Edwin Willis Shaar, Jr. and his wife Linda Shaar
Gabriel Hall after his arrest
Death row mugshot
Gabriel Hall’s mugshot during a January 2023 Bench Warrant in Brazos County
Delay request denied in Gabriel Hall's murder trial
The capital murder trial of 20-year-old Gabriel Hall is set to begin in October despite a request from a defense attorney Monday to postpone the death penalty case until January - nearly a year after it was originally scheduled to begin.
Hall is accused of a vicious attack Oct. 20, 2011, that left 68-year-old Edwin Shaar dead from a shotgun wound and his 69-year-old disabled wife severely injured after being stabbed repeatedly in the throat at the Shaars' home in the 1800 block of Deacon Drive in southwest College Station. Police said Hall, who was 18 years old and a senior at A&M Consolidated High School at the time, spent months plotting the killing.
Prosecutors plan to seek the death penalty for Hall if he's convicted of capital murder, which, in Texas, is only punishable by life in prison without parole or execution.
Hall spent the first 11 years of his life in the Philippines before being adopted by local couple Wes and Karen Hall, who have not attended any of his court hearings.
Attorneys recently returned from Hall's home country, where they spent a week interviewing potential witnesses for the defense, including Hall's father, a convicted murderer who spent two years in prison in the 1990s.
The trip was planned to save money on having to fly witnesses over and pay for lodging, as well as to cut back on the time it would take to arrange for witnesses -- some of whom would likely have trouble getting travel visas -- to make their way to Brazos County.
Depositions with Filipino witnesses were filmed with two cameras as well as recorded on a separate audio track.
One of Hall's defense attorneys, John Wright, who did not accompany his co-counsel, Tony Odiorne, to the Philippines, focused much of his argument for a continuance on needing more time to review and edit the 80 hours of video testimony so that it would be presentable for District Judge Travis Bryan III and the selected jury.
He also said extra time was needed to further vet a list the defense team received July 8 of about 60 former orphans from the same orphanage Hall lived in and decide who would be called on during the trial.
Having heard arguments from both sides, Bryan denied the continuance without discussion.
The judge has yet to rule on whether depositions taken by the defense after the prosecutors left the Philippines will be admitted into evidence, or on objections regarding the depositions.
Prosecutors expressed frustrations about the defense attorneys' continuing depositions after the state attorneys left the Philippines after a week there, pointing to the fact that their travel plans had been worked out with plenty of advance so that Hall's attorneys could make proper arrangements when it came to both sides meeting with witnesses in the Philippines.
What will and won't be allowed into evidence is a matter Bryan will take up Aug. 27, when video depositions are reviewed in court.
http://www.theeagle.com/news/local/a...018ad8fbe.html
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