TV Bailiff Spivey on Trial

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Speaker 3 What is your emergency?

Speaker 4 A shot spot.

Speaker 3 What is your name?

Speaker 4 My name is Anon Spivey. Need my wife in the army.

Speaker 4 I accidentally shot her.

Speaker 3 You accidentally shot her?

Speaker 4 Yeah.

Speaker 4 Here's the police.

Speaker 5 Where you at, ma'am?

Speaker 4 Sir? Yeah. Come back here.
Alright, where's the weapon? Right here.

Speaker 5 Stay away from it.

Speaker 4 I don't want to see it in your hand. You understand?

Speaker 4 Where's she at?

Speaker 4 She's on the floor. Yeah.
Where you at? Okay. His leg.
Alright. Shutting the leg.
Okay. We was arguing, tussling with the gun, and we had been arguing all day.

Speaker 6 Okay, go ahead and put your hands behind your back, okay?

Speaker 4 Renard Spivey was a longtime deputy sheriff, and the deceased was his wife, Pat or Patricia Spivey.

Speaker 4 Spivey, who also worked for a time as a TV judge show bailiff, is now charged with his wife's murder.

Speaker 4 There was a lot of publicity because he had been on a very popular reality TV show, Justice for All with Christina Perez. All rise.

Speaker 4 Court is now in session.

Speaker 7 He was the perfect person in front of everybody else. I think he thought thought the camera was always on.

Speaker 9 When it comes to how your mom died, do you think it was accidental?

Speaker 7 No. It just, it didn't make sense.
It didn't line up.

Speaker 8 The security cameras.

Speaker 11 How important

Speaker 9 were the security cameras and the evidence? I think they were very important.

Speaker 12 On the surveillance, you clearly hear the three gunshots.

Speaker 9 One.

Speaker 4 Two.

Speaker 4 Three.

Speaker 12 The prosecution's theory is that he shot her and then shot himself to cover it up.

Speaker 7 You don't accidentally shoot someone more than once.

Speaker 9 Was the autopsy consistent with an accidental shooting?

Speaker 12 Well, ultimately, I guess that's the million-dollar question.

Speaker 4 Whose finger was on the trigger?

Speaker 12 Who was the aggressor?

Speaker 4 She was threatening him with a gun.

Speaker 12 If he is the aggressor, then this is a murder. If she is the aggressor, this was either self-defense or an accident.

Speaker 9 This is the nine millimeter gun.

Speaker 4 This is the actual gun.

Speaker 4 It's caught now. There is no external safety on this gun.
And so any

Speaker 4 slight pull of the trigger would cause it to go off.

Speaker 12 There was no single piece of physical evidence that really conclusively pointed towards a particular verdict.

Speaker 9 Did you intentionally shoot your wife?

Speaker 4 No, ma'am. I love my wife.

Speaker 4 Natalie Moramis reports deputy spivey on trial.

Speaker 15 It was just after 3 a.m.

Speaker 16 in the warm Houston summer of 2019

Speaker 18 when first responders arrived at Renard and Patricia Spivey's home and found 52-year-old Patricia dead in the closet from multiple gunshot wounds, we can definitely see a wound in her abdomen right there.

Speaker 4 Okay.

Speaker 4 Would it be the entry point?

Speaker 4 It looks like it.

Speaker 4 We don't know if that's the only one, but that's definitely one there. No signs of life.

Speaker 18 Her husband, Renard, had a bullet in his leg.

Speaker 19 He told officers the two had been arguing and fighting over a gun when it fired.

Speaker 4 Would you shoot us? We

Speaker 23 Renard Spivey, a sheriff's deputy with Harris County, worked as a bailiff in courts.

Speaker 4 Your deputy sergeant, lieutenant, deputy,

Speaker 15 and played a bailiff on TV

Speaker 23 for Justice for All with Judge Cristina Perez.

Speaker 4 I'm giving you one more chance to tell you the truth.

Speaker 4 I'll take you to the trap here, Lodoya.

Speaker 16 Renard didn't say much more about what happened.

Speaker 27 Police detained him and had him transported to a hospital.

Speaker 8 Patricia's 83-year-old father, who suffered from dementia, was also living with the spivey.

Speaker 23 He was sleeping when the gunshots erupted.

Speaker 4 You didn't hear anything? I haven't did anything. I know, we just need your statement.

