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Robin Wayne Penton (Madison County Sheriff's Department)

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama -- A Huntsville man beat and fatally shot his wife and killed their three dogs and a parrot after being angered by a text she sent a friend, according to police testimony this morning.

Robin Wayne Penton, 53, also attempted to kill himself March 10 with a mix of pills and rum, Huntsville Police Department investigator Michael Leftwich testified this morning at Penton's preliminary hearing.

The body of Penton's wife, Colleen Penton, was found on the floor of the couple's bedroom with a bouquet of plastic flowers and a ceramic angel figurine on top of her, Leftwich said. Penton was lying near her unconscious when a SWAT team entered the home on Thornmor Drive in south Huntsville.

Police were responding to a call from Penton's brother, who said he'd received a call from Penton saying he killed his wife and was going to kill himself, Leftwich said. A SWAT team had used a robot to breach the door before they entered, Leftwich testified.

Colleen Penton had been shot three times and had a fractured skull, Leftwich said. Penton had struck her in the head with a kerosene heater, the investigator testified.

The crime scene ran from the garage to the bedroom with a trail of blood and bloody handprints of the victim where Penton had dragged her toward the bedroom. Notes Penton had written after the killing were found in a nearby bathroom, Leftwich said.

The notes include threats to other people including Penton's boss, his juvenile stepchildren and his wife's ex-husband. Penton's tone changes in the notes from saying his wife was killed because she talked too much and later he says she didn't deserve her fate, but at least she'll be in heaven, while he'll be in hell, Leftwich said.

Penton was released from the hospital a few days after the killing and in an interview with Leftwich he admitted killing his wife and repeated threats against the people mentioned in the notes. In the interview Penton complained that his wife had spent too much money on the dogs, a pointer, a chihuahua and a Rottweiler, and that the parrot talked too much. The plastic flowers on Colleen Penton's body were from Penton's mother's grave, Leftwich testified.

Leftwich said Penton was angered by a text his wife had sent to a friend, which said he'd only been home five minutes and was already getting on her nerves. The text set him off, Leftwich testified.

District Court Judge Linda Coats ruled there was enough evidence to present the case to a grand jury.

The defense had also asked that Penton's bond be lowered from $500,000. Madison County Assistant District Attorney Gabrielle Helix argued against the bond reduction, pointing to the threats Penton had made and calling him a danger to the community.

Defense attorney Norman Bradley presented two witnesses, friends of Penton's, who said they had never known him to be violent or threaten anyone.

Coats denied the request to lower Penton's bond.