Showdown in the Bedroom

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2:30It's about what's happening that moment, that day, in that room. There are only two people who know what happened in that room that night, and one of them is deceased. It was November 14th of 2006. That night was probably the hardest night of my life. I believe my dad was shot in cold blood.

2:56It was this complex relationship between husband and wife. There was violence from time to time. It was clearly a dysfunctional relationship at best.

3:10That night in the bedroom, Danny was like a lethal weapon getting ready to come at you. I didn't know how to stop him. My mom is the only person with the gun. And you don't calm somebody down by pulling a gun out of a drawer. Take a look at that room. Put yourself in that position. Where was she going to go? He's taller than her. He outweighs her. She knows precisely what Danny is capable of. She did not completely cow to him either, and she knew how to push his buttons. My dad loved that woman. He was going to kill me that night. Charlene wouldn't have made two steps to the door. She never would have made the door.

3:59And he had been on her like that. And she'd have been dead, plain and simple. She's beautiful. You want to believe everything she says. She could convince you this guy is purple. I just wanted to stop. I didn't want to kill her. Poor, abused, lonely woman? No, no. Intelligent instigator that's money-hungry? Yeah, I believe so. It was a difficult case. You're here because you fired a gun that killed Danny Hill. A very dramatic ending and a trough full of surprises. Showdown in the Bedroom, tonight's 48 Hours Mystery.

4:57He was a very calm, loving person, and he was an awesome dad. That was my best friend. It's just really hard. Every day it's a struggle without my dad here. More than five years after her father, Danny Hill, was shot to death, Jamie Hill still has questions for the person who pulled the trigger. Her own mother, Charlene Hill. None of it made sense at all. Why don't you get a divorce? Why don't you, you know, just do something besides murder? murder. And we lived that night so many times. My mind replaced that night. Do I wish I could change it? Oh, no. That night, a 25-year marriage came to a sudden and violent ending in a showdown in the bedroom.

5:56We've built a full-scale replica of that room to try to solve the mystery of how and why Charlene Hill shot her husband Danny. Nothing is what it seemed in this case. Not the characters, not their motives. We've been following it since it began. The case went to trial not once, but twice. And nobody could ever have expected how it ended. Before she took his life in that room, they built a life together. I loved Danny. Danny will always be a part of me. They raised three children, made millions with their landscaping and storage businesses near Houston, and made plans to retire to their ranch in the Texas Hill Country.

6:43We were looking at building our house right here. It's rough knowing that this was our dream and he's gone. But there were two sides to Danny Hill. While Jamie talks about the loving father, Charlene remembers the man who could also suddenly turn violent. He punched me. Punched you? Yeah. Hard? Oh, yeah. Where would he punch you? Well, at that time, he punched me in the face. And according to Charlene, that wasn't the worst of it. Early in their marriage, she says Danny discovered she was planning to leave him. After knocking me around, he tied me to a chair and poured gasoline on me and stood there with the lighter and told me if I ever tried to leave, he'd kill me.

7:41Over the years, Charlene's calls to 911 and trips to the emergency room were well documented, but she always refused to press charges. I was afraid of what would happen if I did. But you needed help. What are they going to do? Arrest him? He's out within a couple of hours. Where do I go? Charlene claims she was never more afraid of her husband than on the night of November 14, 2006. That Danny came home in a rage and that she had no choice but to shoot him in self-defense. I knew I couldn't outrun him. And what would he have done if he got you? He would have killed him. You have no doubt he would have killed you.

8:26You know that? According to Charlene, it was a small thing that set Danny off that night. They had recently sold their storage business to Danny's brother, Craig. And Danny had been told to remove his belongings from one of the storage units. He was angry. He was frustrated. he was going through all types of different emotions. Charlene says Danny was so angry, he was threatening to kill not only the new manager of the storage facility, but even members of his own family. She thought she could calm him down by cooking his favorite meal. He loved chicken and dumplings. And you thought that would make him happy.