Speaker 21 First responders on the scene wondered how a gun could go off multiple times by accident.

Speaker 4 That's what I'm saying.

Speaker 27 And why a man of Renard's size, around six foot three and weighing around 290 pounds, would need to struggle with his smaller wife to take control over a gun.

Speaker 4 See, you're that big and you're fighting for the gun. Oh, no, but that was a big kid.
This big dude was a big kid. He's got a bunch of trophies inside, bodybuilding trophies.

Speaker 4 She's got to call homicide, and

Speaker 30 it just

Speaker 4 make sense, bro.

Speaker 7 It was more like, what happened?

Speaker 19 Because like I said. Patrina Marshall, Patricia's daughter from a previous relationship, arrived at the scene.

Speaker 7 Did my mom do something? Did Renard do something? Like,

Speaker 7 did somebody do something to them? Like, I didn't know what to expect.

Speaker 25 Patrina says an officer told her her mother had died during a struggle with her husband.

Speaker 33 When he told you she didn't make it, it had to be very tough to hear that it was but you held it together

Speaker 7 i don't know something really weird happened to me i don't know it's just like i just kind of shut down

Speaker 7 and everything just became really numb

Speaker 7 i still have not cried

Speaker 34 patrina says she regrets not seeing her mom for one last time

Speaker 4 i just didn't get that

Speaker 7 and i'm like man so she just sitting in that closet just the whole time.

Speaker 4 So, oh my God, I'm crying.

Speaker 16 Patrina never thought her mother's life would end this way.

Speaker 32 Her mother fell quickly for Renard.

Speaker 7 It was like her first everything.

Speaker 7 That was her first house.

Speaker 32 And it was Patricia's first marriage, Renard's third.

Speaker 4 When we met, I did like we kind of hit it off and stuff.

Speaker 11 Five years after Patricia's death, Renard shared with us his feelings for Patricia.

Speaker 4 She was a fun person. I'm living my

Speaker 4 She was spontaneous and she was just a beautiful person.

Speaker 8 Renard had popped the question in 2013 after Patricia pointed at a ring she liked at a store.

Speaker 4 Right there where the ring was. Come here, let's show you.
I proposed, got on my knees and proposed to her.

Speaker 24 And if she said yes right away. She said yes.

Speaker 4 And we had fun. We celebrated in Hawaii.

Speaker 16 And then they built their dream house,

Speaker 25 a 3,000 square foot home with a three-car garage.

Speaker 38 But within a few hours of Patricia's death, Renard found himself under suspicion for murder.

Speaker 8 At the hospital, detectives wanted to interview Renard, but he refused. He would later tell us why.

Speaker 9 At that point, had you already gotten an attorney?

Speaker 4 I had a union rep who was an attorney, and he came to the hospital. Union rep, we said, do not talk to him.

Speaker 37 While investigators tried to figure out how exactly the shooting unfolded, the medical examiner was conducting an autopsy on Patricia.

Speaker 36 According to the report, Patricia had multiple gunshot entry and exit wounds, the fatal shot piercing through her lungs and heart.

Speaker 20 48 Hours consultant and former prosecutor Lisa Andrews reviewed the case for us.

Speaker 12 The multiple shots is definitely what gives everyone a lot of pause as to why it's not an accident. The medical examiner ruled it a homicide, which is an intentional killing.

Speaker 8 On July 29th, 2019, Renard Spivey was charged with his wife's murder.

Speaker 9 What was that like for you now being behind bars for somebody who had been on the other side of the law for so long?

Speaker 4 It was tough. It was real tough.
What I've been through, I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.

Speaker 38 Renard's twin sister, Renee Spivey Frazier, says she found out her brother was arrested when she got a call from a relative.

Speaker 39 And I just couldn't believe what I was hearing because I knew he loved her unconditionally.

Speaker 8 Renard's friend Gerald Graham, who Renard has mentored over the years, couldn't believe it either.

Speaker 4 He's the big brother, the father, the uncle. I just want to thank y'all for all the well-wishes.

Speaker 4 I have never seen Spivey in any kind of altercation. I never seen him raise his voice.

Speaker 31 Renard Spivey hired prominent criminal defense attorneys, brothers Dick and Mike DeGuerin, and Mike's son, Michael DeGuerin.

Speaker 4 One of the things that we were able to see in this case is they had a camera system in their home.

