SAN ANTONIO – An attorney for a woman convicted of murdering her husband and assaulting his mistress is asking a court to reverse her convictions and give her a new trial, citing ineffective counsel.
Frances Hall was found guilty in September 2016 of murdering her husband, trucking magnate Bill Hall. She was also found guilty of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon for ramming a Range Rover SUV driven by Bill Hall's mistress with her own car.
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Frances Hall's attorney, Adam Cortez, filed a writ on Feb. 16 asking a court to reverse her convictions months before her projected September release because, while he was part of Hall's original group of attorneys, he said Hall's defense counsel was ineffective.
What happened that fatal evening?
Witnesses told police that they saw two black SUVs traveling at a high rate of speed on Loop 1604 on Oct. 10, 2013.
One was driven by Frances Hall; the other by Bonnie Contreras, Bill Hall’s mistress, according to prosecutors.
Bill Hall was riding his Harley-Davidson motorcycle ahead of the two vehicles.
Trial testimony revealed that Frances Hall forced her husband off the road with her SUV as he was riding his motorcycle. Frances Hall said that she was chasing her husband and his mistress, who was following him in another vehicle.
Frances Hall testified that she wanted to confront Contreras, not hurt her husband.
Frances Hall told the jury that she didn't realize that her SUV had collided with the motorcycle and when she was told of the crash on Loop 1604 South, she returned to the scene.
WATCH: Frances Hall gives jailhouse interview
What happened during the murder trial?
Frances Hall was found guilty of murdering her husband and guilty of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, but her attorneys argued that the murder was a crime of "sudden passion," allowing her to serve the minimum for murder -- two years in prison.
A jury sentenced Frances Hall to two years in prison on a murder count and two years probation on an aggravated assault charge and a $10,000 fine.
Why is Frances Hall seeking a retrial and reversal of her felony convictions?
Cortez filed two writs -- one for the murder conviction and the other for the aggravated assault with a deadly weapon charge -- stating that Frances Hall's defense team:
- failed to call an emergency room physician as a witness who would've challenged the medical examiner's testimony
- failed to ask Bill Hall's best friend about preexisting damage to the Range Rover Hall's mistress was driving at the time the aggravated assault occurred
- failed to keep a "firm command of the facts of Frances Hall's case and the applicable law" and stated that Hall's lead attorney was "found sleeping at least twice during the course of the trial."
Cortez claimed testimony from Dr. Paul Reed, an emergency room physician, was not included and would have proven that Frances Hall didn't cause her husband's death -- instead that his death was caused by being airlifted to University Hospital without "first having chest tubes inserted to help drain air, blood and any floods from the area around the lungs." According to court documents, Reed stated Bill Hall suffered "no catastrophic injuries," and that the care he received was "pretty shoddy," adding that his death was respiratory "rather than hemorrhagic cause."
READ CORTEZ'S FILING | READ BROWN'S RESPONSE
Cortez said other members of the defense team, namely attorneys Alan and Jean Brown, refused to include the testimony because it "might be used against them in trial."
In his second ground for dismissal, Cortez stated Hall's attorneys, namely Jean Brown, failed to ask Bill Hall's best friend, James Gonzalez, whether the Range Rover had any prior damage.
Gonzalez was "prepared to testify that any visible damage to the rear of the Range Rover was pre-existing and had occurred when Bill Hall backed into a pole while driving the Range Rover," court documents stated. Gonzalez, however, was never asked, and Cortez said believes that's why the jury convicted Frances Hall of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
In the third ground for dismissal, Cortez stated Jean and Alan Brown weren't prepared for the case and lacked a firm command of the facts of the case.
Cortez said Jean Brown did not have adequate experience to make certain decisions in Frances Hall's trial. Cortez also said Jean Brown's experience is predominantly in family law, and not criminal law, and that Jean Brown had never first-chaired a murder case.
"The lack of criminal law experience of Jean Brown begs the question why she was allowed to make any trial decisions," Cortez wrote in the writ.
Cortez added that he has worked with Jean Brown's husband Alan on a number of cases and that he has "personal knowledge that Alan Brown does not spend a great deal of time preparing for trial and the trial of Frances Hall was no exception."
In the final complaint, Cortez stated Alan Brown, Hall's lead attorney, fell asleep on two occasions during the guilt-innocence stage of trial.
Jean Brown filed an affidavit denying all of Cortez's claims.
Potential outcomes
Cortez said worst-case scenario is that his writ is denied, Hall serves the remainder of her sentence and live her life as a convicted murderer.
Best-case scenario, Cortez said, is that the conviction is reversed and the case isn't retried. Or that Hall's case is retried and she is found not guilty.
Cortez said while Frances Hall's sentence will be up in a matter of months, he is asking for a reversal of convictions and a possible retrial because, on top of not being able to vote or hold certain jobs as a convicted felon, she will have to live with a conviction of "murdering a man she still loves."
"Who in the world would want to be convicted of murder, much less the person they love?" Cortez said.
Frances Hall runs the risk of being dealt a stiffer punishment should the District Attorney's Office retry her case.
Has the family of the victim made a statement?
Cortez said from the get-go, Bill Hall's family was against the prosecution of Frances Hall. Bill Hall's brother and best friend both testified in Frances Hall's favor during the trial.