Opinion ID: 2364198
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Leonard Hall

Text: Leonard Hall, at the time retired from the Camden police department, testified that Franklin King was brought to his house by a group of about eight to twelve young men, many of whom were members of the Hilltop Posse, a neighborhood gang that blamed King for the Weist shooting. At that time, before Hall had any information about the gun used in the crime, King stated, I'm not the only one in Camden with a .44 Magnum. Hall called the Camden police and related that he might have a suspect in a homicide. A patrol officer was dispatched and brought King to the prosecutor's office, where King was questioned and released. The basic facts surrounding the surrender of King to Officer Hall by the gang had been elicited at trial, but the alleged incriminating statement to Hall revealing King's knowledge of the type of gun used in the crime had not. None of the parties explored whether that evidence could have been discovered with reasonable diligence at the time of trial, and the PCR court did not address that issue. The PCR court found Hall's testimony credible, but concluded that King sufficiently explained the incriminating statement when he stated that, while being dragged to Hall's house, one of the members of the Hilltop Posse told him that a .44 Magnum was used in the shooting of Weist.