>> with nearly 6 million of ou 38 million members currently have previously served in the military, we're on a mission to support veterans and military families who defend our freedom at home and abroad. that's why we've created free resources, tools, and community programs to help you meet the unique challenges you face every day. to learn more this is aarp dot org slash veterans. >> i'm craig melvin. >> and i'm natalie morales. this >> and this is dateline. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> three people come to me wearing suits and one of them

tells me that he hadn't made it and i was like, no, he did. just go check. they come back and tell me, miss hall, he did not make it. [crying] >> two women racing down a texas highway. >> she saw me make a u-turn. >> bonnie, the mistress in one lane. >> i looked in my rearview mirror and it was francis. >> francis, the wife and the other. >> i gave her the middle finger. >> the middle finger? >> right. i start following her. i say what the hell. she breaks, and i break, and -- >> he's pronounced dead at the hospital. >> two women in love with one man, hating each other. >> you are getting text messages from bonnie of the two of them having sex. >> yes. >> a hollywood love story? >> this was the man i wanted to

marry. >> or a fatal attraction. >> he goes i can't get rid of this person. >> and so many about to lose so much. >> why? >> i will live with that for the rest of my life. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> hello, and welcome to dateline. bill and francis hall were has school sweethearts agree family and a trucking business together. but they're seemingly picture perfect life after frances found out that bill had been hiding an affair from her for three years. it was a love triangle, and that revelation, it turned out, would have far-reaching and tragic consequences. here with collision is andrea canning. >> this is the story of two intense women battling for the heart of one much loved man.

it's about sex, secrets, and lies. red hot texas passion and a bitter feud. all leading to a final show down on a two lane highway. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> bexar county, 9-1-1. >> i have a [inaudible] and a black range rover, they are [inaudible] >> a high-speed chase that went horribly, horribly wrong. >> it was a nightmare. >> when the dust settled, one life would be over. many others shattered. >> we all lost him. >> and the final chapter, passion would write that one too. ♪ ♪ ♪ san antonio, texas. home of the alamo, the river walk, and the whole family.

three generations of truckers with deep roots in the city. it was here that bill hall met the love of his life at the tender age of 16. her name was frances. what happened the first time you laid eyes on bill? >> i just fell in love with him. i knew he was the man i was going to marry. >> at 16? >> at 16. >> they married right out of high school. a year later, daughter nikki was born. where your parents and love? >> oh, yes. we definitely saw love growing up in the house. >> that's my baby! >> what was your relationship like with your dad? >> not your typical father daughter relationship. like a best friend almost. i could tell that anything. >> for years after nikki came justin. did he really want to son? >> oh my god. when they pulled the baby out of me, they said, mr. hall, you have a son. the man cried. >> he worked hard to give his family a better life. >> bill used to clean airplanes, he went to college and on the

weekends, if he was off, he would go dig ditches. we made ends meet. >> but his true passion was big rigs. so one day he up and quit school, started his own business. bill hall jr. trucking. >> that's what his family did for a living. it's in their blood. >> bill got his first truck and went to work delivering topsoil, while frances hit the phones to drum up new business. >> he was a dreamer and he always said, i'm going to go big yeah. it's a hispanic term that says lady. >> after a few years, bill and frances turned that one trucked into a fleet of 130. at its height, their empire was valued at more than $50 million. all his dreaming paid off. >> and hard work. he put his life, his heart and soul into it. bill was bill hall jr. trucking. >> but for a bill, it wasn't all work and no play. >> he was a daredevil.