Speaker 4 And I watched their relationship.

Speaker 4 We wanted to see if there was anything there to provide a motive. for wanting her to be harmed or dead or that there was trouble in the relationship.

Speaker 4 It was a very loving relationship, as I could tell.

Speaker 9 But yet, we know on that night, somebody went to bed angry.

Speaker 4 It looked like she went to bed angry.

Speaker 4 He did not.

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Speaker 8 48 hours after he was charged with the murder of his wife, Harris County Sheriff's Deputy Renard Spivey posted bond, $50,000.

Speaker 4 I was in jail probably a couple of days.

Speaker 8 And returned to the house he used to share with Patricia, where investigators believed he intentionally shot her.

Speaker 9 When you walk in that door, do the memories come flooding right back?

Speaker 4 Well, as soon as you go in the door and then you go in the bedroom, Bam, it hits you.

Speaker 26 Renard Spivey insists his wife's death was an accident.

Speaker 4 I love my wife. You know, I did everything for anything, anything she wanted.
I always treated her like my queen.

Speaker 29 But Renard never gave a statement to police about how the events unfolded that night.

Speaker 8 And Patricia's family questioned the circumstances around her death and why Renard was free on bond.

Speaker 23 Patricia's cousin, Sybil Shepard.

Speaker 6 I don't think that his bond was high enough for murder. Being a sheriff, I think he got a lot of privilege in that instance.

Speaker 8 Patricia's loved ones call her the caregiver of the family.

Speaker 7 She was kind of like the glue. Her being gone, really,

Speaker 7 is, you notice it that she's gone.

Speaker 6 She did anything that she could to help people out. And you can see that just from taking care of her dad.
You know, just taking on that responsibility.

Speaker 26 Patricia worked as an executive assistant for the Methodist Hospital in Houston.

Speaker 6 She'd go visit people in the hospital. She would go take them food, send them flowers.
If nobody else was thinking of them, she was.

Speaker 7 She just was everywhere helping, taking pictures, giving her time, just real social.

Speaker 4 She was very accomplished.

Speaker 26 Renard's attorney, Dick DeGuerin, says the Spiveys had a good life.

Speaker 4 Dude, they were very happy. They went on cruises together.
Every Friday night, they had a special dinner.

Speaker 9 How would you describe Renard Spivey?

Speaker 4 I mean, the idea of a gentle giant. His size was...

Speaker 4 You can't avoid seeing how big he is.

Speaker 8 Renard has been a bodybuilder since his 20s.

Speaker 24 In the aftermath of his wife's death, he was placed under house arrest, but was allowed to continue with his training.

Speaker 4 Actually, during that period of time, it was more therapeutic for me because I've been doing it for 40 years.

Speaker 4 That's my love.

Speaker 24 He was also free to go to church and spend time with his family, but he resigned from his career of more than 20 years with Harris County Sheriff's Department.

Speaker 18 His TV career also took a hit.

Speaker 9 At the time of Patricia's death, I understand you were still taping

Speaker 9 the justice with Christina Perez.

Speaker 4 They say before that, we were still taping. Then after that, we didn't do any more taping.

Speaker 19 renard had portrayed the bailiff for nine years and taped more than a hundred episodes

Speaker 4 he told us it was something his wife really liked about him and what did patricia think of your television career oh she loved it she she was excited and as a matter of fact i took her to the a couple of the enemies patricia's childhood friend ezra washington had a small part as an extra on that show and remembered meeting renard when patricia and renard got together you recognized him right away, probably

Speaker 4 from his time.

Speaker 8 Renard and Ezra became close friends.

Speaker 32 But over time, even before Patricia married Renard, Ezra says Renard was controlling with her.

Speaker 4 They were at Papado's Friday night. You know, she'd have a feud, and he told her, don't drink no more.

Speaker 4 And she said, why? He was like, because I said so.

Speaker 4 She dumped him.

Speaker 24 The couple got back together, but their problems hardly went away, says Ezra, and eventually impacted Patricia's relationship with her cousin Sybil.

Speaker 4 He didn't like Sybil at all. He literally just hated her.
She allowed Pat to have freedom.

Speaker 4 They would go on this cruise every year, and they party, have fun, and they meet people from other parts of the country.

Speaker 6 He definitely felt, you know, intimidated by the relationship, you know, that we had.

Speaker 20 Sybil says after the couple got married, Patricia distanced herself.

