A hearing in the case of a Napa school teacher charged with shooting her live-in boyfriend came to a screeching halt  Monday  when the victim refused to testify under cross-examination by the teacher's defense attorney.

Roxanne McWilliams, 49, has been behind bars without bail since Sept. 8, when she admitted to firing three bullets into James Talley's back as he slept in the bedroom of the home the couple shared on Redwood Road. Talley made his way to the bathroom, where McWilliams fired two more rounds into his chest, before fleeing from the residence.

Talley, 50, came to Napa last May and met McWilliams a short time later at a neighborhood bar. He is wanted on two Texas warrants for felony family violence and violation of probation.

At Monday's hearing, attorney Merv Lernhart repeatedly questioned Talley about his criminal past in Texas. Talley, who used profanities and made direct derogatory comments about McWilliams and her family --  who filled the audience section in the courtroom -- was agitated by the questioning.

Superior Court Judge Stephen Kroyer had to admonish Talley about his profanities. Kroyer also advised him under the Fifth Amendment he did not have to answer any of Lernhart's questions about his pending legal matters with the Texas courts that could incriminate him.

Although Kroyer did his best to play referee, Talley and Lernhart continued to spar on the questions and answers of Talley's past domestic violence troubles and other criminal convictions in Texas.

After a lunch recess, Talley again took the stand and told Kroyer he was not going to answer any more of Lernhart's questions without his lawyer present. However, Talley does not have a lawyer to represent him in the criminal matter. Kroyer appointed county public defender Ron Abernethy to represent Talley. Abernethy told Kroyer he did not feel comfortable advising Talley until he was able to read all the police reports and other discovery in the case.

Abernethy suggested that Napa attorney Elisabeth Frater -- representing Talley in a personal injury civil lawsuit he has filed against McWilliams -- could also represent him in the criminal case because she is familiar with the details of the case. Talley told Kroyer that he did not have the money to retain the private services of Frater.

Kroyer recessed the preliminary hearing until Abernethy had the chance to review the case, telling Kroyer that would be sometime this week.

Tense testimony

Tensions were high when Talley -- in custody without bail in Napa for the Texas warrants -- was brought into the courtroom and took the witness stand.

Just feet from McWilliams, who sat next to Lernhart at the table in front of the bench, Talley fixed his eyes on McWilliams, who avoided all eye contact and lowered her head. Several times during the Talley's testimony, McWilliams broke down crying, shaking her head, her body shuddering.

Although there is no dispute that McWilliams emptied her revolver into Talley's upper torso, her defense is she snapped under several months of Talley's physical, emotional and sexual abuse.

McWilliams who for the past 18 years taught third grade at Pueblo Vista Elementary school in Napa and is now on unpaid administrative leave, has been charged with first-degree attempted murder. If found guilty, she could face 32 years in prison.

Under cross-examination by Lernhart, Talley testified he came to California to earn money "clean up his legal troubles in Texas."

 "You didn't come to California so not to be arrested on the warrants?" asked Lernhart.

"I told you, I came to California to work," Talley replied, adding, "Lawyers cost money."

"Do you consider yourself a violent person?" Lernhart asked.

"No, I do not," Talley answered.

Referring to a conversation Talley had with a woman he bought a truck from in Napa, who wanted him to get insurance on the vehicle since he had not transferred the title to his name, Lernhart asked, "Did you tell her to leave you alone or you would burn her house down?"

"Hell no," Talley shot back, then glaring at McWilliams, saying, "You're a piece of work. I'm glad you are going to rot in prison."

"You don't like my client?" Lernhart asked.

"Not anymore," Talley barked.

"Do you have a bad temper?" the attorney asked.

"I can hold my own," Talley answered.

Lernhart asked Talley, who told the court he had been married seven times, if he found one of his ex-wives in bed with another man.

"Yeah," he replied, adding he assaulted her and "beat the hell out of him. There was blood everywhere."

Lernhart repeatedly asked Talley if he ever threatened to harm or kill McWilliams and her family.

Talley denied after each question ever "laying a hand on her" or threatening her or her family. "I never touched her."

Talley admitted although he and McWilliams initially had a smooth relationship, it became more tumultuous. "One day it was great. The next day it was hell. It became an off-and-off relationship with me moving out several times," he said.

Talley also adamantly denied ever threatening McWilliams if she didn't withdraw money from the bank and leave Napa with him to avoid him being prosecuted for the Texas warrants.

"We were working that out. She knew about the warrants. We were hoping I'd get probation and deal with it all here," Talley said. He also testified he planned to go back to Texas and turn himself in, but he wasn't sure when.

"Did you force the defendant to engage in sexual acts with you?" Lernhart asked.

"I did not, I sure did not," Talley snapped back. "I never forced her to do anything."

Lernhart continued to ask Talley questions about his violent past with his ex-wives, which visibly upset Talley.

"What does this have to do with her shooting me three times in the back while I'm sleeping? I'm not answering any more of your questions about this. I want to have a lawyer."

'She kept shooting'

Before Lernhart cross-examined Talley, Deputy District Attorney Michelle Rollins had Talley recount the events leading up to the shooting in the early morning hours of Sept. 8.

"It had been a pretty good day. We had a discussion about (her sister) digging into my life. She has no right to get into my business," he said.

"I kissed Roxanne good night and went to bed around 10:30 p.m. I awoke to a loud noise and saw Roxanne at the end of the bed holding a pistol. I didn't know I had been shot," Talley testified.

He said he walked into the bathroom and that's when he realized he had been shot three times in the back.

"I collapsed on the bathroom floor. She came back around the corner and shot me two more times," Talley testified. "She kept shooting the gun but it ran out of bullets. I heard the click."

Talley said he was able to crawl to the bedroom, retrieve a cell phone and call 911.

Napa Police Officer Kristopher Jeny, the first officer to arrive on scene, said he found Talley lying on the bed with blood on the floor, Talley's shoulders, chest and back.

Jeny testified Talley said McWilliams shot him. Jeny said he soon saw McWilliams walking on the sidewalk approaching her residence.

As she approached, she said, "'I'm here. I'm the one you're are looking for.' She had her hands raised above her head."

McWilliams then directed investigators to where she had ditched the gun under a riding lawnmower at a nearby church.