he loved racing in his later years, he loved hunting. he was a man's man. >> and also a bit of a ladies man, according to bill's cousin, hank. >> beautiful women, you work hard, you play hard, and you do things that you're not supposed to be doing. he was a great man but he was not the perfect man. >> builds imperfections became painfully clear nearly 32 years into their marriage when frances said she got a call from a mysterious woman. it was september 13th, 2013. friday the 13th. >> she goes, you don't know me but i'm having an affair with your husband. >> wow. >> i was in shock. >> heartbroken, furious. frances such she confronted bill and asked, was a true? >> by that time he was crying. and telling me that he's sorry, that it's true. i was devastated. >> this is three decades of marriage. >> and i finally asked him, how

long has this been going on? he cried again, told me three years. i go, this is not an affair, this is a relationship. >> about that, and only that she and the only woman agreed. >> you don't like the word mistress, do you? >> no, i don't. >> this is bonnie contreras. >> what is it about that where that bothers? you >> mistress? it just sounds like, i don't want to say, yes, i was the side person because i was more than that to them. this man was the man i wanted to marry and spend the rest of my life. with >> bonnie was a 28-year-old single mom when they met. about 20 years younger when then bill and frances. she said their love affair bloomed in the most unlikely of places. >> i met him at a spinach festival. >> spinach? >> spinach. i was helping my aunt sell chicken on a stick, believe it or not. i know it sounds corny, but that's how i met him. >> bill happened to struck by the chicken stand with some friends. >> as soon as i saw bill we

just kind of -- locked eyes. >> bonnie was intrigued enough by this handsome older gentlemen to speak a peek at his ring finger. >> no writing when? >> no mark. i figured, single. >> according to bonnie, the two started to spend nearly every day together. >> i fell in love with him. i didn't expect it. it's not something that i was looking for at all. i love him! >> bonnie heard from bill that he was separated from his wife and was going through a divorce. >> i took on matt's word -- >> he affectionately called her his [inaudible] , his chubby lady. and during their three years together, love floors between them. spa days, vacations, and even breast implants. >> i wasn't that big. i was maybe a small be. and he goes, i'll pay for them. >> and then, she says, a five

carat diamond ring. >> it meant love, it meant friendship, it meant a future together. >> bonnie denies calling frances out of the blue. she says frances had known about the relationship for years and that the two women even spoke by phone about the financial arrangements to solve the divorce. >> who was going to keep what, and she was just going on, and on about the properties and about money, about the company. and i said, i'm not even asking for none of that stuff. i don't want none of it. >> whichever version was true, the two women had never met. because of hank told bill, he needed to break it off with bonnie before something bad happened. >> i said, you have to get out of that relationship, don't go back. >> did you feel like, bill, you're playing with fire. >> that's exactly what i told him. i said, you have to fix this, man. fix your house. frances threw him out, he went back to bonnie. and then he would beg frances to go back.

he was very confused. i've never seen bill like this. never in my life. >> frances was conflicted to. take bill back or kick him out for good? the morning of october 9th, her anger boiled over. >> he was brushing his teeth and i glanced over and i just -- i was enraged. >> she started pulling his hair, tussle with him all around the house. bill appeared to take the assault as a joke. >> he was doing these little dances he does. and it upset me so much. and i kicked him. and he goes, stop, already. i go, no. >> she went after his prized possessions, knocking over his custom harley-davidson, and hitting the range rover with a stick. >> he pushed me down, i fell down. he took off, and waved at me. smiling. >> the following day was rough for frances. her family coaxed her out of the house to watch her nieces volleyball game. then, on her way home, driving her cadillac escalated -- >> icy bill on his bike and

behind bill i see the range rover. and i'm like, who is that? >> the vehicles were coming toward her in the opposite lane. and as they passed, frances did a double take. sitting behind the wheel of her family's brand new range rover was bill's mistress, bonnie contreras. frances said they locked eyes for the first time. >> of course, i get her little finger. >> the middle finger? >> right. and i keep going. >> furious, she called her daughter nikki. >> she said i'm turning around, i'm going to confront her. >> what did you say to your mom? >> i said, good, just be careful. >> not likely. all hell was about to break loose. >> coming up -- >> i made the biggest choice of my life. i pulled over law and i turned around. >> moments later, [inaudible] >> it breaks, and i break, and i heard the thump. >> when dateline continues.

