EVERETT — A Snohomish County jury won’t hear about the ricin discovered inside the house of an Everett man accused of beating his wife with a two-pound barbell and holding her captive for several hours.

A judge Monday said that he didn’t want jurors to speculate whether or not Jeffery Marble tried to poison his wife with the deadly toxin. Marble isn’t charged with poisoning his wife. Any testimony about the ricin would be prejudicial to the defendant, Superior Court Judge Gerald Knight said.

“This is not a ricin case. This is going to be a clear-cut assault by barbell (case),” Knight said Monday before a jury was selected.

Marble, 49, may still face possible federal charges in connection with the toxin. It’s against federal law to possess or manufacture ricin. FBI agents and federal prosecutors continue to investigate.

Trace amounts of ricin were found in Marble’s house and his wife’s urine. He allegedly told police he’d looked up recipes to turn castor seeds into ricin. He used a mortar and pestle to grind up the seeds in the family home, according to court papers.

Federal authorities were in the courtroom Monday as lawyers gave their opening statements.

Marble allegedly told investigators he blacked out and didn’t remember what happened on June 1, 2009.

His attorney, Philip Sayles, said Monday that the case isn’t clear cut. He told jurors to focus on inconsistencies in the statements that the woman gave to police. He also called into question the woman’s allegations that she was hit some 30 times, pointing out to jurors that she didn’t stay overnight in the hospital.

Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Valerie Shapiro told jurors that Marble was a “ticking time bomb.” The family’s finances were in shambles. Marble had kept the problems secret, but two days before the attack a bank official came to their home and informed his wife that their house was in foreclosure and scheduled to be sold at auction.

Marble told her that the bank had made a mistake. The woman had been sick for more than a year and turned bill-paying duties over to her husband. She was shocked that they were in such debt, she said.

The woman told jurors she was attacked as she was leaving to go to the bank to sort out their finances.

She said she was first struck in the head with a pink barbell. More blows followed. She said her husband smashed her head against a slate floor and shoved her body into a metal railing. She eventually convinced him to let her go to the bathroom. She tried to escape out a window but her husband pulled her down and continued to hit her, the woman said.

Shapiro showed jurors the bloodied and cracked barbell and pointed out hair still wrapped around the rubber-coated weight.

Jurors were shown pictures of the woman taken about a week after the assault. Her arms were covered in bruises. She also had bruising on her face, legs and back. The woman required stitches to her scalp and forehead.

Marble refused to let his wife leave their home for five hours, Shapiro told jurors.

“She begged her husband of 20 years to let her go before their son came home and found her dead,” Shapiro said.

The attack only ended when the couple’s 16-year-old son returned home from school. The teen and his mother fled the house and a neighbor summoned help.

The discovery of castor seeds in the home prompted a hazardous materials incident and brought federal officials to the neighborhood.

Testimony is expected to continue today.

Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463; hefley@heraldnet.com.