Speaker 6 It was more so trying to just put that wedge between the two of us.

Speaker 4 And it worked.

Speaker 6 I just backed off from it. I didn't want to come between somebody and their marriage.

Speaker 7 It almost seemed like he was jealous of her relationships that he already knew she had. I mean, he met her.

Speaker 8 Petrina says her mom and Renard had no business being married. She says their relationship became strained once they moved into their new house.

Speaker 10 They argued quite a bit.

Speaker 9 What did she complain about with him?

Speaker 7 Mainly it was libido,

Speaker 7 that he didn't want to sleep

Speaker 7 with her and maybe she thought he was taking steroids because

Speaker 7 his whole demeanor changed and his attitude towards her changed.

Speaker 35 Like mood swings, a lot of up and down.

Speaker 4 Yes.

Speaker 33 Patrina says her mom looked up some of Renard's pills and told her she found proof Renard was using steroids.

Speaker 9 In the days leading up to the shooting, did it seem like things had intensified? Yes.

Speaker 19 Renard says he was never controlling with Patricia, but he doesn't deny there were issues in their marriage and says they began about a month before the shooting.

Speaker 4 She thought I was on steroids and stuff, and I was trying to get her to understand that that my testosterone was low, and I was going to a doctor.

Speaker 27 Renard says a doctor had prescribed him testosterone shots.

Speaker 8 What about the steroids? Were you taking steroids at the end of the day?

Speaker 4 Well, that was the replacement.

Speaker 4 It's called replacement therapy.

Speaker 4 That's not steroids.

Speaker 33 Did you feel like

Speaker 9 your moods were up and down too during the time you were getting those shots?

Speaker 23 Do the shots affect your mood?

Speaker 8 No, never.

Speaker 19 Renard had already told police the two were arguing on that fatal night.

Speaker 4 And she thought I probably was cheating on her or something because we wasn't intimate anymore.

Speaker 25 And what did you say to her?

Speaker 4 I told her, no, that's crazy.

Speaker 28 Security footage in the Spivey's home recorded some of the couple's movements.

Speaker 9 She is sitting at the table at one point. You walk over to her.
What happened?

Speaker 4 When I walked over to her, I was getting ready to go to bed, and every time I walk over to her, she'd turn her phone down. And then I was trying to kiss her.
She said, I'm not kissing you.

Speaker 8 Renard says he was curious why Patricia was hiding her phone from him.

Speaker 26 After they went to bed, thinking that his wife was asleep, he says he grabbed her phone from her nightstand and brought it into the closet.

Speaker 4 I want to see what she was looking at. And so when I grab the phone, I'm thinking she's asleep.
I go in the master closet. It's dark.
And it wasn't seconds before, you know, pointing the gun at me.

Speaker 4 Give me my damn phone.

Speaker 18 Renard says Patricia Patricia followed him into the closet with a gun.

Speaker 4 Then when I turned around and saw her finger on the trigger, I was scared for my life.

Speaker 4 When I turned around, she had the gun pointed at me.

Speaker 8 Tension between Renard and his wife Patricia turned frightening, he says.

Speaker 4 I was really scared because you know put your finger on the trigger unless you prepared to shoot.

Speaker 22 When Patricia threatened him with his gun.

Speaker 16 Where do you keep your gun?

Speaker 4 On the dresser.

Speaker 38 So it's on your side

Speaker 4 of the bed. Yeah.

Speaker 9 And is it always loaded?

Speaker 4 It's always loaded.

Speaker 9 Don't you talk somebody down? Like, that's your police training is to de-escalate the situation.

Speaker 4 Well, I was afraid because I've never been in a situation like that before. So the best thing I knew in my training is to try to take the weapon away from him.

Speaker 23 Renard says he tried to do just that and things unfolded quickly.

Speaker 4 When I grabbed her wrist, I grabbed the top of the weapon. She pulled back with her finger on the trigger and it went off and shot me in the leg.

Speaker 10 So you got shot first?

Speaker 4 I got shot first.

Speaker 9 Then what happened?

Speaker 4 I was in the process of falling down and when I tried to take the weapon away from me, it went off a couple more times.

Speaker 4 Two more times, he says, Patricia was hit in the chest and then hit by another bullet in her arm, as illustrated in the CBS News animation based on defense theory.

