A jury trial that began two weeks ago for a pair of Hartselle brothers accused of killing Charles Hill outside a Hartselle gymnasium in 2021 leaves them facing different futures after one was found guilty and the other, who spoke out Monday, was acquitted.

“I mean, it makes me feel bad because he jumped into the middle of something that was my problem and ended up getting convicted on it,” Rathel Amos Lindley, 45, said of his brother. “I’m going to do what I can to try and get him out of it somehow or another, if I can.”

Billy Joe Lindley, 52, was found guilty of Hill’s murder and remained in Morgan County Jail on Monday. He is scheduled to be sentenced June 27.

Hartselle police arrested Billy Lindley on Nov. 17, 2021, after they responded to Hartselle Gymnastics to find Hill dead from stab wounds to his torso. The Lindleys lived near the gym on Woodall Street, according to testimony.

Rathel Lindley was later also charged with Hill’s murder and remained in jail from February 2023 until his acquittal.

Both brothers stood trial together before Circuit Judge Jennifer Howell on March 18. Rathel Lindley was represented by Phoenix Iverson, while Billy Lindley was represented by Tom DiGiulian. Assistant District Attorney Joe Lewis prosecuted the case.

“What happened was so intertwined that, if you tried one and then tried the other one later, you’d just be going over the same thing twice,” Iverson, who’s been practicing law for eight years, explained. Rathel Lindley was his first murder case.

Before the trial began, the defense attorneys argued for the inclusion of evidence that showed ongoing bad blood between Hill and the Lindleys. Howell ruled that facts showing difficulty between the parties were admissible but specific details were not.

Before Hill’s death, Hartselle police had responded to the Lindley residence in August 2020 to investigate a shooting. According to investigators at the time, Hill went to the home and threatened Rathel Lindley with a handgun. In response, Rathel Lindley retrieved a shotgun from a bedroom, and the men then exchanged gunfire outside, police said. Hill was struck once in the upper leg and transported to Huntsville Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

“I guess it’s because of that girlfriend he was with,” Rathel Lindley said Monday. “There were a couple of nights he beat the hell out of her, and I had to get up and go get her at 3 a.m. in the morning and take her somewhere where she would be safe so he wouldn’t beat on her. I guess it pissed him off at me for doing that, I reckon.”

Friends and family of Hill could not be reached for comment.

Rathel Lindley said Hill had been harassing him for three or four years before he was killed.

“I mean, hell, I couldn’t even go to a gas station and get gas. If this man seen us, he come over there harassing me at the gas station.”

On the night Hill died, Rathel Lindley said Hill came to their home and swung a beer bottle at Billy Lindley. Lewis, in his opening argument, didn’t dispute that Hill showed up to the Lindley residence drunk and belligerent and trying to pick a fight. In response, Billy Lindley stabbed Hill with a knife, according to Lewis.

“There was definitely some history between the parties,” Iverson said. “It was an interesting kind of charge for Rathel. He was there and he was somewhat involved, but our argument was that he wasn’t involved with the intent to kill this person.”

After Hill was stabbed, he ran across the street to Hartselle Gymnastics. According to Lewis, the Lindley brothers — Billy Lindley with a knife, and Rathel Lindley with hedge shears — cornered him there in the parking lot, and Billy Lindley stabbed him three more times. Rathel Lindley allegedly struck Hill with the shears.

Iverson said it was clear that Rathel Lindley struck Hill with the blunt edge of the shears, rather than the sharp edge, and suspected that played a key role in the jury’s decision.

The jury deliberated for around two hours on March 22 before returning verdicts, according to Iverson. He said the trial was unique for having more than one defendant and different lawyers.

“I was very thankful that we did try it together, because Tom DiGiulian has tried a bunch of (murder cases) and it was helpful to have somebody there,” he said.

Rathel Lindley said his brother plans on appealing the conviction.

“It was bull**** the way we was done,” he said. “I sat in jail for over a year for something I didn’t even do. It’s not right, in my book.”

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