9:13Oh yeah, it would help him relax. But she says that night it didn't work. When I came back into the bedroom, his rage centered on me. He was angry that I was trying to calm him down. I'd seen the look in his eyes before, yes, but I had never seen it like it did that night. So Charlene says she took her gun out of the nightstand and laid it on the bed. I thought the gun would keep him at bay so I could retreat. It did just the opposite. At this point, the two were standing at opposite sides of the bed. But Charlene claims Danny started coming at her. I didn't know how to stop him. So she picked up the gun and shot her husband three times.

10:03After the shooting, Charlene called 911. The paramedics were already working on Danny when Fort Bend County Sheriff's Deputy Jose Trevino arrived. How did he look to you? You know, he was in pain. He was moaning. I didn't know if he was going to make it or not at the time. And I'm standing here by his feet, leaned over talking to him. Danny, who shot you? Danny, tell me who shot you. And what did he say? He said my wife. With his dying breath, 49-year-old Danny Hill had identified his wife as his killer. Sharlene was arrested that night and charged with murder. It's taken a little bit of all of our souls and our hearts.

10:49While Jamie admits her father was sometimes abusive, she claims her mother was often the instigator. I was there. I lived it. And my mom was the one that would provoke things. You could only push a dog in a corner so much until it bites back. And that's what she did. But ultimately, it was something Charlene said shortly after making bail that her children say convinced them this was not an open-and-shut case of self-defense. Jeremy is Charlene's firstborn. She had said that he wasn't coming at her, he didn't put his hands on her. She said that to you? Yes. Yes. That he was not coming at her? That he did not put his hands on her?

11:33Do you remember what you said to her? No. I felt sick to my stomach. After that was said, my brother and I knew for sure that this was murder. And Jamie believes she knows the real motive. She wants it all. She wants the money.

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13:01It's like living in a nightmare that's never going to be over. As Charlene Hill got ready for her first trial in September 2009, she faced life in prison for killing her husband. She hired a prominent Houston defense team, attorneys George Parnum and Dee McWilliams. They argued this is a clear-cut case of self-defense. Imagine how scary that must have been when you're actually physically confronted with a huge, violent man who is not in his right mind and is threatening to kill everyone you know, including you. But prosecutors Jill Stotts and Chad Bridges said there was evidence that contradicted crucial parts of Charlene's story.

13:52So why is this not a textbook case of a wife who feared for her life and did the only thing she could do? She was an abused woman at times, but the ballistics, the forensics, the physical evidence showed that on that day it wasn't self-defense. And there was some curious activity the prosecutors wanted to know about involving the couple's money. Lots of it. About a million dollars that Charlene transferred between accounts about a month before she shot Danny. Did you transfer the million dollars from the business account to an account with just your name on it? No, I did not. I transferred the million dollars from our corporate account into a money market account.

14:41So if he wanted any of that money, he could have gotten it? 100%. Charlene seemed to have an answer for everything. But investigators were convinced the crime scene told them the real story. Charlene says she was on this side of the bed and Danny was over there on the other side when she shot him. But this is the door to the living room. It was right by Charlene. And prosecutors wonder why she didn't just back out of the room and flee. Because of my physical condition, injury to my leg, I can't run. Charlene insists she was unable to back out of the room because her leg had been shattered when she and Danny were in a motorcycle accident three years earlier.

15:31You'd had me in two steps. And that's what this case is all about. Did she have to shoot her husband or was there any other option? If I'm Charlene and I'm over here, the door is just right there. If I've got the gun, why can't I just run away? Would she make the door? Well, if we're talking about a race to the door, I'm considerably smaller than Danny. Charlene is standing there terrified and frozen, not knowing what on earth to do. So I'm here. And I'm trying to get out. And there is no chance Charlene making that door, much less negotiating the turn and the steps or getting out. Danny is on her in a split second.