Speaker 4 We're certain that the first shot that hit her went into her left chest. through her lungs and into her heart.

Speaker 4 We think that the second shot that hit her her hit her in the right arm and went basically in and out of the bicep and then into her upper right chest.

Speaker 31 But former prosecutor Lisa Andrews says it is not certain that only two shots struck her.

Speaker 11 The medical examiner thought it was possible Patricia's wounds were the result of three shots, one to the left chest, one to the right arm, and a third to her right chest.

Speaker 12 There's a lot of controversy about how many times she was actually shot.

Speaker 27 One shot is an accident.

Speaker 32 Three shots?

Speaker 12 Well, I mean, that's the question, right?

Speaker 25 Investigators poured over the home surveillance.

Speaker 27 Three gunshots are heard clearly.

Speaker 22 But authorities suspected Renard actually fired the gun four times.

Speaker 21 Three bullets fired at Patricia, and then one Renard would have fired at himself.

Speaker 31 Wounding his leg to make it seem that Patricia shot him.

Speaker 28 Investigators identified one piece of sound.

Speaker 16 You can hear it over the alarm ringing.

Speaker 9 Now this next clip

Speaker 9 picks up the tap.

Speaker 21 They say it's the gunshot recorded about a minute and a half after the three other shots.

Speaker 9 Different sound.

Speaker 12 Different sound.

Speaker 35 There was a reason they say it sounds sounds different than the others.

Speaker 12 Their theory was that that sound, that fourth sound, was a gunshot in a different part of the house, and that was him shooting himself.

Speaker 22 Renard Spivey denies there was a fourth gunshot.

Speaker 9 That wasn't you shooting the fourth shot to then have the cover-up story. No, ma'am.

Speaker 9 Renard's attorneys, Dick and Michael DeGuerin, also listened to that surveillance tape.

Speaker 4 It is not a gunshot.

Speaker 16 They say the sound most likely is the click of another camera in the room being activated.

Speaker 4 And keep in mind, there were three empty cartridges that were found.

Speaker 20 But Lisa Andrews says there were other things that could point to Renard's guilt, like his call to 911.

Speaker 3 What is your emergency?

Speaker 4 A shot spot.

Speaker 3 Okay, sir. Is there an actual patient there? Is someone missed shot?

Speaker 4 Yes, ma'am.

Speaker 12 He's pretty calm. The demeanor does look pretty off to me.

Speaker 3 Okay, where's the patient?

Speaker 4 They're on the floor, and I'm shot too. Yay.

Speaker 12 He doesn't say my wife or she.

Speaker 12 It's an emotional step back from what has happened.

Speaker 26 It took Renard two and a half minutes to say he accidentally shot his wife.

Speaker 4 Yeah, my wife had an argument.

Speaker 4 I accidentally shot her.

Speaker 12 It's like he can't bring himself to say what he's done. For him not to reveal that information with two decades of law enforcement training, to me, that was consciousness of guilt.

Speaker 15 But Renard says he wasn't hiding anything.

Speaker 4 Well, when you traumatize and to see your wife shot and you shot two at the same time,

Speaker 4 it's a lot.

Speaker 3 Where's the gun?

Speaker 3 It's on the.

Speaker 4 you can hear the strain in his voice so you know he's in pain he was confused and

Speaker 4 probably going into shop

Speaker 27 but there are other things on that tape that caught andrew's attention

Speaker 3 says she is not awake and not breathing normally so we need to perform cpr on her

Speaker 3 i said we need to perform cpr on her

Speaker 12 I thought this was also significant. I have no doubt he is trained in how to give CPR, perform it.

Speaker 15 You can hear what sounds like Renard doing chest compressions.

Speaker 4 One, two, three, four, five.

Speaker 19 But a little while later, you can see on the home security cameras, Renard takes a break without mentioning it to the 911 operator.

Speaker 3 Need to apply firm direct pressure to your wounds and her wounds, but we still need to continue the CPR.

Speaker 4 Okay, ma'am.

Speaker 9 He's on the phone with 911,

Speaker 27 holding the towel on his leg.

Speaker 12 Typically, when you're performing CPR, you don't take breaks.

Speaker 16 Renard says he went to unlock the garage door to make sure medics could get to his wife as soon as possible.

Speaker 4 I came right back and continue the chest compressions. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven,

Speaker 4 ten.

Speaker 5 He is then heard breaking down.

