A Collin County judge on Friday reduced the bond for a McKinney woman accused of killing her husband from $1.5 million to $140,000.

And Craig Watkins, the attorney for the victim's family, said it's because of the "affluenza effect."

Morgan Leigh Sims, 33, was arrested on a murder charge in the death of Daray Vontrell Sims, 37. Sims was shot to death April 20 at the couple's home. Morgan Sims has told police her husband abused her.

Morgan and Daray Sims

"They've seen the affluenza effect in Collin County," Watkins said. "We see it when a person of color is killed by someone who is Anglo."

Daray Sims was black; Morgan Sims is white. The term "affluenza" was coined in a Tarrant County case in which a 16-year-old, Ethan Couch, was driving drunk and killed four people.

In 2013, Couch received 10 years probation and no prison time after a psychologist claimed his upbringing made Couch unable to understand the consequences of his actions. He later spent 270 days in jail after he fled to Mexico. He is now free.

Watkins, the former Dallas County district attorney, said state District Judge Scott Becker had every reason to keep the high bond for Morgan Sims — or at least only reduce it a little.

"When they found her, she had her passport, $9,000 and the murder weapon," Watkins said. If she pays a bail bondsman the standard 10 percent, he said, "she can get out of jail for $14,000."

Morgan Sims' attorney, Toby Shook, said the judge took into account the facts of the case when he reduced the bond.

"I don't understand what Mr. Watkins means by affluenza," Shook said. "Obviously, Morgan Sims told police she was abused by the deceased. And the investigator admitted there were injuries to Ms. Sims' face and arms when she was taken into custody."

Prosecutor Doug Millican argued to keep bail at $1.5 million. He noted that Sims was cleaning up the crime scene when she learned deputies were on the way.

"Plan B was to run," Millican said of Sims. "She is a flight risk."

Shook disagreed, telling the judge that Sims had been born and raised in Texas, had immediate family in the area and other family elsewhere in the state. And other than a misdemeanor charge, she had no criminal record, he said.

Sims has worked as a hairstylist the past 15 years. She also does multilevel marketing, selling hair products online.

She testified that she had tried to make the $1.5 million bail but was unable to. When asked about help from her parents, she said she had asked but wasn't getting any help.

"I want to support myself," she said.

The shooting

Collin County sheriff's deputies were called about a disturbance at the couple's home in the 7500 block of Fossil Creek Trail, according to court records. The caller reported that his sister and her husband were "arguing and fighting."

Minutes later, 911 dispatchers received a call from Morgan Sims' mother, claiming that her daughter had just shot her husband. Sims' mother reported that she was at the home and that there were two children, ages 2 and 6, inside.

Morgan Sims

Sheriff's deputies found Daray Sims in the master bathroom, lying face down on the floor. Deputies said the floor was covered in "copious amounts of blood," records show.

Deputies found Morgan Sims several miles away in her black Range Rover and arrested her.

"When asked what happened, Sims stated that she had 'been abused, which caused me to defend myself,'" records show. She then said she wanted an attorney and didn't say anything else to deputies.

Inside the Range Rover, deputies found a pistol with a magazine and a live round in the chamber, according to court records. Investigators also found $9,560 in cash, a bottle of pills believed to be Xanax and some diazepam, also known as Valium, inside the vehicle.

Because the couple's children were left inside the home with their mortally wounded father after Sims drove off, she also has been charged with two counts of abandoning or endangering a child.

Daughter's account

The girl told a forensic interviewer that when she was younger, her parents got along.

"But it turned to badness and after their anniversary, her dad said they were going to start over and be nice to each other, but they moved back to badness and started fighting again," according to a probable cause affidavit attached to the endangerment charges.

One child also reported one time when Morgan Sims "jumped" on Daray Sims when he was on the phone "and scratched him with a spoon," the affidavit states.

On the day of the shooting, the 6-year-old told a forensic investigator, her dad had been mowing the lawn when her mother came home from work. They started fighting about her dad cheating on her mom, the affidavit states.

The girl said that when her father got into the shower, her mother got her gun out of a safe in the closet. The girl said she had never seen anyone with a gun before that day, the affidavit states.

Morgan Sims gave the children her phone and some candy and told them they could watch a movie in the living room, the affidavit states.

The girl stated she was in the living room when "she heard the gun go off two, three, four or five times, and then she didn't hear anything else," the affidavit states.

She also described hearing "a loud POW," the affidavit states.

Daray and Morgan Sims

When the girl went into the bathroom, she said, her mother hid the gun behind her back. She said she saw her father "lying on the floor in a ball with his clothes off with little drops of blood on the floor," the affidavit states.

At one point, the girl said, she "heard a bullet drop on the floor and it scared her," the affidavit stated. Sims told her daughter that her dad had passed out and was sick and throwing up, the affidavit states.

"No you were hurting him," the girl told her mother, according to the affidavit.

Sims packed a bag and told her children that their uncle and their grandmother were coming over. As she was leaving the house, she told her children: "Whatever you do, don't go in the bathroom," according to the affidavit.

Past problems

Dallas County court records show that Daray Sims was arrested in May 2014 on suspicion of assault-family violence in DeSoto. A grand jury declined to indict him. He also was arrested on two counts of theft in 2012 after his employer in Carrollton accused him of stealing four televisions from a warehouse. Those charges were dismissed after Sims paid $10,699 in restitution, according to court records.

Before their marriage, Morgan Sims was arrested in April 2010 on a charge of criminal mischief after Addison police say she used a rock to scratch the paint on four vehicles, including the car of her then-boyfriend. She pleaded no contest to a Class A misdemeanor and received one year of deferred adjudication supervision, records show. She has no criminal conviction because of the type of probation she received.

The couple purchased the McKinney home in January, according to Collin County appraisal records. They previously lived in DeSoto.

They celebrated their seventh anniversary less than two weeks before Daray Sims' death.