An Arkansas woman’s capital murder trial started Monday at the First Division Circuit Court in Little Rock, after she allegedly “flew into a rage” and killed her husband over a satellite bill.
The Pine Bluff Commercial reports that 69-year-old Patricia Hill is currently on trial for the July 2018 murder of her husband, Frank Hill. Authorities found Frank unresponsive in the shed of the couple’s Pine Bluff home, off of Donaldson Street. He later died at the Jefferson Regional Medical Center.
Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office investigators found the victim following a domestic dispute incident call. While authorities were on the way to the home, Hill called 911 and informed them she shot her husband. When they arrived to the residence, investigators found the elderly man deceased inside the shed, described as a “man cave” that he spent a lot of time in.
Patricia Hill: I need a police and an ambulance. My husband’s been shot.
911 Dispatcher: Who shot him, ma’am?
Patricia Hill: I did.
During opening statements on Monday, Deputy Prosecutor Holden Raines alleged the suspect killed her husband after noticing he ordered an adult channel, which showed up as a charge on their satellite bill. After she canceled the channel, according to Raines, an enraged Hill noticed on the following month’s bill that the victim re-ordered the same channel.
Hill allegedly confronted the victim in his shed and knocked over a table holding his beer and cigarettes. Afterward, she went back into their house, got a gun, walked back to the shed and shot Frank in the leg and knee when he refused to leave.
Hill’s lawyer, Bill James, told the court that the victim’s pornography watching was a “personal affront to her (Patricia Hill) and to her god. She told him over and over again to stop, and he said he would but went right back to doing it.”
“Reality snapped. She didn’t try to hide it. She told the truth (about what happened),” James said.
Authorities found a Dish Network bill and a Beretta .22-caliber pistol lying out in the open inside Hill’s house.
James added that doctors will be called in to testify about Hill’s mental state when the shooting occurred.
“She lost her mind,” the defense lawyer added.
Check back with CrimeOnline as additional details become available.
[Feature Photo: Patricia and Frank Hill/Police Handout]