CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – The homicide case of a woman accused of shooting her husband earlier this month was bound over to the grand jury after a preliminary hearing Monday morning, and she claimed the shooting was accidental.
Sothon In, 38, and an Army veteran, was found dead at the couple’s home on Jan. 3. Theary Lim, his 32-year-old wife, was charged with homicide after investigators discovered home security footage that showed her wielding a gun and knife on the day of Sothon In’s death.
‘I just saw blood’
The preliminary hearing comes after two delays due to the difficulty of tracking down a translator who speaks Khymer, the language of Cambodia. After her arrest, Theary Lim was placed on suicide watch and then was on COVID protocol.
For Monday’s hearing, the courts used a Cambodian interpreter in Washington state who attended virtually. Prior to the hearing, the courtroom was cleared out so that Chase Smith, Theary Lim’s attorney, could speak with his client.
The state called only two witnesses. The first was Sovanndy Keo, who said he worked at Shipley’s Donuts with Theary Lim for a year. Keo spoke through the translator.
Keo said he called police on Jan. 3 around 9:45 p.m. after his younger brother called to tell him that he arrived at Sothon In’s home to find In dead.
When Keo arrived, his brother was outside, and Keo entered the house. He said Theary Lim was on the floor under a blanket with her two children nearby, and it appeared that one child was asleep. He said she didn’t appear emotionally stable, and when he called her by name, she didn’t respond.
Keo said the bedroom door was open, and Sothon In’s body was inside next to the bed. When asked by Assistant District Attorney Stanley Brooks to describe the scene, Keo said, “I just saw blood.”
When Smith asked why the younger brother did not call the police himself, Keo said it was because the brother did not speak English either.
Wife claims it was accident
The second testimony came from Clarksville Police Detective Keenan Carlton.
He said he responded to the scene on Ladd Drive at about 11 p.m., and that Lim had already been taken to the hospital. Carlton described a large pool of blood on the bed.
Carlton added that Sothon In had a bullet wound in his head between the eyes, and a 9 mm handgun and knife were found at the home, along with a single shell casing.
After Lim was released from the hospital, Carlton said, she was interviewed at the Special Operations office, where they used an interpreter via a hotline.
“She appeared normal to me,” Carlton said.
Carlton testified that Lim told him the shooting was accidental, and that while lying in bed next to Sothon In and playing with the handgun, the gun fired.
After the translator interpreted what Carlton had testified, Lim interrupted to say, “No. That’s not what I said.”
Brooks then asked Carlton why Lim didn’t call the police.
Carlton, pausing for translator, said, “She had stated that she was severely depressed … and then she had tried to commit suicide, she stated why would I … She stated that she took 30 sleeping pills.”
What the video shows
Carlton said video footage that investigators found in the home captured the days and hours leading up to the discovery of Sothon In’s body.
“Based on the video, it appeared inconsistent with what she said happened,” Carlton said, adding that she was not behaving like someone who just accidentally shot her husband.
He added that she was observed on video pacing with the gun and knife.
“It could best be described as pacing back and forth from the area of the bedroom to the front window and back seven times,” Carlton said.
Brooks asked if Carlton could tell on the video whether the slide on the gun that Lim was holding was in the back position. He said it was at one point, and then it changed around the time that they believe the shooting occurred, which was sometime between 12:50 and 12:59 p.m. on Jan. 3.
After 12:59 p.m., Carlton said she is not seen again on the video until Keo’s younger brother arrives.
Smith asked if there was any blood observed on Lim’s clothing, since according to her statement to Carlton, the shooting would have happened at close range.
Carlton said he did not see any blood on her clothing, but the clothing was collected for evidence.
After hearing from both parties, Judge Wayne Shelton bound the case over to the Montgomery County Grand Jury to consider indictment.
Clarification: It was not made clear whether the bullet wound Carlton observed between Sothon In’s eyes was an entry or exit wound. This article has been reworded for clarity.