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here on this stretch of san antonio highway, two women vie for one man spotted each other for the first time. frances, the wife, and bonnie, the mistress. >> i made the biggest race of my life, i pulled over and i

turned around. >> turned around to chase down her romantic rival. >> how fast are you going? >> i'm doing about 65, 70. she's in a super sport range rover. this thing will go fast. my range rover. >> frances stepped on the gas and soon had bonnie in her sights. >> i'm asking her to pull over, she told me, no. pull over, no. she kept playing this cat and mouse game. she kept breaking. >> she said bonnie repeatedly slammed on the brakes, forcing frances to slam on hers. frances had a large slab of granite in the back of her escalate from a home renovation project. >> i can hear this piece of granite every time i break because it moves. >> as bonnie accelerated, frances stayed on her. it was as if she had developed tunnel vision, could focus on only one thing. >> i'm going to confront her. i'm done. i've had it with her. i'm going to tell her, you want

him, keep him. >> the him in all of this, bill, had been riding his motorcycle in front of bonnie. but as the chiefs unfolded, he suddenly slow down. >> all this time, bill is in front of us. and i see bill pulling over. and she's passing him. >> then, frances said, bill drop back to her right. >> and i'm passing bill, i see bill from my passenger window. and she breaks, and i break. and i heard something, like a thump. >> that piece of granite again, frances thought. and you continue to chase after bonnie, still hell-bent on confronting her. suddenly, bonnie made a u-turn. >> then as she makes a u-turn, i make the u-turn. she takes off. >> i got a black escalate and black range rover. they're traveling at a high rate of speed. i don't know, 90, 100 miles an

hour. that black range rover was. >> and off duty officer spotted bonnie and frances and pulled it. in >> their hall in -- driving on the wrong side of the road. [inaudible] >> frances but still on bonnie 's tail when i hear this wind coming in -- >> the house of the wind snapped frances out of her trance. she looked back and realized her third row passenger window was shattered. and then she realized something else. she couldn't see bill anywhere. frances called her sister connie who lived close by. then, she called her daughter nikki. >> she goes, i can find her that. i don't know where your dad is. i'm turning around. >> frances started to make her way back down the highway. she spoke to connie again. >> my sister tells me i found him. >> connie had jumped in her own car and soon came upon bill and his bike by the side of the road. he crashed and was in bad shape. police were already at the scene when frances arrived.

>> and i was writing, and the officer grabbed me, i yanked him. i heard someone yell, that's his wife, leave her alone! and i get down to where he's at and he's alive. >> did you say anything to him? >> i was just in shock. and he kept telling me, i can't breathe -- and i told him calm down, calm down. >> bill had internal injuries. whatever happened, the wreck was so severe he it even knocked his boots off. >> sarah for, here comes your bird. >> they took him away in a helicopter. >> they got a gurney and he grabbed my arm. he said, vieja, come with me. and they took him. and i heard him say, she has to come with me. >> officers wouldn't allow frances in the chopper, wouldn't allow her to go anywhere, in fact. >> i told the officer, i'm his wife. >> and he said turn around. and he put me in the back, and

i left with bill. >> it was only then, frances says, that it all came together in her mind. the thump, the broken window, somehow, bills bike and her escalate must've collided. i think some people might find it hard to believe that you wouldn't realize that you had hit a motorbike. >> i didn't feel anything. i heard a thump, i thought it was a piece of granite. >> police detained her for questioning ball bill's family took up a vigil at the hospital. bill's cousin was hopeful he'd pull through. >> we've been through so many wrecks on bikes, i thought, he'd be all right. he's had worse accidents than that. so -- >> bill wouldn't be all right, not this time. >> when they told us that he had passed away, it was just complete shock. >> i kind of screamed out, i couldn't believe it. i didn't believe it. >> frances was still in the back of the patrol car when she got the news. >> i noticed three people come

to me wearing suits and one of them tells me that he hadn't made it. and i was like, your full of it. i go, no he did. i go, just go check. they come back and tell me, miss, he didn't make it. >> with bill that, frances was not only a grieving widow, she was now clearly a suspect. police took her to the station for questioning, but she wasn't ready to answer anything. >> i need my attorney. >> okay, i completely understand. okay. >> i'm terrified. >> frances appeared to be in denial. >> bill, please. bill, come back. >> but if frances wasn't talking to the police, the other woman and bill's life was. and she said bill's death was no accident. >> dateline returns after the break. after th

