and prosecution agreed bonnie was wrong about her contention that bill's motorcycle was struck from behind. evidence showed the motorcycle actually collided with the side of frances'suv. >> you can't believe a damn thing she said on there. >> in closing arguments the defense said bill's death was simply a terrible accident. and frances hall had suffered enough. >> she's been living in hell for three years. let her go home. let her be with her family. and let her mourn her husband. >> but the prosecution told the jury frances must be held accountable for her actions. >> of course, the defendant hated bonnie contreras. we don't blame her for that. any wife would. what we do blame her for is getting in her escalade, chasing after bonnie and then veering into bill. there's your felony murder. >> the jury deliberated into the night. who would they believe?
pulls up beside me in the other lane. he tells me, i love you so much, gorda. i'm so happy. and that was the last time i heard his voice. >> the light turned the green and everything changed. >> he was in front of me and i'm driving and i feel somebody hit me from behind. at first i thought it was an accident. >> a sudden jolt, then another. >> i feel another hit. and i said, what the hell? and i looked in my rearview mirror, and it was frances. >> bill's wife. they'd spoken by phone but never met. bonnie said she never saw frances on the road before she felt those jolts, never taunted her with her middle finger, as frances claimed. now, bonnie said frances wasn't just chasing her. she was actually repeatedly ramming her cadillac escalade into the back of the range rover. >> i started screaming because she wouldn't stop hitting me. she kept ramming her vehicle
hall was staying with girlfriend bonnie contreras. the two had plans to pick up bill's motorcycle at a storage facility for a bike rally they'd attend the next day. >> and he was laying in our bed taking a nap, and that was two hours before he died. i woke him up and i said, hon, it's getting late. we've got to go pick up the bike before it gets dark. >> and that, bonnie said, is how she and bill ended up on the road that fateful evening, with bonnie behind the wheel of the range rover, bill in front of her on his baby blue motorcycle. neither of them knowing that frances, quite by chance, was coming from the opposite direction. but bonnie's version of events would differ sharply from the tale frances told. >> he's driving, i'm driving. somewhere along the way we stopped at a light, and he
>> the star witness for the prosecution, bonnie contreras. >> i start to get hit from behind. >> bonnie told the jury how she watched with horror as she believed frances deliberately knocked bill off the road. >> i see her hit bill with the truck. and i see him fly off the motorcycle. >> bonnie said she later discovered frances'daughter, nikki hall, had left a message on her voice mail during the car chase. a message that seemed to speak to frances'intent that evening. >> told you to watch your back you [bleep] stupid [ bleep ]. >> what does that tell you? that they were out to cause harm to somebody. >> this is not an accident. >> tim lovett was the state's collision reconstruction expert. he said the evidence showed frances chased and hit bonnie. >> that escalade definitely hit that range rover at least two, maybe three times. >> but frances'defense attorneys, leigh cutter and jean brown, said investigators
into me. >> she said frances'story that bonnie kept slamming on her brakes was nonsense. you were accused of brake checking her. >> no, i was trying to get away from that woman. so i started speeding up. and she kept ramming me from behind. and she through me into oncoming traffic. >> bonnie said she was hit so hard her purse fell off the front seat. >> and my stuff flew to the floor. >> and here, another significant difference from frances'version. bonnie says that when she swerved back into her lane, she looked in her rearview mirror and saw bill was now riding behind her between the two suvs. >> and i see her coming up behind bill, and i'm yelling at the top of my lungs. and i see her hit bill, and i see bill fly, then i see the bike fly. >> according to bonnie, she saw frances deliberately hit bill from behind, then keep chasing her. >> i was shaking, and i was in
on his last day on earth, bill hall was staying with girlfriend bonnie contreras. the two had plans to pick up bill's motorcycle at a storage facility for a bike rally they'd attend the next day. >> and he was laying in our bed taking a nap, and that was two hours before he died. i woke him up and i said, hon, it's getting late. we've got to go pick up the bike before it gets dark. >> reporter: and that, bonnie said, is how she and bill ended up on the road that fateful evening, with bonnie behind the wheel of the range rover, bill in front of her on his baby blue motorcycle. neither of them knowing that frances, quite by chance, was coming from the opposite direction. but bonnie's version of events would differ sharply from the tale frances told. >> he's driving, i'm driving. somewhere along the way we stopped at a light, and he pulls up beside me in the other lane. he tells me, i love you so much, gorda.
on his last day on earth, bill hall was staying with girlfriend bonnie contreras. the two had plans to pick up bill's motorcycle at a storage facility for a bike rally they'd attend the next day. >> and he was laying in our bed taking a nap, and that was two hours before he died. i woke him up and i said, hon, it's getting late. we've got to go pick up the bike before it gets dark. >> reporter: and that, bonnie said, is how she and bill ended up on the road that fateful evening, with bonnie behind the wheel of the range rover, bill in front of her on his baby blue motorcycle. neither of them knowing that frances, quite by chance, was coming from the opposite direction. but bonnie's version of events would differ sharply from the tale frances told. >> he's driving, i'm driving. somewhere along the way we
on his last day on earth, bill hall was staying with girlfriend bonnie contreras. the two had plans to pick up bill's motorcycle at a storage facility for a bike rally they'd attend the next day. >> and he was laying in our bed taking a nap, and that was two hours before he died. i woke him up and i said, hon, it's getting late. we've got to go pick up the bike before it gets dark. >> and that, bonnie said, is how she and bill ended up on the road that fateful evening, with bonnie behind the wheel of the range rover, bill in front of her on his baby blue motorcycle. neither of them knowing that frances, quite by chance, was coming from the opposite direction. but bonnie's version of events would differ sharply from the tale frances told. >> he's driving, i'm driving. somewhere along the way we
on his last day on earth, bill hall was staying with girlfriend bonnie contreras. the two had plans to pick up bill's motorcycle at a storage facility for a bike rally they'd attend the next day. >> and he was laying in our bed taking a nap, and that was two hours before he died. i woke him up and i said, hon, it's getting late. we've got to go pick up the bike before it gets dark. >> reporter: and that, bonnie said, is how she and bill ended up on the road that fateful evening, with bonnie behind the wheel of the range rover, bill in front of her on his baby blue motorcycle. neither of them knowing that frances, quite by chance, was coming from the opposite direction. but bonnie's version of events would differ sharply from the tale frances told. >> he's driving, i'm driving. somewhere along the way we
on his last day on earth, bill hall was staying with girlfriend bonnie contreras. the two had plans to pick up bill's motorcycle at a storage facility for a bike rally they'd attend the next day. >> and he was laying in our bed taking a nap, and that was two hours before he died. i woke him up and i said, hon, it's getting late. we've got to go pick up the bike before it gets dark. >> and that, bonnie said, is how she and bill ended up on the road that fateful evening, with bonnie behind the wheel of the range rover, bill in front of her on his baby blue motorcycle. neither of them knowing that frances, quite by chance, was coming from the opposite direction. but bonnie's version of events would differ sharply from the tale frances told. >> he's driving, i'm driving.