Appeals court announces no retrial for woman convicted of murdering boyfriend – Daily Tribune

The state Court of Appeals has denied a Pontiac woman's request for a retrial after she claims her attorney made significant errors in her trial over the murder of her boyfriend six years ago.

In an unpublished opinion dated Aug. 22, the justices affirmed a decision following a post-conviction evidentiary hearing before Oakland County District Judge Kwame Rowe in 2023 to address her claims of inadequate legal counsel.

Talley, 40, is serving a life sentence for the 2018 premeditated murder of William “Billy” Bell Jr. He was shot 11 times as he sat on a couch in his Pontiac home. Talley claimed he acted in self-defense, but the jury did not believe him.

According to Bell's family, Bell wanted to break up with Talley and get her to move out of his house.

At the 2019 trial, Bell's father, William Bell Sr., testified that his son was kind and generous and opened his home to Talley as a friend because she was having financial problems and had no place to stay. Their relationship developed into a romance but seemed to crumble shortly before the murder, he said.

Talley also testified, telling the jury that Bell was a controlling, insecure man who repeatedly thwarted her attempts to end the relationship. On the night he was killed, he attacked her with his gun as she tried to leave, so she snatched it away from him and shot it several times. Talley claimed she believed he was going to kill her. She also said he was an alcoholic who regularly beat and raped her, although she never reported the alleged assaults to police.

Prosecutors claimed Bell was shot while half asleep and Talley killed him with his gun. His body was found sitting on the couch with an open, partially filled water bottle between his legs.

Talley's motion for a new trial included, among other things, claims that her attorney did not hire a ballistics expert and instead accepted the testimony of the prosecution's ballistics expert, did not call a domestic violence expert to the stand, and did not request jury instructions for manslaughter. The COA judges said Talley was not prejudiced during the trial by the prosecution's ballistics expert, and the findings of a ballistics expert who testified at the 2023 evidentiary hearing “did not seriously challenge – and even agreed with – the disputed portions of the officers' statements.” Other claims made by the second ballistics expert were based on speculation, the judges said.

In addition, the judges said, Talley's defense attorney's decision not to call a domestic violence expert was reasonable given his investigation of the case. Regarding the manslaughter instructions, the defense attorney said Talley was adamant about an “all-or-nothing strategy” and was “clearly determined” not to request manslaughter instructions. However, the jury was instructed on second-degree manslaughter, which the defense attorney had not requested.

Talley used Bell's own gun, a 9mm Glock, to kill him – she emptied the shell casing. The last bullet was fired while she was talking to a 911 dispatcher to report the shooting. Bell was dead when police arrived.

Originally published: August 23, 2024 at 1:11 pm