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>> on his last day on earth, bill hall was staying with girlfriend bonnie contreras. the two had plans to pick up bills motorcycle at a storage facility for a bike rally they'd attend the next day. >> he was laying in her bed, taking a nap. and that was two hours before he died. i will come up and i said, honey, it's getting late. we have to go pick up the back

before it gets dark. >> that, bonnie said, was how she and bill ended up on the road that fateful evening. with bonnie behind the wheel of a 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 will 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 behind me on the other lane and he tells me, i love you so much. i'm so happy. that was the last time i heard his voice. >> the light turned green and everything changed. >> he was in front of me and i'm driving. and i feel someone 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 the jolt. 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 escalate into the back of the range rover. >> i started screaming because she wouldn't stop hitting me. she kept ramming her vehicle into me. >> she said frances's story, that bonnie kept slamming on the brakes, was nonsense. >> you are accused of breaking, breaking. >> no, i was trying to get away from that woman. so i started speeding up. and she kept ramming me from behind. and she threw me on to uncommon chapek. >> bonnie such was hit so hard, her purse fell off the back seat. >> my stuff flew to the floor. >> and here, another significant difference from

frances's version. bonnie says when she swerved back into her lane, she looked in her rearview mirror and saw bill was riding behind her, between the two suvs. >> i see her coming up behind bill and i'm yelling at the top of my lungs. i see her hit bill and i see bill fly, and 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 shock. i didn't understand why she hadn't stopped when she hit bill. i couldn't understand it. i still don't understand it. i felt like stopping, but i wasn't sure if she had a gun. my first instinct is to make a quick u-turn. >> she does you turn to. >> yes, right behind me. and she continues to hit me. and we've been passed the scene of where -- bill was cleaning to his life. and even at that she didn't bother to stop hitting me. >> bonnie eventually made her

way back to where bill lay by the road. i just see hecklers-ness everywhere. police cars, detectives, ambulance. >> she said she tried to get to bill, but the officers wouldn't let her near him. >> i wanted to hug him. i wanted to hug him. i wanted to tell him everything was going to be okay. >> bonnie watch the helicopter take bill away. hours later, a police officer gave her the news she was dreading. >> he goes, bill has passed away. and i just let out a big old scream. >> so there was bonnie's version. this was no accident. frances purposely rammed her repeatedly, and fatally knocked bill off the road. is there only one person to blame for this in your eyes? >> of course. it's frances. she started that high speed chase. she chose to turn around. why? you know you are going to turn

cause some sort of trouble. >> and when investigators looked at the evidence and heard bonnie's version of events, they came to the same conclusion. nicola hood was the district attorney of san antonio. >> objectively, we do not support this behavior. >> frances was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon for chasing after bonnie. and for the death of her husband, bill hall jr., she was charged with murder. >> we felt that there was a no tempt an aggravated assault, and in that process a life was lost, which counts as felony murder. >> but frances says the real aggressor was bonnie. and she said she had proof. >> coming up -- frances says bill told her that bonnie she was obsessed with him, but that he wanted out. >> he goes, i can't get rid of this person. >> when dateline continues. when dateline continues

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hear the latest top stories, joe biden and kevin mccarthy have reached a tentative agreement to raise the debt ceiling. mccarthy says the text of that agreement will be available to members on sunday and a vote is tentatively scheduled for wednesday. and as texas state house voted to impeach republican attorney general ken paxton on articles including bribery and abuse of public trust, paxton has been under it fbi investigation for years over accusations that he used his office to help a donor. now, back to dateline. back to dateline. >> frances hall was out on bail, facing a murder charge for the high speed chase that ended with the death of her husband, bill. the key witness against her, bill's mistress, bonnie contreras. but according to frances and her daughter, if anyone should

be blamed for what happened, it was bonnie. she has a lot of responsibility, a full responsibility, and causing this. she ran the family. >> the way the hall family tells it, bonnie was a gold digger, a stalker, and a liar. who had been manipulating and threatening bill for years. frances said after she learned about the affair, she learned the truth about bonnie from bill himself. >> he laid it all out. he said, i am going to tell you everything, vieja. >> the family insists, bonnie told francis about the affair because she was angry over how things, a manicure. >> she was upset because my father wouldn't give her $100 to get her nails done. >> they said bill told her that bonnie had been stalking their whole family on facebook. >> she'd created a fake account with a fake profile picture, and friend requested the entire family. everyone except -- my mom had, her eye had her. on,, sanca's.

