A man accused of killing his wife says he defended himself.

Dan Warren Edwards, 59, formerly of 3204 Collaroy Road in Waxhaw, is charged with first-degree murder; his wife, Logan Drake Edwards, was smothered to death on Oct. 31, 2008, and police say Dan Edwards killed her on their bed by covering her face with a pillow.

Monday, Dan Edwards took the stand and recounted for the jury much of what he gave in his written confession submitted last week.

Dan Edwards’ attorney, Richard Culler, painted Logan Edwards out to be a violent woman and proposed that Dan Edwards reacted to her instigation.

“If he thought that there was a reasonable chance that he was going to be assaulted, it could be voluntary manslaughter,” Culler told the judge.

Prosecuting attorney Steve Higdon objected to that line of reasoning.

“We’re putting Logan Edwards on trial, not Dan Edwards,” he said. “We are so far removed from what happened (on Oct. 31, 2008) that I don’t even know how we got here.”

Friday, prosecutors showed a video in which Dan Edwards acts out how he said he killed his wife.

Judge Jack Hooks repeatedly sent the jury out of the room to hear witnesses on the record, but away from the jury in order to determine if their testimony was relevant to the murder charge.

Culler called Logan Edwards’ first husband, Roger Burbage, to testify and he called Logan Edwards “high strung” and “hyper.” He testified that Logan Edwards would “get in his face” when they argued and shout or scream at him.

Higdon asked Burbage only three questions: “Did you ever assault her? ... Did you ever push her down and break four of her ribs? ... Did you ever smother her with a pillow?”

To each question, Burbage quickly replied, “no.”

The next witness, Tony Short, testified that he saw Logan Edwards at a bar where she said she “was going to smear (Dan Edwards’) name and break him.”

He said he saw Logan Edwards hit Dan Edwards in the parking lot that same evening.

Dan Edwards’ first wife, Sandy Edwards, testified that her former husband “never got physical,” “never lost control,” and “never threatened to hurt me in any way.”

Dan Edwards will continue to testify Tuesday at 9:30 a.m.; he had not been cross-examined Monday.