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Welcome back to Postmortem. I'm your host, Ann Marie Green, and today we are discussing the case of 17-year-old
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Connor Hilton, who shot two of his friends, Ethan Riley and Benjamin Bleke, after they arrived at his home in Texas
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for scheduled hangout on December 23rd, 2023. Ben miraculously survived. But when
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Ethan died in the hospital, Connor was charged with murder and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. And his
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defense that he was on a prescription acne medication called Accutane that completely altered his thoughts and
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behavior. So joining me today to talk about this fascinating case is CBS News correspondent Tracy Smith. Tracy, thank
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you so much for joining us. >> Hi Amarie, thanks for having me. Um, I want to remind the listeners if you
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haven't uh listened to this 48 hours episode, the audio version, head on over to your podcast feed. You can find the
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full audio version um just below this episode in the feed. Go take a listen and then come on back for this
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conversation. All right, Tracy, let us get into this very unique uh defense strategy.
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Connor's defense team found an expert in isot retinoid, which is the generic version of Accutane. And through this
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expert, Connor's defense team argued that Connor was driven to kill due to the side effects of Accutane,
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which the expert says caused Connor to have a recurrent homicidal ideiation that he simply wasn't able to control.
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Now, I know that Accutane comes with side effects and and sometimes those side effects can be, you know, quite
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powerful, but I never heard of anyone being driven to kill because of it. Yeah, I hadn't heard of it either. If
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you look at the label, the label does warn of risk of depression, psychosis, suicide, and aggressive or violent
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behaviors. And there have been other homicide cases that uh people have tried to use Accutane as a defense, but none
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of those have been successful. As a mom, I know kids who've been on Accutane, and
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it's a wonder drug for a lot of teenagers uh who struggle with acne and uh a lot of people are on this drug and
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don't suffer any severe adverse reactions. Um, and we did reach out to JG Pharma about this case and they did
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not respond to our requests for comment. They are the folks who uh distribute the
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Accutane that Connor Hilton was on at the time of the shooting. >> So then let's talk about the science
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that the defense's expert presented. What do we know about it? >> The defense's expert is Dr. Doug Brener
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and he's a professor of psychiatry and radiology at Emory University School of Medicine. And Dr. Brener says he's done
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extensive research on the drug isotenino which is the generic version of Accutane. He showed these brain scans
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where he says you can see the difference between the brain without isotenino and
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then the brain when someone is on isot retino. The scans show that there's less activity in part of the brain that
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regulates emotions when a person is on isotenino. And according to Dr. Brener. He believes that in Connor's case, he
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was suffering from a medication psychotic disorder at the time of the shooting. And it's important to note
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that Connor told Dr. Brenner that on the day of the shooting, he took double the
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prescribed dose of his acne medication. Okay. So, here's the thing, though. He had been taking this medication for a
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while. You spoke to his parents and you asked them whether or not they had seen any red flags in terms of his behavior.
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They didn't see any. Did anyone else see red flags? >> Yeah, they said they didn't, but uh the
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police spoke to his friends. I spoke to Ben and his friends said that that gun was out at the house all the time. It
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was not locked up where it was supposed to be. Um and he also said concerning things. Um, there's one story that
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Detective McCandless and also Ben's mom, Shannon, told me that a week before the
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shooting, the 15-year-old who was hiding in the bathroom on the night of the shooting, a week before the shooting,
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Connor had invited all of his friends over for to watch a movie, and the kids didn't want to watch a movie. And this
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15-year-old uh was sitting with Connor, and Connor turned to him, and according to the 15-year-old, Connor said, "Have
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you ever thought about killing one of your friends? Um, there are also social media posts
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that Connor had made that showed a fascination with murder. And in fact, his school uh received two anonymous
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reports from the same person about 8 months before the shooting um about these social media posts about murder.
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And they called in Connor's mother. They talked to Connor. They investigated and they determined that there was no
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threat. Um, we dug in to the timeline a little bit just to try to figure out if this fascination with murder happened
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after Connor went on Accutane and he did struggle with anxiety prior to going on
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Accutane. He didn't want to go to school, but Connor said this fascination with murder happened after he was on
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Accutane. Now, does that mean that there's a cause and effect here? The prosecution says absolutely not. acne
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medication has nothing to do with this horrific act that Connor committed. >> You know, Tracy, as I was watching the
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hour, that's kind of like one of the things that I was going back and and forth with, right? Um I I know that that
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there can be experts to argue almost anything, but I believe this expert that, you know, perhaps Accutane could
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have had these dire side effects. What I wasn't sure of was whether or not that could be a defense. And the prosecution
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sort of basically argued that, too. In fact, they argued against the science in in court. The prosecution um introduced
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a more recent study that found that I saw retinoid generic Accutane uh that that those users actually do not have
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increased risk of suicide or psychiatric conditions. And then the lead prosecutor
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told you that this case is simple. What she believes is that it's not a side effect from medication, that some people
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are just evil. You sat down with Connor um for an interview. I'm curious. I mean, how did he come across to you?