>> the family told them, that's all bonnie gathered information to manipulate him. >> if we went on a family vacation, he took my mother to las vegas immediately after he would have to take her somewhere. >> according to frances and nikki, bill said that he wanted to break up with bonnie. but she threatened to air their affair all over the internet. >> he goes, i can't get rid of this person. she had over 2000 pictures. in my 34 years of knowing bill, i don't have that many pictures. who does that? >> frances said bill told her that bonnie also stopped her and her family. >> she knew where my kids lived, she knew my schedule. he said i would go to my grocery store and she'd be there following me. >> even, said the hall's, even followed bill into a movie theater. >> bonnie check the man was sitting three rows behind them.

she was like a fatal attraction, or a psycho. >> she claims she was in love with bill, that he was going to leave, you they were gonna start a family, there were going to be married. >> she got an abortion. tell me if she was starting a family. she got an abortion. >> bill wanted bonnie to have an abortion, said frances. but bonnie wouldn't do it unless bill gave her something in return. >> the only way she would get an abortion is if he got breast implants. which he, did so she got an abortion. >> i hate -- her can you just go away, can you leave us alone, go find another married man, because this is what she does for a living. she strips, she gets with married men. >> in the end, said the hall's, bonnie told frances about the affair in a final act of desperation. in the attempt to hang on to bill who is about to drop her. >> i think she finally thought, hey, i'm losing this man. i'm losing my bread and butter here. her sugar daddy.

this girl was not in love with bill. i don't even know she knows what the word love means. >> of course, bonnie sees things very differently. >> they've really gone after you with names. >> of course, and i understand where the hall's are coming from. it's a big pill to swallow when your husband wants to divorce you after 32 years. and of course they're never gonna say anything good about me. >> do you want to clear it up? where you an exotic dancer. >> i worked at a strip club, yes. >> as a dancer. >> it was a mistake that -- i regret that. no one's perfect. >> but the fake facebook account? stocking frances? the abortion in exchange for breast implants? none of that ever happened, said bonnie. >> for her to sit there and say that i switched a baby's life that was going inside of me, coming from a man that i loved dearly for breast augmentation, ridiculousness. >> each woman clung to her truth. the battle for bill raged.

>> you couldn't stop bonnie and you really can stop frances really. >> sounds like two hurricanes. >> oh yeah. >> then, about a week before bill's death, the hurricanes collided. not on the road, not yet. this war was waged via text. >> you are getting text messages from bonnie of the two of them having sex. >> yes. >> the case heads to court where one expert testifies that frances deliberately rammed bonnie. coming up -- >> this was not an accident. >> another expert provides a demonstration that seems to show the suvs never even touched. we >> that's simple physics. >> when dateline continues. es non-drowsy claritin knocks out symptoms from over 200 allergens without knocking you out. feel the clarity and make today the most wonderful time of the year. live claritin clear. trelegy for copd.

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>> you are getting text messages from bonnie, of the two of them having sex. >> yes, pictures of sexual positions. >> photos with captions like, this is what he really likes, you fat old woman. >> normally the mistress keeps a very low profile. >> she wanted to make sure i knew now she was in the picture. >> did she ever? many of the messages are too graphic to show. but you can get a good sense of them from these excerpts. >> let me know if you want some good juicy picks of me and your hubby. you stupid old person, keep fixing yourself up, maybe he'll find you more attractive. what's the worst text message she sent you? >> the hollow bit. >> she actually called -- you >> hollow, because of my history. >> complete with a diagram to reinforce the point. bonnie admits she sent those nasty text. >> you have to imagine that people are going to see this and she's going to think that those messages are cruel.

