The courthouse in Franklin, Tenn., is normally a rather sleepy place.

But for this trial, the place was abuzz with media.

They talked about the beautiful woman, the handsome plastic surgeon accused of supplying and injecting the shot that triggered her, and death.

(In court)

Kim Helper: This defendant unlawfully distributed schedule two drug oxycodone. And that drug caused Lesa Buchanan's death. Thank you.

The defense was just as adamant that Lesa’s death, while tragic, was not the good doctor's fault.

David Raybin: There's no direct evidence that Christ Koulis distributed any drugs to Lesa Buchanan on the fourth of July that caused her to die. There's no circumstantial evidence that he did so. He's not guilty. Thank you.

The figure of Christ Koulis seemed rather unimposing, flanked there in the courtroom by his attorneys. But the prosecutors wanted jurors to see another side of Koulis: the doctor who controlled Lesa, in part by providing ways to keep her youthful good looks. She and a good friend had both benefited from his efforts.

Kim Helper: Did he give both you and Lesa injections of Botox?

Buchanan's ex-wife: Yes.

At the same time, said her family, he also played on Lesa’s insecurities.

Tara Bentley: He just went straight across the circle of all of us and just went right up to her and started pointing at her forehead. He's like, "Oh, my gosh. I've got to fix those lines. Those lines are showing up again." And it just took every-- all the laughter right out of her face.

Peggy Roberts: Christ used money to dangle the carrot. You know, “I’ll help you do this. I'll help you do that.”

Yes, Koulis had shown concern for his beautiful girlfriend, but the prosecutors suggested that as she lay fighting for her life, he wasn't concerned enough to tell ER doctors the truth.

Prosecutor: Did Mr. Koulis tell you whether or not he observed any kind of I.V. drug paraphernalia or anything in the apartment?

Dr. Steven Ragle: No. When we discussed I.V. drug use, he said he thought she was clean and that there was nothing in the house to perform those acts with.

Of course there had been.

Jurors saw photos of the copious store of needles and syringes found lying in full view in Lesa’s apartment.

So if Koulis was lying about that, what else was he lying about.

What about those symmetrical needle tracks?

Prosecutor: Did you have an opinion as to whether or not those marks were reflective of self injection?

Dr. Steven Ragle: I felt that those marks were placed by someone who knew the anatomy of the area.

Someone, the state inferred, who could have been a doctor. The state also tried to tie the oxycodone in some of the syringes to Koulis. Witnesses testified that oxycodone was difficult to obtain.

Kim Helper, prosecutor: Can you tell the jury what the level of difficulty would be for someone who was trying to buy Oxycodone online?

Juan Morales: It is pretty difficult, because most people that are looking for that type a drug know the DEA monitors that drug, or the sale of it. So it is fairly difficult.

So how did Lesa get it? Koulis, of course, the state suggested.

The state argued that Lesa's body had been so ravaged by drug abuse that oxycodone, supplied and injected by Koulis, pushed her over the edge.

The medical examiner testified about the pre-existing damage to Lesa’s lungs caused by injecting crushed up drugs.

But he testified that long term usage wouldn't have killed her that day. It was the oxycodone that triggered her death -- the oxycodone that the state claimed was supplied and delivered by Christ Koulis.

Kim Helper: So we're clear, is it your determination based on your experience that the cause of death in this case, that but for the injection of the oxycodone, Lesa Buchanan would not have died?

Dr. Tom Deering: That's correct.

The case rested on who had provided that injection. As the courtroom sat in hushed silence, the state then showed the steamy sex tape, hoping it would provide enough of a clue. The most important moment was the one captured after Lesa Buchanan had received what may have been her last injection.

Koulis was right there with her.

Det. Anderson: And number 2-19. You see miss Buchanan, with her hand upon the gauze on her left groin area and the defendant positioned above her -- looking downward.

There could be no doubt, said the prosecutor, Koulis knew what she was doing.

But was it he who supplied the drug, he who injected it moments before this scene was recorded?

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