Opinion ID: 2590211
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Murder of Mark Howard Hall

Text: On December 31, 1975, Mark Howard Hall went drinking with his friend Philip Holmer. Hall, 22 years old, stood five feet eight or nine inches tall and weighed 160 to 170 pounds. After visiting a bar and attending one party, where Hall became drunk and smoked some marijuana, Holmer and Hall went to a second party, about two blocks from Interstate 5 in San Juan Capistrano. Because Hall was so drunk, he lay down on a sofa at the second party. Holmer last saw him alive around midnight and only later discovered Hall was no longer at the home where the party was taking place. On January 3, 1976, an off-duty Santa Ana police officer was riding dune buggies with friends in the mountains near Silverado Canyon and Bedford Peak in the area of Saddleback Mountain. About 3:00 p.m., the group discovered the dead body of Mark Hall about 25 feet from a road in that area and summoned police. Hall's body was nude, and his genitals had been removed. Near the body was an open package of Half-and-Half brand cigarettes. [3] The cause of death was a combination of suffocation and acute alcohol intoxication. Hall's mouth and trachea had been densely packed with dirt. Repeated filling of the mouth with dirt, followed by choking, swallowing or inhaling, could have accounted for the degree of compaction; it was unlikely that intentional forcing of dirt down the trachea would have resulted in the degree of compaction of the dirt, and there was no tissue damage to indicate a rod had been used. Hall's blood-alcohol level at the time of death was 0.67 percent. For most people, a blood-alcohol level of 0.45 or 0.50 percent would be fatal. Diazepam, as well as the over-the-counter cold remedies phenacetin and methapyriline, were found in Hall's system. A cigarette lighter had been used to burn Hall's eyes, nose, moustache, left nipple and other parts of his body. The injuries to the eyes and nipple and the removal of the penis and scrotum had occurred postmortem. A swizzle stick had been shoved up the urethra of the penis into the bladder, and the genitals had been inserted into the rectum. Only one testicle was found. There were ligature marks on the right side of the neck. A 12-inch cut had been inflicted on Hall's leg postmortem. About 11 inches from Hall's head, police found a broken bottle neck with dried type B blood on it. Hall had type B blood. About 20 feet from the body, police found a number of pieces of broken glass that appeared consistent with the bottle neck. A latent print made by defendant's right thumb was on one of the pieces of glass. That latent print lift was misplaced in the sheriffs department's filing system for a period of time; while it was missing, a forensic specialist used a new technique to lift the same latent print from the glass again, and the print was again matched to defendant's right thumb. A separate latent fingerprint, also identified as defendant's right thumb, was lifted from another piece of glass found at the scene. A criminalist fitted together the pieces of glass on which defendant's right thumb-print was found, along with other pieces, concluding they had come from the bottom of the bottle. The prosecutor argued to the jury that the entry NEW YEARS EVE on defendant's list referred to Mark Howard Hall. In defense, several members of defendant's family testified he had attended a New Year's Eve party at the Westminster home of one of defendant's sisters until about 12:30 a.m. Those same family members testified they saw defendant again at his parents' house around 7:00 or 8:00 a.m. on January 1, 1976. He was wearing the same clothes as the night before, and nothing appeared amiss. A defense investigator drove from the location of the party defendant attended to San Juan Capistrano, from there to the location where Hall's body was found, and from there to defendant's parents' house; he concluded at least two hours and 35 minutes of driving time was required to cover the route.