Hall v. Texas

January 30, 2019 by Justia

The Office of Capital and Forensic Writs (OCFW), on behalf of Appellant Justen Hall, sought DNA testing on a power cord that was wrapped around the victim's neck. Appellant was convicted of the murder of Melanie Billhartz, whom he killed to prevent police from discovering a gang drug house. Among the details contained in Appellant’s confession was the fact that Appellant had used an “extension cord” to strangle the victim and that the cord was wrapped around the victim’s neck several times. Appellant’s confession stated that he got the extension cord from the drug house. The confession also stated that an associate used a machete to chop off fingers from the victim’s right hand. An autopsy showed that a black, three pronged power cord was wrapped around the victim’s neck three times and tied tightly. Her nasal bones were fractured, and she had multiple fractures of the lower jaw bone, fractures in her right hand, a fractured rib, cutting or sawing in the fingers area of her right hand, and fingers missing from her right hand. OCFW contended the power cord could be analyzed for touch DNA and that such an analysis could show that someone other than Appellant used the murder weapon. To meet its burden to show that an exculpatory result on such a test would make a difference in Appellant’s case, OCFW argued the evidence connecting Appellant to the murder was weak, pointing to the lack of physical or forensic evidence connecting Appellant to the murder, Appellant’s confession, and the other testimony against him as unreliable. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals concluded OCFW did not show by a preponderance of the evidence that Appellant would not have been convicted if exculpatory results had been obtained in the testing that was being requested. The Court also concluded OCFW did not show by a preponderance of the evidence that a request for such testing was not made to unreasonably delay the execution of Appellant’s sentence. Consequently, the Court upheld the trial court’s decision to deny testing. View "Hall v. Texas" on Justia Law