Defendant won't testify in butt injection murder trial

DALLAS - A Dallas County jury is trying to reach a verdict in the botched butt injections case.

Denise ‘Wee-Wee’ Ross is on trial for murder. Prosecutors had argued she knew what she was doing and it was intentional while her defense has tried to cast doubt that she performed the procedure that killed one of her clients.

Ross was under oath on Monday when she told Judge Tammy Kemp it was her decision not to testify on her own behalf. The jury was instructed it could not use that decision in weighing guilt or innocence.

The jury began deliberating just after 3 p.m. Monday afternoon. Their task followed fiery closing statements by both prosecutors and the defense. The jury has close to a week’s worth of evidence to consider.

Ross is on trial for the death of 34-year-old Wykesha Reid in 2015. Last week prosecutors said Ross and co-defendant Jimmy “Alicia” Clarke left Reid to die at a Deep Ellum warehouse after injecting industrial-grade silicone into her backside to enhance it.

The state says Ross ran a criminal enterprise with clients, including those who drove hundreds of miles to receive illegal cosmetic injections to enhance their backsides.

"Even the people from the FDA that did the samples weren't able to match this silicone to the silicone that came from the sample with the M.E.'s with Ms. Reid,” explained defense attorney Heath Harris. “But they want to use this to tap into your emotions and make you think she had to be supplying all the silicone."

"She knew she wasn't a physician. She knew she wasn't a nurse,” said prosecutor Krystal Biggins. “She knew she shouldn't be doing these back-alley butt injections. She knew that the stuff that she was injecting into these victims was not meant to be going into their bodies."

The jury will resume deliberation first thing Tuesday morning.

If convicted, Ross could face up to 99 years in prison.

Clarke’s trial is set for a later date.