"I did

not kill my wife," murder suspect Jim Watson told a Fulton County

jury in a moment of high drama Friday afternoon.

Taking the

stand to defend himself against charges that he murdered his wife Beverley

five years ago, Jim Watson, 39, said that he has never hit, choked, or

pushed his wife.

"All I

wish to say is that I did not harm or kill my wife," Watson said,

as he locked eyes with the jury.

"I have

never abused my wife at any time," Watson said in testimony Friday

afternoon.

He also denied

stalking Beverley where she worked although he said he would visit her

about three or four times a week at her various work places "to eat

lunch."

Jim Watson,

a locksmith and former police officer who lives southeast of Fayetteville,

explained how he got scratches on his face that police noted were covered

wife's disappearance.

Watson said

he received the scratches on his face when Beverley, 33, either threw

her keys at him or she scratched him during an argument at their southeast

Fayette home the cold night she disappeared in January 1997.

Several witnesses

for the prosecution testified previously that at a New Year's Eve party

in the late 1980s Jim Watson pulled a shotgun and pointed it at his wife

in a bedroom of the couple's home. Jurors also heard testimony that he

also pointed a handgun at his wife in the couple's garage.

Watson said

after the argument that he went to the garage to play with his dogs. While

there he heard the door chime and assumed that his wife had gone outside

to the front porch to "cool off" after their last argument.

Watson also

testified that during their last argument he grabbed his wife's arm as

she headed toward the garage, hoping to stop her from leaving.

"I grabbed

her arm and told her she didn't need to leave ... because it was so late....

And that's the last time I had seen her."

After Beverley

Watson returned home from work the day she disappeared, the original plan

was for the couple to take their young son Todd to the movies, Jim Watson

said. But Jim Watson said he had called Movies 10 earlier in the day and

learned the movie they wanted to go see was not going to be playing that

evening.

When the couple

had their last argument before she disappeared, neither Ashley nor Todd

were present at the home, Jim Watson said. Ashley had previously planned

to spend the night at a friends' house he said. Todd Watson was picked

up by Jim Watson's sister, who Jim Watson said "had volunteered to

take Todd to the Discovery Zone." Todd Watson spent the night at

his aunt's house, witnesses have said.

Watson testified

that when he told police his wife was missing two days later, he was not

worried for her safety.

Watson said

he began to worry about his wife's safety after he learned she had not

reported for work Monday, Jan. 20, at Whitewater County Club. He said

his wife would sometimes leave the home for several days without telling

him where she went.

Watson also

denied that after he last saw his wife that evening that he was outside

the home at one time. A former neighbor of the Watsons previously testified

that he saw Watson outside of the home "carrying something under

his right arm" around 3:20 a.m. That witness said he was sure of

the time he saw it because he wanted to get back home just before his

wife's alarm went off at 3:33 a.m.

After work

at FAA in Hampton, the witness had no more than two drinks at a bar and

then dined at a Waffle House before returning to his home and noticing

Watson in a lighted area next to the Watson's house, the jurors heard.

Watson also

testified that he was not aware his wife had hired a lawyer and filed

for divorce in 1996. She dropped the charge in 1997 against her attorney's

advice.

Watson also

testified that he could not remember if his wife's car was clean or dirty

the night she disappeared. Previous witnesses have testified that there

was a coating of dust on the car. Prosecutors want to tie that dust to

the dirt and gravel road near where Beverley Watson's remains were found

in march of 1999.

Watson choked

back tears when his attorney asked him how the death of his wife affected

him and their children.

"It's

been very tough trying to raise two kids alone ... Beverley and I were

high school sweethearts," Watson said. "She was my best friend

many, many years before we got married... so it's been hard."

"It has

been very tough on both of them," he said, adding that their daughter,

Ashley, recently graduated from high school.

Defense attorneys

planned to play a video tape of an interview taped by WSB-TV with Watson

after his wife's disappearance. Superior Court T. Jackson Bedford ruled

Friday that the tape could be played in front of the jury but without

any audio because during those interviews Watson indicated he was innocent,

and such statements are inadmissible in court.

Jim Watson

explained that he did not know his wife's friends very well because she

"always kept her friends separate from our social life."

Assistant District

Attorney Sheila Ross asked Watson if he remembered telling a Union City

police officer "that you could not afford a divorce and Beverley

would take you to the cleaners?"

"No, I

do not recall that," Watson said.

Watson's testimony

had not concluded by press time Friday.

In earlier

testimony Thursday, a medical examiner concluded that Watson's wife was

murdered.

While Beverley

Watson's cause of death was undetermined after her remains were examined,

she was likely murdered, according to a Fulton County medical examiner

testifying in the murder trial against Beverley's husband Jim Thursday

afternoon.

Dr. Carol Terry

said that was her opinion based on the location where Beverley Watson's

remains were found, 22 miles from her southeast Fayette County home in

a heavily wooded area in south Fulton County in March 1999, more than

two years after her disappearance.

The prosecution

wrapped up its case Thursday afternoon with the testimony of Dr. Terry,

who said she felt it was likely Beverley Watson was killed and her body

was "dumped" off Red Mill Road in south Fulton County.

On cross examination,

Terry admitted she could not say to a medical certainty exactly how Beverley

Watson died because of how few of her remains were found. "Not all

forms of death are reflected in the bones." Terry said.

Terry said

her opinion that Beverley Watson was murdered was not based on anything

but where and how her remains were discovered and the following examination

of those remains.

Beverley Watson's

remains were identified through dental records, and Terry said she was

certain the identification was correct.

Defense attorney

Lee Sexton pointed out they could have used DNA testing to prove the skull

found at the scene was indeed part of Beverley Watson's remains.

"I am

100 percent certain this is Beverley Watson," Terry said.

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