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SAN DIEGO — Jurors were asked Thursday to decide whether a county toxicologist murdered her husband to keep her drug use and office affair a secret or if he committed suicide. 

The seven-man, five-woman Superior Court jury began deliberating after two days of closing arguments. 

Kristin Rossum, 26, is accused of poisoning Gregory de Villers with a massive dose of fentanyl, a painkiller 80 times more powerful than morphine. 

His body was found in the couple’s bedroom on Nov. 6, 2000, with red rose petals scattered around him and a wedding photo propped up nearby. 

Rossum is charged with first-degree murder with special circumstances. She faces life in prison without possibility of parole if convicted. 

Prosecutors contend Rossum killed her husband to keep him from revealing to her employers at the San Diego County Medical Examiner’s office that she was a methamphetamine addict who was stealing drugs from work and having an affair with her boss, Chief Toxicologist Michael Robertson. 

In his closing argument Thursday, defense attorney Alex Loebig said there was no reason for Rossum to poison her husband, whose death was a tragic, unexpected suicide. 

The defense contended de Villers killed himself because he was despondent that his wife was about to leave him for Robertson. Loebig also said Rossum was not afraid her colleagues would learn of her affair because many of them already knew about it. 

“This idea of a secret relationship ... is malarkey. It’s not true,” he said. 

Prosecutor Dave Hendren claimed she had motive and thorough knowledge of the drug that killed him — as well as easy access to it. 

“She is a poison expert,” Hendren said in rebuttal. “Greg de Villers was killed with the perfect poison.” 

Prosecutors allege Rossum staged a suicide scene, scattering rose petals around him to mimic a scene from her favorite film, “American Beauty,” then placed a wedding photo nearby.