An Alabama chiropractor accused of trying to kill his wife by contaminating her medication with lead is asserting that he was also a target of poisoning. 

Brian Mann, 36, is facing charges of attempted murder after officials claim he used lead from a construction project to taint his wife’s medication, according to court documents obtained by the Hartselle Enquirer. 

Mann is alleged to have started administering pills to his wife, Hannah Pettey, 25, in the summer of 2021, pretending they were to boost her immune system, as they were navigating a heated divorce, according to her lawyer.

Pettey was reportedly hospitalized for two months in what authorities believed was a plot by Mann to “intentionally cause her to unwittingly ingest particles of lead.” 

Mann was subsequently arrested in September 2022. 

Mann’s defense team has looked to block evidence from being presented in court, reportedly claiming the collection was done so in an improper manner, with the “procedure to extract the alleged lead from [Mann’s wife’s] urine was done in the back parking lot of the Hartselle Police Department using a five-gallon bucket and a strainer,” according to the Hartselle Enquirer. 

Both the prosecuting attorney and Mann’s defense team did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.   

Mann was released on $500,000 bond and faces trial after pleading not guilty to attempted murder.