A bailiff on a popular TV courtroom show was acquitted of murdering his wife after an argument broke out in their Houston home. Now, more than five years after her death, Renard Spivey is telling his side of the story in an interview with “48 Hours” called “Deputy Spivey on Trial.”
The real-life Texas sheriff’s deputy was a familiar face to many thanks to his role on the show “Justice for All with Judge Cristina Perez.” But he suddenly found himself on the wrong side of the law in the early morning hours of July 28, 2019. When police arrived at his home, they found the lifeless body of his wife, Rebecca, in a closet with at least two gunshot wounds, including one to the chest.
Spivey, who stands 6 feet 3 and was nearly 300 pounds at the time, told police he scuffled with his 5-foot-6 wife over a gun, and it accidentally went off and killed her. He, on the other hand, suffered a single bullet wound to the leg. The 63-year-old was arrested and posted $50,000 bond, which came with certain conditions, including not attending his deceased wife’s funeral.
“That’s my wife. I was in love with my wife. Why not be there?” he lamented to “48 Hours” interviewer Natalie Morales. “I just wanted to pay my respects. That’s all.”
While Spivey was waiting for the trial, which was postponed until 2023 due to COVID-19 delays, he tried to live a relatively low-key life and said he spent time at the gym, visiting with family, and attending church.
On Dec. 6, 2023, after a jury deliberated for 12 hours, Spivey was acquitted of murder. According to his criminal defense team, renowned brothers Mike and Dick DeGuerin, it came down to reasonable doubt: the state couldn’t prove who was holding the gun at the time it was fired, reported ABC13.
His 911 call, which was more than ten minutes long, was also central to his defense. After admitting he “accidentally shot her,” he followed the operator’s instructions on how to administer chest compressions and seemed panicked.
He also took the stand in his defense to show he had nothing to hide. “I was instructed by my — my attorneys to do so, because if I didn’t, it felt like I was, you know, guilty of something, trying to hide something, which I wasn’t,” he explained.
When the jury returned the verdict, he collapsed in relief, “I fall to the floor crying. Boohoo crying. My attorneys help pick me up,” he said.
According to Spivey’s account, the fateful night began uneventfully until an argument erupted, and Patricia confronted him about having an affair due to a recent absence of physical intimacy. “I told her no, that’s crazy,” said Spivey, who claimed she refused a goodnight kiss. He added that she turned her phone away from him when he approached her.
“And every time I walk over to her, she turned her phone down and then I was trying to kiss her. She said, ‘I’m not kissing you,'” Spivey told Morales.
Curiosity got the best of him that night, he explained. Thinking she was asleep, he snatched her phone from the nightstand and took it into the closet. Patricia suddenly appeared in the doorway and demanded her phone back while brandishing a gun. “And then when I turned around and saw her finger on the trigger, I was scared for my life.” He explained that “everything happened so fast. When I grabbed the top of the weapon, she pulled back with a finger on the trigger, and it went off and shot me in the leg.”
The gun went off two more times, with the fatal bullet striking Rebecca in the chest. During the “48 Hours” special, he showed interviewer Natalie Morales just how easily the gun could go off. “There is no external safety on this gun. So, if someone’s finger is on that trigger, all it takes is a slight pressure and it goes off.”
Spivey then made the 911 call that swayed a jury and changed his fate forever.
“It was really emotional because the thing is that it’s my wife, you know?” he said about the call. “And you try to save your wife and you’ve been shot.”
“Deputy Spivey On Trial,” aired Saturday, Jan. 11, at 10/9c on CBS and Paramount+.
