‘Murderous Mother or Protective Parent?’ A&E to show documentary on Kansas case

At 8 p.m. on Thursday, the A&E series “Accused: Guilty or Innocent” will air an episode set in Kansas that features Wichita attorney Jess Hoeme of Joseph, Hollander & Craft.

“Murderous Mother or Protective Parent?” shares the story of Wellington resident Ashley Pearson, who was charged with second-degree manslaughter for fatally stabbing her live-in boyfriend, Kyle Hill, in 2018.

Spoiler alert: Hoeme successfully defended Pearson, who could have served up to 41 years, when her case was dismissed at a pre-trial hearing.

“She was a victim for a long time,” Hoeme said.

He said Hill “was incredibly abusive when he drank.”

Hoeme said Hill came home one night and slammed Pearson’s head on a corner of a counter. He said her toddler woke up and stood in the hallway crying.

“If you don’t shut that baby up, I will,” he said Hill said.

“And she just snapped,” Hoeme said.

He said Pearson wielded a knife to get Hill to stop.

“She took a stab at him.”

It hit the corner of Hill’s heart, and he died.

When Hoeme heard of the situation, he said, “I thought this would be a really good self defense, Stand Your Ground case.”

Hoeme also represents a lot of law enforcement officers who use the Kansas law to protect themselves.

The show contacted Hoeme ahead of the summer 2023 trial, and then he asked Pearson if she wanted to participate. If she hadn’t been interested, he said he would not have done the show.

“Because the client is always the boss.”

Hoeme said Pearson’s interest was in helping others in domestic violence situations.

He said her message is “you have to do something because they can turn incredibly dangerous or tragic in a moment.”

The show spent time with Hoeme at the end of July last year into early August, interviewing him as he was interviewing Pearson.

“It was quite an experience working with these folks out of London for three weeks.”

Drone footage of Wichita is featured in the show since his firm is in the city.

In a profession where confidentiality is crucial, Hoeme said, “It was kind of a surreal experience, too, to have video cameras in my office. . . . You can imagine that’s a very foreign thing for lawyers.”

The show added an extra layer of stress for Hoeme.

“All of these cases are stressful for me because I like to be successful, but I particularly like to be successful when there’s a lot of people watching.”

Hoeme said the stress of a trial often is complicated by stress from other clients’ demands, so he cleared his schedule.

“I had a lot of help. I had a lot of people who had my back.”

At the trial, Hoeme said he forgot about the cameras.

“When the judge took the bench, I kind of forgot everybody else was there,” he said. “I really did, honestly.”

He said it was an intense trial with a lot of “interesting folks” on the stand.

“That, for trial attorneys, is gold.”

So what does he mean by interesting? Hoeme demurred.

“I came from the school of if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all.”

Hoeme said another twist to everything was Court TV also was live broadcasting the trial like a news program.

“That was really strange,” he said of learning that.

So if a TV show comes calling again, would he do it?

“Honestly it’s up to the client,” Hoeme said.

He said he’s glad it worked out this time.

“Ashley had a very important message to get out. If it helps one person, then it was totally worth it.”