Opinion ID: 151087
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Defendant Hall's Testimony

Text: At the third trial, Defendant Hall testified in his own defense. On October 15, 1999, Hall went to and returned from school with his sister LaQuanda. Hall and LaQuanda walked to pick up their two other sisters from school, and during their walk home they met one of Hall's friends, Sunkeissa Cantrell. Hall briefly encountered Leak, who said he was coming home from school. Leak said nothing else to Hall. After Hall got home, his brother Dwayne Hall arrived home a little after 4:00 p.m. Hall's mother arrived shortly after Dwayne Hall and fixed dinner. Cantrell called Hall to talk about the homecoming dance scheduled for that night at 7:00 p.m. That afternoon, Hall also spoke on the phone with his friends Stacie Sweazer, John Cartas, Jarvis Blocton, and Quinton Armstrong. It was a multi-way phone call, like a three-way and four-way type. One person would hang up, put someone on hold, and call another person, with several of the friends on the phone at the same time. They were discussing arrangements for going to the dance. John Cartas said he did not know if he would go because he only had two dollars and the dance cost five, but Hall said he had eight dollars and would loan John Cartas three dollars to get into the dance. [16] John Cartas testified that Hall gave him a dollar toward his admission. Defendant Hall and John Cartas attended the dance. They got a ride with Cartas's mother, who picked Hall up at Hall's house at about 7:15 p.m. On their way out to the dance, they saw a bunch of police cars at the Little People's Workshop. Hall spent that night at John Cartas's house. Two days later, police officers arrived at Hall's house around 4:00 p.m. and arrested him. They took Hall to the police station. When Hall arrived, he asked could my dad be in there. And they said don't worry about it, he's upstairs. Hall asked again, telling the officers, I want my dad in here before y'all start questioning me. They said don't worry about it, he's upstairs again and told me to sit down and handcuffed my hand against the desk. Hall admitted he signed the state juvenile rights form and the adult Miranda form, but said he did not have a chance to read them first, and that the officers explained them to him after he signed them. Hall admitted he made the taped statement, but said he was threatened: [B]efore I made that statement, they kept reading [from their notes] to me over and over until I had a real understanding. But I told them it ain't me. They said why you lying. I said I ain't lying. And he had pointed at Officer Grant. Officer Grant came over and kicked the chair and said why you lying, why did you rob and rape the folks. I said I don't know what you're talking about, sir. And he kicked the chair and the handcuff got real tight on my wrist. Then he balled his fist up at me. Then I jumped. Then Officer Major he hit the table and said, you keep lying and we are going to put you in the county with no bond. There is some boys can rape you. On cross-examination, Hall testified he left to pick up his sisters after school at about 3:00 p.m. and returned home around 4:00 p.m. Cantrell called, and he spoke to her briefly but had to stop and eat dinner at around 4:10 p.m. He ate dinner for about five minutes, and then got on a conference call with his friends Armstrong, Cartas, Blocton, and Cantrell, and later also spoke to Stacie Sweazer alone until about 5:00 p.m. Hall then got back on a conference call with Armstrong and Cartas and spoke with them until about 5:40 p.m., then took a shower and got ready for the dance. About 6:00 p.m., Hall got on the phone with his friends again, and talked [b]asically until the time we left. Hall got off the phone at 7:00 p.m. and left for the dance around 7:15 p.m. when John Cartas arrived at Hall's house to pick him up. Hall acknowledged his testimony was different from his prior sworn testimony that he began eating and talking on the phone at 3:30 p.m. and that his mother was home when he got home with his sisters, but Hall said his present testimony was accurate. Hall stated that he told Officers Major and Grant that he did not understand his rights after they were read to him, but admitted that during the taped confession, Hall stated he understood his rights. Hall testified that, after they left the interview session to search for the guns, Officer Grant hit Hall in the mouth with a flashlight about one time, which Hall acknowledged contradicted a previous sworn statement in which Hall claimed that Grant hit him about four or five times. Hall claimed the previous statement must have been misheard or mistyped.