16:19At what point would she be able to? Prosecutors believe Charlene had multiple motives for wanting her husband dead. There was the money. The couple was worth several million dollars. But it turns out Danny had suffered a critical brain injury in that motorcycle accident, and he was never the same. After the accident, we called him dad number two because he was just, what's this or what's that? And then she felt like she was having to raise another kid because of his brain injury. And my dad was a burden to her. Next witness. Jeremy Hill. At trial, Jeremy took the stand against his own mother. He admitted that Danny beat him as well as Charlene, but said the violence ended after the motorcycle crash.

17:11He became a big pussycat, if you will. Watching her firstborn testify against her was more than Charlene could bear. And it got more difficult. Let's talk about acts of violence. As Charlene's attorney confronted Jeremy with some of the Hill family's dirtiest secrets. It was a time when you were in the fifth grade, when your father came into your bedroom, beat you so severely for no reason that he knocked you out, correct? He punched me once and knocked me out, yes, sir. George Parnum believed Jeremy had a hidden motive for turning against his mother. It's money. Your mother did not have an inkling, an iota, that you had gone through a million dollars that day, right?

18:05Correct. The million dollars that Charlene had moved from one account to another before the killing was moved again just after she got arrested. Charlene transferred it to Jeremy for safekeeping. He admitted he withdrew all the money and split it with his siblings to pay off debts. Where did that money go to? It went towards paying off my house. I'm going to bet you call Charlene Hill. Charlene decided to take a chance few murder defendants ever do. She took the stand in her own defense. Danny was grabbing me by the throat and had me on the ground. She painfully recounted the years of violence.

18:53Let's take a moment. Then she told the court about the night she shot her husband. What did you do? I pulled the clock out of the dresser and I laid it on the bed. And I kind of stood back and I told Danny,

19:14Don't come near me. We're not going to go there. Did Danny say anything to you when he sold the gun on the bed? He laughed at me. And then he said, we're going to do a shootout. I'm getting my gun and I'm going to shoot you. You better shoot me. And then, prosecutor Jill Stotts had Charlene in her sights. It was an unrelenting cross-examination. Is that something that normally would calm Danny down is showing him that you have a gun? It really wasn't to calm him down. It was to show that you had the upper hand, correct? No, it was to tell him to back off. Well, telling him to back off is not the same as calming him down.

19:58For two days... Why would you set a gun where he can easily reach it? She would not let up. At that point, could you have picked up that weapon? even if you're pointing it at him, and walked out the door. No, ma 'am. Why is that? Because I believed I was in danger. Danger of what? You have the gun. My husband was a lethal weapon without a gun. Charlene claimed that since Danny's brain injury, he was more violent than ever. And while Jeremy may have described him as a pussycat, Charlene insisted that night, Danny Hill was more like a wild animal. He was coming at me. He was going to kill me. And unless you've been in that situation, you have no idea.

20:50It's like a grizzly bear getting ready to attack you. All rise. With the testimony over, the drama moved to the jury room, where 12 men and women began possibly the strangest, most emotional deliberations ever in this courthouse.

21:14Through her eyes, I could relive that night. I kind of felt that she was going to die that night. Sylvia Lacey and Charlene Hill had never met, but Sylvia quickly became the most important person in Charlene's life. She was a juror in Charlene's first murder trial. What was it like in that room? Hostile. Hostile? Very hostile. The vote was 11 to 1, guilty, with Sylvia the lone holdout. She tried to persuade the others that Charlene could not outrun her husband because of her leg injury. What are you all talking about? How can she retreat? can't you see Charlene was doing this here? What did they say to you?

22:13I am sick and tired of you. I'm sick and tired of you up in here with all these different scenarios. Bam. Bailiff Mary Charles noticed during a break that Sylvia was clearly feeling the pressure. I could tell that she was holding her stomach and she looked nervous. and she was pacing back and forth. She says, they're not going to make me change my mind. They're not going to make me change my mind. The other jurors believed Charlene could have left the room and no one on the jury would budge. This whole trial, which had taken so long, was, I guess, hanging in the balance. Teetering on the brink of disaster at that point.