Speaker 4 Ma'am. Stand here, Mr.

Speaker 3 Spivey. Just keep going.
Doing great, sir. If you can continue, please continue.

Speaker 3 One, two, three, four, five, six, five, six, one, two, four, three. He loved her.

Speaker 4 Happy anniversary to you, too, dear.

Speaker 39 Happy anniversary to you.

Speaker 4 He really loved her.

Speaker 38 Renard's twin sister is not surprised her brother was emotional.

Speaker 39 She lost her life

Speaker 4 and he still

Speaker 4 was

Speaker 4 hurting her.

Speaker 8 But Patricia's close friend, Ezra Washington, says just two days before Patricia died, she told him she was fed up with Renard's controlling ways and his suspected steroid use, which she blamed for the lack of intimacy in their relationship.

Speaker 4 She said, you know what?

Speaker 4 She said, I'm done. She said, I'm leaving.

Speaker 19 Ezra says on the day of the shooting, he had multiple phone conversations with Renard and that Renard told him they were getting a divorce.

Speaker 10 Ezra claims he confronted Renard about steroids.

Speaker 4 I know you're on them steroids. Okay, okay, man,

Speaker 4 I did. I got some product from my boy because I wanted to get lean for the cruise, but I ain't doing it no more.
I said, stop lying.

Speaker 22 Ezra says he told Renard to just leave the home, but Renard made a comment about Patricia not getting the house.

Speaker 4 I'm assure.

Speaker 4 I'm a sure. I said, man, don't be stupid.

Speaker 21 Ezra says he feels guilty for not reaching out to Patricia to warn her that night.

Speaker 4 I didn't call. I regret that to this day.

Speaker 8 But he told authorities about his conversations with Renard.

Speaker 4 I told him everything.

Speaker 8 As Patrina and Sybil waited for the case to go to trial, they had arrived at the same conclusion with with Ezra: that Renard had intentionally shot and killed Patricia.

Speaker 7 It was more or less his actions afterwards. I didn't see any remorse from him.

Speaker 6 I don't think it was an accident.

Speaker 28 But Renard Spivey's loved ones were convinced he would walk out a free man.

Speaker 4 He would never ever intentionally pull a weapon to kill.

Speaker 4 I knew him,

Speaker 4 I knew he was going to get a not guilty verdict.

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Speaker 8 As Patricia Spivey's family waited for their day in court, the coronavirus pandemic stalled the proceedings.

Speaker 17 Four and a half years passed by.

Speaker 6 That's not justice.

Speaker 37 Renard remained under house arrest, but after some time, his lawyers successfully filed a motion to remove his ankle monitor.

Speaker 36 And Renard joined the world of dating apps.

Speaker 4 I probably was on maybe one or two of them, but you know, you get lonely. You need, you know, you know, some friends or something like that.

Speaker 17 On November 28th, 2023, Renard Spidey was back in court.

Speaker 26 This time, not as a bailiff, but as the accused, facing a life sentence if convicted.

Speaker 6 He looked totally different. You know, he wasn't the clean-shaven.
You know, he had the gray beard.

Speaker 33 The state told the jury Renard shot Patricia intentionally after she threatened to leave their marriage.

Speaker 12 The prosecution's theory is that almost like he snapped. He was angry.
They were arguing. He was being accused of things by her.

Speaker 26 But according to Spivey's attorneys, this was simply a case of self-defense.

Speaker 4 Self-defense fits because she was threatening threatening him with the gun and he grabbed her wrist and the gun in his own defense.

Speaker 27 They say what happened next was an accident.

Speaker 4 It was an unintentional discharge of the gun.

Speaker 4 Several discharges of the gun.

Speaker 4 When he told me what kind of gun it was, I'd had experience. with that particular model of a Smith ⁇ Wesson semi-automatic.

Speaker 4 There is no external safety on this gun. So if someone's finger is on that trigger, all it takes is a slight pressure.
Slight pressure and it goes off.

Speaker 4 With someone that's gripping and trying to wrestle with the gun, that's enough pressure to engage the trigger and to fire the gun.

Speaker 31 Dick DeGuerin says, once fired, the semi-automatic reloads itself instantaneously.

Speaker 4 It recharges in split seconds. Each time it's fired, it's ready to fire again.

Speaker 19 We went with DeGuerin to the doorway of the closet in Spivey's house.