>> i didn't send her pictures of bill and i having intercourse with bill, but -- she told me that my butt looked like a broken saddleback, it looked like a broken toilet seat. trust me, she was going at me very hard. >> in fact, bonnie says it was frances who started the text war. >> playing it's simple, i was defending myself. >> the texts that frances said herder the most was when you called her hollow, where -- >> it was cruel. >> it would hit a woman hard. >> i'm not proud about that. >> why did you do that? >> because i was passed at her, she was telling me vicious things. >> did you send her any back to her that were nasty as well? >> because it would be hard not to engage. >> i started to, at the hotel, but i think i did one or two. >> had him in the palm of your hand, and couldn't keep him, frances wrote to bonnie.

keep sending, fatal attraction. cops need all the picks. >> i couldn't keep up, i text slow. those girls young. she knows technology. >> bonnie says frances held her own. don't flatter yourself, he's been cheating on you with me. but, says frances, the nastier texts bonnie received didn't come from her. she says, bill sent them. >> bill grab the phone and he said, let me take care of her. >> no he didn't, that was her. it was her sending those text messages. bill wouldn't have ever disrespected me like that. >> but, if there was any doubt that she'd been following the hall's, she seemed to confirm it herself by sending photos of their house and frances's car. why were you sending those pictures? >> to pass her off, to defend myself. her telling me that build in love, me heard telling me that he was using. me >> you're the one having an affair with bill, why are you attacking his wife?

>> she was attacking me, and i will defend myself. >> one week after the text message feud came the car chase that left bill hall dead. nearly three years after that, frances hall went on trial for murder. prosecutor stephanie pilsen and scott simpson laid out the case for the jury. >> we understand why she was angry, but that's not justification to go attempt to run down your husband's mistress and kill him in the process. >> the star witness for the prosecution, bonnie, bonnie contreras. >> i was getting hit from behind. >> bonnie told the jury as she watched with horror when she believed frances deliberately knocked bill off the road. >> i saw her hit bill with a truck. i saw him fly off the handlebars. >> bonnie said she later discovered frances's daughter nikki hall -- a message that seemed to speak to frances's intent that

evening. >> i want you to watch your back you [bleep]. >> what does that tell you? they were out to cause harm to somebody. >> this is not an accident. >> tim 11 was the states collision reconstruction expert. he said the evidence showed frances chased and hit bonnie. >> that escalated definitely had the range rover. at least two, maybe three times. >> but frances's defense attorneys said investigators made a big mistake when they bought into the story of bonnie contreras. >> everyone got their information from one person at the scene, that was bonnie. but she lied her [bleep] off. >> defense accident reconstructionist charles ruble said there was no physical evidence to back up bonnie's claims that frances had hit her over and over again. no evidence, he said, the suvs had even touched. >> not even once. >> remember how bonnie said her purse food forward off the

sequin frances hitter? >> this is her purse in her car. when you get hit in the rear, where does my purse go, it doesn't dump in the front. it's simple physics. >> in fact, he said, the purse falling ford supports frances's claim that bonnie was repeatedly slamming on her breaks. >> she's moving like this, then the purse will go into the floorboard. bonnie contreras is not telling the truth. >> what's more, both defense and prosecution agreed bonnie was wrong about her contention, that bills motorcycle was struck from behind. evidence showed the motorcycle actually collided with the side of frances's suv. >> you can't believe a [bleep] thing she said on. there >> and closing evidence, they said that bill's death was 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

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the l'or barista coffee and espresso system. a masterpiece in taste during frances hall's murder trial, the collision expert claimed at that frances same rammed her suv. but the defense came up with their own collusion expert who said that frances may not have hit bonnie. which contradicted bonnie story. but will that be enough to persuade the jury? here with the conclusion to collision is andrea came in. >> the jury deciding frances hall's fate deliberated into the late evening hours of september 8th, 2016. and that just before 8:45, a verdict. >> with the jury find the defendant frances hall guilty.

