RADFORD -- It was the herb echinacea -- not the drug morphine -- that two people saw photographer Bob Shell squeeze from an eyedropper into Marion Franklin's wine glass the day she died, Shell said Wednesday as he testified in his defense.

Shell was on the witness stand for nearly 4¹₂ hours giving his account of the night Franklin died after a photo shoot at his studio and explaining why that account differed so much from what he told police in the days shortly after Franklin's death.

Shell, 60, is charged with felony homicide, defiling a corpse and several sex and drug charges in the death of 19-year-old Franklin.

He called 911 at 7:03 p.m. June 3, 2003, to report that Franklin was unresponsive at his studio on West Main Street in Radford. A medical examiner has testified in the trial that Franklin died of a morphine overdose.

Susanne Coutts and Ruben Bowman, two bondage practitioners who were at Shell's studio that day for a photo shoot, have testified that Shell took a small bottle out of his shirt pocket and squeezed a dropper full of liquid into Franklin's wine glass. At some point he squeezed a few drops of the same liquid into Coutts' glass, they said.

Coutts and Bowman said they understood the liquid to be morphine, though they couldn't recall who said so.

Asked by Commonwealth's Attorney Chris Rehak why, in the four years since Franklin died and in three taped police interviews jurors have seen and heard during the trial, Shell never thought to mention the echinacea bottle, Shell said he forgot about it.

"I was having a lot of problems remembering things in the first few days after Marion died," Shell said.

He has suffered from memory problems since he had a stroke more than a decade ago, Shell said. Stress aggravates his trouble remembering things, he said.

As Rehak questioned Shell, the pair often clashed.

When Rehak misstated something Shell had said as he testified, Shell snapped back: "That's a complete mischaracterization of my testimony. Don't misrepresent my testimony."

The defendant and prosecutor had a contentious exchange, and at one point Shell said he would not answer the question Rehak had asked. Circuit Court Judge Joey Showalter tapped the bench and ordered Shell to answer.

From the stand, Shell gave his account of the events of the day Franklin died:

After a photo shoot, he said, Franklin lay down on the studio's bed to take a nap. Shell left her alone as he worked with Coutts and Bowman until the pair left about 5 p.m.

When they left, he got in bed with Franklin and woke her up. After they had sex, Franklin said she was going to the bathroom and disappeared for a little while. When she returned to the bed, Shell got up and went to the bathroom.

When he returned to the bed, Shell said, Franklin said she wanted to sleep. Her speech was slurred, so he asked if she had taken anything. She said she took what was in "that bottle" and made a pinching motion, he said.

He said he assumed she meant the eyedropper bottle of morphine that was prescribed to his mother, who had died two months earlier. He kept the bottle in a locked tool chest in his studio, he said, but apparently left it unlocked that day.

After Franklin went back to sleep, Shell said, he walked to Sonic, picked up some food, then returned to the studio and "puttered around" a while.

At some point, he said, he returned to the area of the studio where the bed was.

Franklin, who always snored when she slept, was quiet, he said. She didn't appear to be breathing and he couldn't feel her pulse, so he ran to get his stethoscope. When he couldn't detect a heartbeat, he called 911. After making the call, he said, he tried cardiopulmonary resuscitation on Franklin.

Asked by Rehak why rescue workers would have testified Franklin was cool to the touch when they arrived, Shell said she "was always cool to the touch."

Asked why police never seized an echinacea bottle as they searched his studio, Shell said "there's a lot of stuff they took that they did not log in."

Shell said items, including photos and e-mails, went missing while his computers and camera were in police custody.

When police provided him with a copy of his hard drive, Shell said that some e-mails he and Franklin exchanged didn't show up. Shell said that those e-mails would have shown that he and Franklin were in a relationship, something Rehak has disputed. In fact, Shell said Wednesday, they were in love and he planned to move into her apartment.

Photos Shell took early the day Franklin died and later that evening went missing from his camera's microdrive while it was in police custody, he said.

The photo Rehak has called the last photo Shell took of Franklin the day she died -- a photo of Shell touching Franklin -- was taken shortly after they had sex, Shell said, but was not the final picture.

The 6:53 p.m. time stamp on that photo is incorrect, Shell said. Rehak has relied on that time stamp for some of the charges against Shell, saying Franklin had already died when Shell had sex with her and touched her.

"The clock on that camera jumped around," Shell said.

The clock was accurate when checked by police later, though.

The case is expected to go to the jury today after Rehak and defense attorney Jonathon Venzie present their closing arguments.