Speaker 9 It's a pretty sizable closet. It's like a big closet.

Speaker 29 It's a big closet.

Speaker 23 Where he showed us what he says happened.

Speaker 4 He saw that she had her finger on the trigger. With his left hand, he grabbed her right wrist

Speaker 4 and put his right hand on the top of the gun. to force it down and she pulled back

Speaker 4 away from me okay and when she did that it it shot hit him in the left thigh and as they fell he grabbed her again and grabbed the gun and tried to twist twist it out of her hand her left hand came off okay left hand comes off and and the gun went off again and shot her in the chest in the chest

Speaker 4 then de Guerin says the gun went off one more time and the third shot hit Patricia in the arm Her hand by that time was in relationship to her body almost vertical to her body.

Speaker 4 That's why when the bullet went in, it went in by her elbow, came back out, and went into her chest.

Speaker 21 Guarantee the powder burn mark on Renard's right hand proves he grabbed the gun as Patricia fired.

Speaker 4 When the gun fires,

Speaker 4 this is where the gunpowder that's been fired comes out, and that's what burned his right hand.

Speaker 31 But there was something that puzzled the prosecutors, and they raised it at trial.

Speaker 4 Where's she at? She's laying on the floor.

Speaker 11 In Renard's telling, he and Patricia were fighting at the entrance of the closet.

Speaker 23 But Patricia's body was found deep inside the closet.

Speaker 20 Prosecutors believe it was because he cornered her.

Speaker 9 Her body, as I understand.

Speaker 4 Her body.

Speaker 9 Where did it end up?

Speaker 4 Well, it ended up over in about the area that you are. But then after.

Speaker 9 And why, how did it end up here?

Speaker 4 Because that's where they fell.

Speaker 9 Where she fell.

Speaker 18 At trial, the defense team painted Patricia as the aggressor, and they point to her internet activity that evening to demonstrate, they say, that her frustration with her husband was building.

Speaker 17 At 2.49 a.m., Patricia posted this meme on Facebook.

Speaker 15 Characterize people by their actions, and you will never be fooled by their words.

Speaker 17 At 2.59 a.m., Patricia is seen on camera for the last time.

Speaker 8 At 3.01 a.m., prosecutors suspect Patricia had enough, and you can make out her saying the words, it's the same thing, over and over again.

Speaker 16 But DeGuerin says it is not clear what Patricia really meant.

Speaker 4 Maybe that's what she said, but what did it mean? It's ambiguous. What is she complaining about over and over again?

Speaker 25 At 3.03 a.m., Renard is seen in the kitchen, and then he goes into the bedroom.

Speaker 31 Four minutes later, at 3.07,

Speaker 8 you hear those three gunshots.

Speaker 4 They were in quick succession, inside of four seconds.

Speaker 8 And at trial, Renard Spivey told the jury his wife Patricia was the one firing.

Speaker 4 I didn't pull the trigger.

Speaker 9 No. Your fingers weren't on the trigger.

Speaker 4 No, ma'am, not at all.

Speaker 23 DeGuerin says there is no evidence to contradict that.

Speaker 8 He says that a crime scene technician acknowledged at trial that the trigger was never separately swabbed for DNA.

Speaker 4 She said, well, I was afraid that the gun would go off again. Now that tells you how dangerous that gun was.

Speaker 27 But Petrina says her mom was not the type of person who would pull a gun on anyone.

Speaker 7 My mom is not violent like that. It didn't make sense to me.

Speaker 25 Instead, Petrina believes her mom was in the closet that night because she was packing i think she was trying to leave that night

Speaker 8 prosecutors had ezra washington tell the jury about those phone conversations with renard where renard talked about his frustrations

Speaker 4 i just want to get him the truth

Speaker 4 everything that came out of his mouth that i know But the prosecutors ran into a problem.

Speaker 11 They say Ezra told them he spoke to Renard using apps on his phone, and they were unable to find records of those calls.

Speaker 8 DeGuerin says he doesn't believe those conversations ever took place.

Speaker 9 Are you saying Ezra Washington then, when he testified because he was a key witness for the prosecution, was he lying when he talked about those phone calls?

Speaker 4 I wouldn't call him a key witness, particularly when we were able to show. that there was no record of those calls.
He didn't talk to me. He lied.
He didn't talk to me.

Speaker 9 I mean, why would he make that up?

