Ana Trujillo, 45, is on trial in the Texas city for murdering Alf Stefan Andersson.
Prosecutors say she killed him during an argument at his condominium in June.
Trujillo's lawyer said she was attacked by Mr Andersson and that she defended herself using the only weapon she had available.
Mr Andersson was originally from Sweden Mr Andersson, 59, was a native of Sweden who had become a US citizen and was a University of Houston professor and researcher.
Sarah Mickelson, the leading prosecutor in the case, said Trujillo had a history of being angry and aggressive in her contentious on-again, off-again relationship with Mr Andersson.
On the night Mr Andersson was killed, the couple were out drinking before they returned to his apartment, where the two began arguing, according to the prosecution.
Ms Mickelson told jurors during the confrontation, Mr Andersson was injured and fell on his back.
The court heard Trujillo sat on him, preventing him from getting up, and repeatedly struck him in the face and head with her shoe.
The shoe was described by prosecutors as a size nine, closed-toe blue suede pump, with a five-and-a-half inch (14cm) heel.
"The one thing we can be sure of in this case is that Ana Trujillo is not a victim," Ms Mickelson said.
Trujillo says she acted in self-defence "Ana Trujillo struck Stefan Andersson 25 times with the heel of her shoe while he lay on the floor and bled out."
Trujillo's attorney, John Carroll, described Mr Andersson as an alcoholic who would become violent toward his girlfriend.
He said on the night of Mr Andersson's death, Trujillo planned to leave him and go to a friend's house, but Mr Andersson slammed her against a wall, grabbed her and threw her over a couch.
"She couldn't breathe. And she was begging and begging (Andersson) to let her go," the lawyer said.
"He started suffocating her. She did the only thing she could do, take a weapon at her disposal, which was a shoe, and started hitting him."
Trujillo is currently free on a $100,000 bond.
The trial continues.
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