For the first time, many were given their first chance to hear Claudia Hoerig tell her story in person on Tuesday. 

Jurors in a Trumbull County courtroom began hearing Claudia Hoerig's side of the story as the defense began presenting its case in her murder trial.

Following a long weekend break, testimony is resumed Tuesday afternoon as the 54-year-old woman tries to explain why she admitted fatally shooting her husband in 2007 at their Newton Falls home.

Prosecutors wrapped up their case Friday after spending the week calling medical experts, police investigators, and other witnesses.

Claudia Hoerig was the first witness called to the stand and began by recounting portions of how she came to live in New York, followed by how she met Karl Hoerig. 

The more than three hours of testimony started at the very beginning, from Claudia meeting Karl in 2005. 

"I thought it was weird that a man from Ohio would contact a woman in New York City," Hoerig testified. "He showed up all dressed up, really nice. It would've impressed any woman."

"We had a good time, I took him to a lot of places in New York," she said.  

Hoerig relived, according to her testimony, attending a pajama with Karl for their second date and being told to dress in lingerie; "I felt like a hooker."

Just 50 days after they met Claudia testified that they tied the knot, "I was going along with what he wanted." 

At that point, Hoerig said she was fired from her job in New York and decided to move to Ohio, where at least she thought she would have a roof over her head and food to eat. 

From there Hoerig recounted the life she says she lived with Karl, where she catered to his demands. 

"I paid for everything but the mortgage and the electricity. We didn't discuss it, he just had a way of making me pay for it,' she said from the stand. 

Hoerig said that catered to the whims of her husband because she "wanted to make him happy." 

A short while later, Hoerig says she discovered that she was pregnant. 

"It was a surprise. I had been married 10 years before and never got pregnant. I was already 40 and didnt think I could," she testified. That pregnancy, according to Hoerig, ended in a miscarriage. 

Hoerig recounted another occasion later in the marriage where she got pregnant a second time- that one which also ended in a miscarriage. 

Hoerig testified that both times Karl argued with her to get an abortion because he did not want children. 

Claudia Hoerig said in her testimony that as the couple's marital issues got worse, she felt as though she needed to help Karl. 

"I thought that maybe he had a lot of issues that I could help him overcome these issues. I had an inclination to be a psychologist." 

From there, Claudia testified about two separate suicide attempts- one which resulted in Karl locking up several guns so they were out of her reach, and then a second attempt using sleeping pills which allegedly had her hospitalized for five days. 

Just days after her release from a psychiatric ward, Claudia testified that she was back on match.com looking for a new boyfriend. 

Hoerig said that she exchanged numerous emails with a man named Bruce. However, she said she broke things off with Bruce in early March. 

At that point, Hoerig testified that she contacted her former boss from New York, and planned to return to the city and take back her life before Karl. 

"That gave me a light at the end of the tunnel," she testified. 

Just days later, Hoerig said that she discovered she was pregnant, 

"I thought, I've done so much damage to our marriage and now me telling him I'm pregnant, the chances of me fixing this marriage are not good," Hoerig said. "I really thought that my only way out of this was to kill myself." 

Hoerig said she typed a letter to Karl Hoerig and emailed it to him, as well as sent it to several of his friends, hoping they would advise him to fix his marriage. 

Hoerig said on the stand that she had two plans- plan a was to talk to Karl and make things work between them, plan b was to kill herself. 

That, according to her testimony, is why she bought a gun, so that she could kill herself. 

"My hands are small I wanted to know if the gun would fall out of my hands. I wanted to have the feel of that gun" she testified. 

Hoerig continued the discussion by saying that she did not plan on telling Karl that she was pregnant, but then said, "it was the emotions that got the best of me." 

Hoerig recounted telling Karl she was pregnant at which point she said, "He um, he um, he hit me. He grabbed me by the throat and threw me on the bed." 

From there Hoerig testified that Karl regained his composure and asked her to leave the room so he could shower. Hoerig said she walked through the home until she found a bottle of moonshine.

"I start thinking this didn't work, I'm really going to have to try to kill myself. And I start thinking of other ways to convince him to let me have the baby," she testified. "I want him to realize that I'm really desperate. I want him to take me seriously. 

At that point Hoerig said she stood outside the door to their bedroom, waiting with her gun. According to her testimony, when she heard Karl get close to the bedroom door, she put the gun to her head. 

"When I put that gun to my head, I didn't really think at that moment that I was going to kill myself," she testified. 

She said that Karl reacted without emotion, saying, "He grabbed my wrist and my throat. He grabbed me. He just grabbed me. He pushed me and I fell back and I hit the wall."

Hoerig said that at that point, Karl told her to go downstairs in the basement to shoot herself, so that she didn't splatter his paintings. 

"I was very angry, I thought that's it there's no more talking. If I'm going to die, if he's going to get his wish, if this baby is going to die- all three of us are going to die right here right now," she testified. 

From there, she explained that she remembers positioning herself behind Karl, pointing at him, and pulling the trigger. 

"He died easily," she said on the stand. "His body just went boom." 

Hoerig said that "picking through her brain" she recalls walking down the stairs until she was standing next to Major Karl Hoerig to shoot him. 

But she said she "knew" that the first shot killed him because "the position that he fell in, he never moved. "

The defendant continued by stating that right after she "killed him" she went back to her bedroom to a rig that she had built to help her commit suicide. 

 "I pulled the trigger once it was very difficult, very very difficult. Nothing happened," she said. 

Then Hoerig described her flight to Brazil, and how her family allegedly counseled her to flee the country. 

Hoerig said she repeatedly tried to commit suicide after killing Karl but that "something always happened". 

Finishing up their day, the defense attorney asked Claudia if she had planned to kill Karl. 

"No. Had he not said that he would be alive, and I would be dead," she replied. 

Hoerig will return to the witness stand Wednesday morning for cross-examination.