Speaker 4 I don't know why he would make that up.

Speaker 24 And Renard says he had no reason to kill his wife.

Speaker 9 Had there been conversations about separation or divorce between you and Patricia?

Speaker 33 No.

Speaker 9 She hadn't talked about leaving you? No.

Speaker 4 No.

Speaker 4 All that's lies.

Speaker 5 As the case went to the jury, no one knew who the jurors were going to believe.

Speaker 4 It was tough. People point fingers at you.
You did it.

Speaker 4 And I know deep inside that I didn't.

Speaker 4 If you were on the jury, what would be the most important evidence in this case? Chat now with the 48 Hours team on Facebook and X.

Speaker 4 I've never stopped having hope. and have faith.

Speaker 4 On December 6th, 2023, after 12 hours of deliberations over two days the jury and renard spivey's murder trial reached a verdict my heart is you know i'm emotional i don't know what to expect and found him happy anniversary happy anniversary

Speaker 23 not guilty

Speaker 4 I fall to the floor crying.

Speaker 4 Bull crying.

Speaker 4 My attorneys helped pick me up, my family, you know.

Speaker 9 Very emotional.

Speaker 4 Yeah, all.

Speaker 19 Renard's sister, Renee, was relieved.

Speaker 39 I wanted it to be over with

Speaker 39 because I'm concerned about him. I'm concerned about his well-being, his life, how he's handling this.

Speaker 23 But she says there were no winners.

Speaker 4 She lost her life, and I was feeling for her and

Speaker 39 his life will never be the same.

Speaker 8 On the other side of the aisle, Patricia's family and friends say they couldn't believe the jury's decision.

Speaker 6 I'm just, I'm numb. I do not believe that she received justice at all.

Speaker 12 I felt like I held my breath and then

Speaker 7 not guilty.

Speaker 7 I don't understand how they got there. I didn't believe him.

Speaker 28 Renard's attorney says the jurors just weren't convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that his client was the one who fired that gun.

Speaker 4 I think it was very important to the jury that the prosecution never proved whose finger was on the trigger. And it's very important because the prosecution has a burden of proof.

Speaker 4 And the gun was so important.

Speaker 4 The fact that it's such a dangerous design of a gun that will go off so easily.

Speaker 12 There just wasn't enough evidence to disprove his story.

Speaker 27 Since the trial, Patricia's family say they've had a hard time processing their loss.

Speaker 6 Felt like it was

Speaker 6 way too soon for me to be at her funeral. Facebook has this

Speaker 6 these memories

Speaker 6 and just seems like every other day our pictures will come up. I think about the times that you know we shared

Speaker 6 the good times.

Speaker 12 My mom was still important.

Speaker 7 Like she was important to me.

Speaker 7 I just miss that unconditional love.

Speaker 7 I have no anchor. Like she's gone.

Speaker 4 So

Speaker 7 she was my

Speaker 4 anchor.

Speaker 9 Yeah.

Speaker 4 So yeah.

Speaker 4 Well, I'm hurting. So I know how they feel.

Speaker 4 Actually, I would like to, you know, come to their family, go to their family and say, hey, look, you know, I loved her.

Speaker 4 You know, and they knew that.

Speaker 4 It's no doubt in my mind. that they knew I loved Patricia Marshall.

Speaker 15 Renard says, since his acquittal, he has been active in his community.

Speaker 4 I work for an organization and a volunteer for healing for hoodies.

Speaker 4 And we feed the homeless every Sunday.

Speaker 35 Leaning on his family and friends.

Speaker 4 A lot of the officers, a lot of other people, we knew that you didn't do that.

Speaker 4 We knew that you would get, you know, found not guilty. We know you.
We know your character. We know what type of person you are.
I appreciate it. I appreciate it.

Speaker 4 God is good. God is good.

Speaker 35 But he says he still misses his wife.

Speaker 4 You remember stuff that she used to like.

Speaker 4 You remember the music.

Speaker 4 You remember the food she liked.

Speaker 4 You know, what color dress,

Speaker 4 certain things she liked. You remember all that.

Speaker 4 So every day,

Speaker 4 it's a challenge.

Speaker 4 I can't sleep at night.

Speaker 4 I live with it every day.

Speaker 30 Join me Tuesday for post-mortem from 48 Hours, where we'll dive even deeper into today's episode and answer your questions about the case.