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Defense will say he is innocent by reason of insanity.  I don't have a smoking gun.  I need to destroy his character prove he was completly sane at the time he commissioned the murder.

I don't have an answer for you :(   A more interesting question to me would be, "How can they prove that he is insane."  I don't see anything in his conversation that leads me to think he is insane.  Perhaps you could make a case for extremely jealous, but I doubt that adds up to insanity. You might even have trouble making the case for murder; not only do you not have a smoking gun, you don't really have all that much evidence.  It sure sounds like he arranged to have her killed, and he certainly sounds like a sicko, but I don't think this would clear "reasonable doubt" (I'm presuming we're trying him in the US).  It's interesting that his defense is conceding that he did it since you don't have all that much to go on.

Do we think he did it?  Of course.  Can we prove it?  I'm not sure.  I'll be looking to see if other people who answer are more certain.

The answer to whether we think he did it all hangs on one line that the Duke utters to his guest in the poem:  "I gave commands; then all smiles stopped together."  This, depending on how you interpret "commands" and "all smiles stopped", is basically a confession that he sent someone out to kill his wife.  Personally, I believe with sure confidence that he killed his wife, and that those lines are a flat-out confession of that crime.  He is so egotistical and desirous of total and complete homage and worship that he feels he can say this with no repercussions, just like he felt he could have his wife killed simply because she found joy in other things and people besides himself.  So, your case depends on whether you can prosecute based on a confession, AND in proving, as you mentioned, that he is sane.  The visitor to the Duke would have to be willing to testify, not only to the confession, but to the calculated and planned way he explained things.  After all, his entire confession and tirade was a not-so-subtle warning to his next wife that she had better behave in line, or he has no qualms about having her killed.

As his defense lawyer, you might want to bring in "character witnesses" that will claim he is sane; perhaps the artist, good chums and buddies, and anyone else willing to testify that he has a sound mind.  They will have to testify that he is sane, rational, and completely functional.  But you will have to prove that he is immensely jealous, domineering, proud of his title, and that he has a fascination with utter and total control; these are the driving forces behind his "commands", and you will need to show that he has the means and motive to have someone killed and get away with it.

It's an interesting assignment; I hope that those thoughts help a bit, to give you some direction.  Good luck!