22:58So after two days of deliberations, Judge James Shoemake had no choice. I'm going to grant the motion for mistrial made by the defense. I declared a mistrial because we had nowhere else to go. I was shocked. I was devastated. I felt they didn't hear the story. Charlene Hill was a free woman, but maybe not for long. A little more than a year later, she's back in Judge Shoemake's courtroom. The prosecutors have decided to try her for the murder of her husband a second time. I felt like she had a very decent chance of getting a not guilty verdict. Why? She would be more at home on the stand, second time around.

23:51But prosecutors are taking no chances. They want to ensure that the second jury's focus will be on science, not sentiment. I hope they put aside their emotions. She doesn't get a buy on murder just because she was abused in the past. So with the help of crime scene investigators and not one but two medical examiners, they will present a case that is more heavily based on forensics. To them, the science tells the real story. In the end, it's the bullets that mattered. At her first trial, Charlene dramatically described her showdown with Danny. I'm sorry, but all I could see in my mind was that he was coming after me.

24:51But investigators Lester Phipps and Jeremy Goodrich noticed all the bloodstains were on the opposite side of the room from where Charlene was standing. And then they saw this bullet hole in the wall opposite Charlene and just about one foot off the ground. I mean, I'm no CSI expert, but that would seem to indicate that it was fired from a higher angle. It's downward towards the wall. from a higher position. To the prosecution, this is crucial evidence, proving that Danny was already seriously wounded and slumped on the floor when Charlene stood over him, re-aimed, and fired another round, striking him for the third time.

25:36What does that say? That says that he was no longer a threat. He was no longer a threat. He was down, he was on the ground. Yes, sir. Did he fall down before you stopped shooting?

25:49I don't think so. That's Mr. Hill's spinal cord after I removed it. At Charlene's second trial in January 2011, medical examiner Sarah Doyle testifies that not only was Danny down, he was paralyzed. In your opinion, what caused that injury to Danny Hill's spinal cord? The bullet passing through his spine. Would you be able to stand at that point? No. To walk? No. The third shot makes it murder. But of course, when Charlene's attorneys examined all the evidence, it told them that Charlene did not mean to kill Danny. If that were the case, why are there still several live rounds in the gun? If she wanted to finish him off, she sure could have.

26:40Danny wasn't dead when she called 911. But the defense also has to explain that bullet hole that's so low on the wall. It could be a miss. We just don't know. Dr. Steven Postilnik is the medical examiner in neighboring Galveston County. He claims the bullet hole in the wall cannot be a miss. He looked at its shape. The bullet hole made in the drywall is oblong. It is not a perfectly round hole. That is a sign of what forensic scientists call a tumbling bullet. Postilnik says that bullet hit the wall sideways after first passing through Danny Hill. And Postilnik set up a demonstration to prove his theory.

27:32Now, forensic for dummies, I mean, a tumbling bullet is just that, right? A bullet goes in, hits stuff in the body, and tumbles end over end. Correct, and it does not come out necessarily nose first. Dr. Postilnik filled a five-gallon bucket with internal organs and blood from a pig. This is sort of roughly what's inside a human body. Correct. And he used the same kind of gun. This is a Glock Model 19. And ammunition as Charlene Hill. Well, it appears you were right. Look at this bullet hole here. That is not a perfectly round hole. So the bullet has passed through all those intestinal contents and during its travel has rotated on its way out and made an asymmetric hole in the drywall.

28:19In the context of this case, what does that prove to you? That shows that that last shot was a shot that was taken while his body was down there under the window, not standing up, not coming at her. But Charlene's attorneys insist that in the end, whether or not the bullet tumbled through Danny is not important. What is important is that Charlene believed her life was in jeopardy. You can shoot a person as many times as is necessary to stop the threat. If you had the right to kill somebody, you had the right to kill them dead, dead, dead, dead. But the prosecution is just getting started, and it's going to be a tough fight for Charlene Hill and her lawyers.