>> guilty of murder and aggravated assault. frances's friends and family were shocked. >> it was the worst feeling of my life. >> it was a moment frances herself did not seem prepared for. >> help! >> you were found guilty and you were facing possibly life behind bars. >> yes, i was. i didn't want to be there. i wanted to go home to bill. i was like, i can't do this. >> but things weren't over yet for frances. there was still a second phase of trial. sentencing. texas law allows the defendant to be sentenced by either the judge or the jury. francis chose the jury. the same one that found her guilty. the defense believed it had found a secret weapon in the texas criminal code. >> we said, this caveat, this was written for frances hall if anyone ever. >> the law calls it sudden passion, essentially that the

defendant was immediately provoked to a degree of anger that would make an ordinary person incapable of cool reflection. the defense told the jury sudden passion gripped francis when she spotted bill and bonnie on the road. >> she's seen a woman who's tried to run her life for the past month. >> the stakes were enormous. a finding of sudden passion could drastically reduce frances's sentence, from possible life in prison to a maximum of 20 years. and a minimum of just to. relatives of francis, and bill hall, begged the jury to be lenient. >> if there's any way that you can find in your heart to give her a lighter sentence, i'm begging you. >> and then, for the first time, the jury heard from frances hall directly. >> you don't understand, i love this man heart and soul. i gave him my life. i would never hurt him, never.

>> in her final arguments, defense attorney lee qatar insisted frances hall's actions were textbook example of sudden passion. >> the text messages, the calls, the taunting, those will make you hate someone. never having seen them until they're driving by in your car, that's not sudden passion where you are incapable of thinking clearly, i don't know what it is. >> but prosecutor scott simpson told jurors not to be swayed by emotion. >> you shouldn't, for one second, feel ashamed or bad for doing what you believe to be right. >> after about three hours of deliberations, the jury was ready. all eyes were on bonnie contreras when she arrived to hear the sentence. and on frances hall to. which you get life in prison or a chance at freedom? >> we unanimously find the defendant caused the death of bill hollander the immediate influence of sudden passion. we --

two years. >> two years, the absolute minimum sentence. >> what is going through your mind when you hear that? because things were looking bad. >> oh, yes. i was like, thank you jesus. i can do this. >> and she did. on september 7th 2018, after serving her sentence, frances walked out of prison a free woman. we thought that this was the end of the story. but we were wrong. there is a whole new chapter. in june of 2022, frances was indicted in a multi million-dollar fraud scheme. she's accused of providing false payroll information to get their insurance premiums for the committee she and bill founded. the texas department of insurance of this scheme allows the company and its owners to avoid more than $9 million in

premium payments. we plan to speak with frances in person, but due to covid concerns, we met via zoom. she denies the charges and the indictment. >> i'm an honest woman. i didn't do anything illegal. i didn't falsify anything. i'm innocent. i don't have anything to hide. >> how many more bombshells is they're going to be? >> we also caught up again with bonnie contreras. to hear her thoughts on francis's latest troubles. >> she looks like a liar, she looks like a con, she just -- she looks bad all the way around. >> bonnie now run some businesses of her own, including a cbd spa. she believes the new charges just might change some peoples perceptions of frances and herself. >> they were constantly calling me a gold digger. so who looks like the gold digger now? is it me? or is it her? >> i don't even think she knows what the word gold digger means. what i'm going through right

now has nothing to do with gold digging. what she did on her free time with my husband, that's cool digging. i have bills kids, i have his grandkids. something she'll never have. and i have all the memories of bill. that's not a gold digger, that's a wife. so she should maybe look it up in the dictionary first. >> frances told us that the new case goes to trial, she'll take the stand. it worked for her at the sentencing hearing in bill's murder, but insurance fraud is a serious crime too, and there's no sudden passion defense. if convicted, the woman who served just two years for killing her husband will face the possibility of life in prison yet again. >> that's all for this edition of dateline, i'm craig melvin, thank you for watching. u for watching and this is "dateline." >> i'm craig melvin. >> and i'm natae ra