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>> You know, we talked to him right before he took the plea. At that point, when we
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spoke to him, um, he thought he was going to trial. So, he at the advice of his attorneys didn't talk a lot about
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what happened that night, but I feel like we really did get a sense of who he was. And one of the things that stuck
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out to me was he was almost unnervingly polite. um he would say yes ma'am and no
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ma'am. At one point he actually kind of stopped the interview to ask if I was feeling okay. I actually have a a clip
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of that. I had asked him um about his friends who he shot and this is what he said.
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>> Can you tell me anything about your friends about Ethan and Ben? [snorts] [snorts]
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>> I'm sorry. >> [snorts] >> All I'm going to say is that they were very good friends to me. [snorts] That's
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all I'm going to say. >> And you didn't have any disagreements with them? >> No, I never hated them. I never hated
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him. >> There was no argument. >> No, ma'am. >> How do you explain what happened?
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I don't know. Um I mean I just need a water break. Just a water break. >> Of course.
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>> I'm I'm sorry. >> It's okay. >> Yeah. Like are you okay? Am I not like freak out or anything?
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>> No, of course not. And it's understandable why you would get emotional. I >> I'm just worried about you. Like are you
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okay? I'm fine. [snorts] >> He's worried about you. >> Yeah, I'm just worried about you. Like,
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I don't know about you, Amarie, but I've never had someone say that to me in an interview before.
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>> Absolutely not. Clearly, you're asking him a very uncomfortable question, a question that he's struggling to answer.
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Um, and so I'm I'm trying to figure out if that response is, you know, kind of a
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authentic interest in what's going on with you or if it is a kind of a stalling tactic. But it reminds me a
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little bit of him in the police cruiser when he asks like the officer about how his Christmas is going.
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>> Yeah. Are you having a good Christmas? I mean, every time I see that, it I I gasp. It's just it's so unusual. And the
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detectives said when they brought [music] him down to the station right after that, it was the same sort of
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thing. This yes, sir, no, sir. um this remarkable politeness. Welcome back. Let's talk about the victims. After
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entering Connor's home, police find 18-year-old Ethan Riley and 19-year-old Benjamin Bleke. They're lying on the
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floor. Each of them have gunshot wounds to the head. Both miraculously still alive when first responders arrive at
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the scene. But Ethan later dies in the hospital. It is Christmas Eve. >> Yeah. I mean, the timing of this is just
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heartbreaking. Connor was released on bond for the first time the same day that Ethan died. So, it's hard to fathom
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what's going on here at Christmas time with these families. You have one family who has their son at home, the son who
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shot these two boys, and those two boys families are in the hospital. I want to talk about Ethan just a little bit. Um
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his parents described him as handsome, athletic, bold, good-hearted. Um they said he could carry a conversation with
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anyone. And it was interesting, it struck me that both his father and Ben in describing him used the word light.
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Um his dad said in court that he was full of love and light. And uh Ben when he was talking about Ethan to me, he
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said that this is the kind of guy who always looked at things in a positive light that he was just this outstanding
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guy. >> Um and we learn actually this is sort of like almost the highlight in the hour is
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that Ben survives and the way he's revealed as he sort of walks around the corner. Um it was shocking and thrilling
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and I mean if you've got to have like something kind of positive to hang on to there he was.
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>> Yeah. I mean walking miracle, right? And just um >> I feel so lucky to be able to sit with
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Ben and his mom and to see his remarkable recovery and also his sense of humor as I'm sure you got watching
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this hour. He has this astonishing sense of humor. um a quick story that his mom
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shared with me. Um when Ben couldn't talk, she had his friends put together a playlist of his favorite songs. Uh and
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she would listen to that when she was with Ben and a song from Toto. You know, I guess it rains down in Africa, Toto,
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comes on and Shannon, his mom, just bursts out laughing like this is ridiculous. And she looks over at Ben
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and he has a smile on his face and she just knows like my son is back. Like that sense of humor is intact. Um, you
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know, he has no memory of what happened that night. Um, but Ben is very crystal clear about why it happened and he says
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it has nothing to do with the acne medication. >> In fact, he called it he called the
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defense horsesh. >> Yeah. Yeah. Well, that's Yeah. He doesn't mince words. That's a little bit
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of his humor, too, there. >> I you know, I wonder if it's a blessing that she that he actually can't remember
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the details of that night. I wonder if it's actually helped him in terms of his recovery. Was Ben close to Connor?
