KATV reports that a Pine Bluff jury Thursday convicted Patricia Hill, 69, of a reduced charge of second-degree murder for fatally shooting her husband Frank, 65, for resubscribing to a satellite TV porn channel that he watched in a shed described as his man cave.
Hill, who’d been charged with capital murder, just snapped, defense lawyer Bill James said, because of her moral outrage at the discovery her husband had resubscribed to a channel she’d canceled. She was not in her right mind when she flew into a rage, a psychologist who was a witness for the defense said.
The jury began deliberations on sentence Tuesday night. UPDATE: The court said she was sentenced to 16 years in prison. Her attorney Bill James, said a problem arose after the guilty verdict on discovery that an exhibit had not gone back to the jury room, potentially creating the possibility of a mistrial. He negotiated with the prosecutor and they struck a bargain on the 16-year sentence. Under the law, James said, she’d likely have to serve a minimum of four years.
Hill contended she’d fired at her husband’s feet, but shots hit him in his lower and upper body, the police had said.
The couple, married 17 years, had drifted apart, said Hill. She said he spent most of his time in a backyard shed watching football and other things on TV and drinking beer. “He had his pee bucket out there,” said the account in the Democrat-Gazette.
Hill said she had told her husband she couldn’t tolerate pornography, which she described as “adultery with pictures.” When she confronted him shortly before she shot him, he reportedly said, “What’s the harm?”