicidal way the prosecution claimed. >> this case is about a consenting consensual relationship between two peers. it's not a case of fatal attraction. >> reporter: the defense argued ana wasn't obsessed. she bought george gifts because she was generous. all those alleged plots were just sheer speculation. and under cross-examination, george had positive things to say about ana. >> she was a dear friend and somebody i cared about. >> reporter: as for ana becoming increasingly unhinged? george told the jury how in the days leading up to his poisoning, their casual relationship showed no signs of trouble. >> this wasn't a relationship that was in any kind of crisis on the week of january 25th, was it? >> no. >> in fact, nothing had changed in your relationship with dr. gonzalez at this point in time, had it? >> no. >> reporter: in fact, on the morning the prosecution said ana tried to poison george, he came on to

>> you actually carried her up the stairs to the bedroom she has upstairs, did you not? >> i did. >> surprise, you all have a romantic encounter when you're there, right? >> yes, sir. >> and it was one you initiated, not that she initiated that day. >> yes, sir. >> in fact, everything that happened in your relationship with this woman was consensual, wasn't it? >> yes, it was consensual. >> reporter: ana's attorneys attacked the investigation, charging that investigators dismissed the most obvious suspect too quickly. >> there can be no doubt that dr. evette toney would be a natural person of interest. and the fact of the matter is, she was never, ever investigated. >> reporter: the defense wasn't buying evette's story that she had no clue about the affair. >> you're a smart woman. >> thank you for saying that. >> aren't alarm bells going off y

was going on, and he said no. there's nothing i can do if someone's lying. >> did you ever follow him? >> no. >> did you ever think about it? >> no, it's just ridiculous. >> did it ever cross your mind? >> no. i'm sorry, i'm evette. >> reporter: then the defense flipped evette's cell phone video on its head, said it made her look suspicious. >> when she finally sees the man that she's in love with and wants to have children with she takes a cell phone video. she's not sitting next to the guy that she's been worried about all day but with her arms around him trying to comfort him and make sure he's okay. shes videoing him. it's just weird. >> reporter: and when it came to ana's behavior on that tape, the defense said she did something only an innocent person would do. she told the doctors about the coffee. >> he hadn't had anything to eat except for coffee and some cheese bread. >> don't people who commit crimes run away from the crimes scenes?

about what happened that day. >> reporter: but the defense's biggest target was the science, or lack thereof. they went after the investigation for what they thought was a huge mistake, never testing the coffee cups. >> there's no scientific evidence. there's no scientist who came in here out of their 22 witnesses who talked. look if they're right i guess you could call this the murder weapon, right? if they're right then this is the weapon, the deadly weapon that dr. gonzalez used in this case, and you don't bother to test it? give me a break. >> reporter: so they grilled that expert who testified that george could only have ingested the poison sunday morning. turns out george had been drinking wine and vodka in the days before his symptoms surfaced. the defense got the expert to concede a big point. alcohol, or in technical terms, ethanol, could throw off his findings.

he had been consuming a large amount of ethanol over a long period of time that would probably change my opinion. >> reporter: in their final words to the jury, ana's lawyers drove it home. >> what is the state's case missing? this is overly simple, but one shred of direct evidence. and there's nothing, this is nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing. nada. >> reporter: after eight long days of testimony from experts, friends, and the well-respected doctors of m.d. anderson, the case against dr. ana maria gonzalez was now in the hands of the jury. both sides paced the halls of the courthouse waiting, hopeful and anxious. then after five hours of deliberation -- >> mr. foreman, i understand the jury has reached a verdict. >> we, the jury, find the defendent ana maria gonzalez-angulo guilty of aggravated assault of a person with whom the defendant had a dating relationship as charged in the indictment. >> she's innocent.

she's a good person. >> reporter: in texas, a defendent can ask the jury to determine sentencing, as ana did. >> she was extremely kind. >> reporter: ana's patients filed in with pleas for leniency. >> she saved my life, and i always felt like she'd save a whole lot of other lives. >> reporter: ana's punishment could have been up 99 years in prison, but her character witnesses had an effect on the jury. >> you are sentenced in accordance with the terms of the jury's verdict to ten years in the texas department of criminal justice. go with the bailiff. >> reporter: ana, once among the top breast cancer doctors in the world, was now just another convict in the texas prison system. >> the medical community has definitely lost a giant. but not just us, but future generations. >> reporter: one month after she was sentenced, ana's lawyers filed an appeal. it contained statements from three women claiming they'd also had affairs with george,

statements ana's lawyers said the jury should have heard. >> there could be other suspects out there that the police never investigated. >> reporter: today george blumenschein is back at m.d. anderson, the world-class cancer center, treating patients and researching cures for lung cancer. in prison, dr. gonzalez is helping cancer patients in a support group. but she surrendered her medical license after the trial, and it's uncertain if she'll ever be able to practice medicine in the united states again. >> she took an oath to not hurt anyone, to do no harm. in the hippocratic oath, it actually says, "you shall not administer poison." she violated that in the worst possible way. she spun a web of lies, of deceit, of manipulation. and in this case, now she's paying for it. >> that's all for now. i'm lester holt. thanks for joining us.

this sunday, president trump then and now. then, on nato. >> it's obsolete and we're paying too much money. okay? that's my instincts. >> and now? >> i said it was obsolete. it's no longer obsolete. >> then on syria. >> if we did nothing, if we did absolutely nothing, we would be in great shape. and now? >> tonight i ordered a targeted military strike on the airfield in syria. >> then on china. >> i will direct my secretary of the treasury to label china a currency manipulator. >> and now, the president says they're not currency manipulators. do these shifts represent a change in mood or a change in strategy? i'll talk to two leaders of the senate armed services committee, republican john mccain, and

administration plans to get tougher on illegal immigration. >> it is fair to say that the definition of "criminal" has not changed. but where on the spectrum of criminality we operate has changed. >> homeland security secretary is with us. you have to understand that the bible is our constitution. >> on this easter sunday, we bring together three religious leaders and ask, can we really separate religion and politics? joining me for insight and analysis are andrea mitchell of nbc news, mark leibovich of "the new york times," former republican senator john sununu and heather mcgee of demos action. welcome to sunday. it's "meet the press." >> announcer: from nbc news in washington, the longest running television show in history, celebrating its 70th year, this is "meet the press" with

todd. good sunday morning, happy easter to those celebrating. first, north korea last night launched a ballistic missile from its base in sinpo but it exploded on the launch pad. vice president mike pence spoke to american troops at a breakfast there this morning. i'm joined by juan zuarte. juan, the failure, "the new york times" this morning leans hard into the idea that the failure wasn't necessarily a north korean failure but maybe sabotage and possibly sabotage from the united states. what do you say? >> this is a missile program that's replete with failures. we don't know yet, it could be sabotage, it could be poor engineering, just bad luck. that's the nature ofse