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>> Ben wasn't super close to Connor, but he was friends with Connor through Ethan
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cuz Ben was super close to Ethan and Connor's house was kind of the hangout house. Um, so they would hang out as a
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group at Connor's house. Ben was a little bit older than the other guys. He was already taking college classes. Um,
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and that's another part of this tragedy is that he was so independent, uh, you know, really starting his life
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and his mom said it was like having a baby again that she just had to redo everything with him. He had to learn to
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walk, talk, swallow again, just starting it all over. So, you know, we learn about the defense
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that's coming, right? This the side effect of this very common medication. But then two weeks before Connor Hilton
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is set to stand trial, he ends up taking a plea deal. Uh prosecutors offered him
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50 years in prison if he pleaded guilty to murder and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Can you talk a little bit
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about that? Cuz when I heard 50 years, I I actually thought that didn't seem like
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much of a negotiation. That's, you know, it's a pretty hefty sentence. I I suppose it could have been worse. It
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could have been life. >> Here's the thing. When we were talking with Connor, they the attorneys had
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gotten had just gotten the plea deal and uh so as we're as I was leaving, they went into a conference room to talk
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about this plea deal. And uh yeah, it's it's a little surprising. In Texas, a defendant gets to choose if they want
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the jury to sentence them. And the sentencing guidelines for murder are pretty broad. They're between five and
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99 years or life. So you figure if he rolled the dice, he could and he came off as this polite, sympathetic kid,
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maybe he could have gotten a lighter sentence. So in this plea deal, he's eligible for parole in 25 years. If he
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would have rolled the dice and gotten a life sentence, he would have been eligible for parole in 30 years. So it's
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a difference of five years. So it is kind of surprising that he took the deal. And his parents told us that after
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sentencing that he called them and said he regretted taking it, but he agreed to
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this. He signed something saying he understood what he was doing. He waved his right to a trial. He waved his right
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to an appeal. >> Um Ben gave a victim impact statement at the plea hearing and he told Connor that
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he was never going to forgive him for the grief that he caused his own family and for the Riley's. He came across as
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very very strong, but it's it's clear that this has had quite an impact on Ben. Um I know you asked him how he was
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doing and I want to play some of that sound. >> Through this all, you've managed to so
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show such perseverance. You've been so strong through all of this. What has kept you going?
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>> I want to get back to where I was. >> What do you mean by that? What do you want to be able to do?
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>> I know it sounds dumb, >> but I want to dunk a basketball. >> That doesn't sound dumb. That basketball
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was so important to you. You want to be able to dunk. You were You could dunk before.
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>> Yeah. >> So, you want to be able to dunk again. >> You know, Tracy, sometimes we can be
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distracted by a person's presentation, right? His speech is a little slower. It's a little tougher for him to move
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his body. We can see in the hour, but when he speaks, I and I obviously never knew Ben until, you know, watching this,
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but you can almost see who he was before this when he speaks, you know. >> Oh, yeah. I so agree. I so agree. And
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and getting out and playing pickle ball with him really gave me a chance to see who he was, that strength. I mean, he he
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absolutely kicked my rear end um in pickle ball. And it's funny like that of all sports for this young guy to be
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into, but he started it in rehab. They had this group of other people who had suffered spinal injuries, brain
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injuries, and they would all get together to play and he really took to it. Um, so he's kept playing and he and
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his mom have actually joined a group of older people playing pickle ball and they joke that the older people beat
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them all the time, but my guess is that's not going to be for long. >> No, definitely not. um you know that I
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have a teenager at home and in watching this hour it really made me think you have to be on your teenagers all the
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time and I certainly have been guilty of I don't know everything that my kid looks up online. I'm constantly
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surprised by her awareness of things in the world. When I ask her where she got it from, she says social media or
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YouTube. Um but I just hope when parents watch this they realize like it is okay
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to be nosy. you know, get up in that get up in that computer and see what your kid is looking up and what they are
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writing on social media. >> That rings for me. I have teenagers, too. And that idea that we need to be on
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them and we need to sometimes be the parent and not the friend and say no has stayed with me.
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>> Yeah. Um well, I hope that this is one of the messages that people get when they watch the hours. I I'm glad that
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the victim's families and Ben did not have to go through a trial, but I would have been very interested in hearing the
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argument and counterargument and whether or not it would hold up as a defense. It's a very unique case. Tracy, thank
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you so much. >> Oh, my pleasure. Thanks for having me. >> If you like this episode, please rate
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