CANDY Montgomery was acquitted of killing her neighbor with 41 blows from an ax.
The story has been turned into a mini-series on Hulu called Candy and in HBO's Love and Death.
Candy and her husband Pat moved to Texas in 1977 with their two children and met Betty Gore and her husband Allan.
The two couples attended the same Methodist church where Candy and Allan were choir members and the two women became firm friends.
However, just three years later, Betty, an elementary school teacher, was found dead on June 13, 1980, by her neighbors.
The evidence of fingerprints and footprints found at the crime scene led to Montgomery, who was charged with Betty's murder and arrested on June 27, 1980.
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Although the married housewife confessed to Gore's gruesome killing under hypnosis and admitted having an affair with her husband, she was found not guilty by a jury on October 29, 1980.
According to a 1984 report from Texas Monthly, Montgomery revealed the details of the incident to psychiatrist Dr. Fred Fason.
Fason claimed that he sent Candy into a trance during hours-long hypnosis sessions, making her recount the events in Betty's bloodied utility room over and over again.
According to Montgomery, on June 13, 1980, after the affair with Allan had finished, Betty's suspicions saw her confront Candy when she visited Gore's house.
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Montgomery claimed that Gore attacked her with an ax, cutting her toe after she admitted to the affair.
After Candy apologized, Betty allegedly insisted that she "had to kill" Montgomery.
Per Candy's testimony, Betty then swung the ax repeatedly, starting a fight that moved to the bathroom, where Betty's body was eventually found.
Montgomery claimed that she acted in self-defense when she hit Betty with the weapon 41 times.
She said she blacked out after Betty charged at her with the ax.
Dr. Fason testified at the trial that Candy started to hit Gore with the ax and only stopped "at the point of utter exhaustion" because her friend told her to "shush" as they fought over the ax.
She was reportedly overtaken by rage when Betty told her to be quiet as this triggered a childhood trauma that sent her into a "disassociative" rage.
Fason described “a connection” between Montgomery's abusive mother telling her to "shush" and Gore hushing her, reported The Independent.
“I didn’t think,” Candy reportedly testified at her trial.
“I didn’t think at all. I raised it and I hit her, and I hit her, and I hit her, and I hit her,” she said.
After just eight days, the jury found her not guilty, and acquitted her of all charges.
The ruling left gathering crowds outside the Texas courthouse shocked and they shouted "Murderer, Murderer!" at Candy as she left.
The Daily Mail claimed that Candy and her family moved to Georgia following the dismissal.
Sometime during the reported move, she and her husband Pat Montgomery reportedly got divorced.
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The first episode of Love and Death airs today and is produced by David E Kelley and stars Elizabeth Olsen and Lily Rabe.
Olsen plays Candy and Lily Rabe takes on the role of victimized neighbor Betty.
