"Pastor" goes to jail

It took all day on Friday, February 2, 2007, for the jury to come back with a verdict in the trial of “pastor” Shane Hall.

The victim’s family waited for seven hours outside the upstairs courtroom. Hall’s family waited somewhere else.

Everyone worried that the jury might not be able to decide the fate of Shane Hall this day, that deliberations might have to be taken up again after another weekend of waiting, with more time added to a process that began when Shane Hall came home on a Friday night in September 2005 and put his hand inside the clothes and touched inside the body of the 13 year-old baby sitter.

There was too much waiting in this case. It took too long for the girl to tell her parents, too long before parents told police, the trial lasted longer than lawyers thought when it began in January.

After 4 p.m., it was learned that a juror had accidentally erased a portion of taped evidence. It took more time to create another copy.

It was approaching 5 p.m. when word came back, “we have a verdict.”

As they had throughout the trial, Hall’s family assembled behind his seat on the left side of the courtroom. Hall and his new wife leaned against the wall, occasionally talking to Hall’s lawyer.

Family and friends of the victim sat on the right. The judge kept the front row empty. Deputies were posted against the walls.

In a clear, loud, voice, with authority, the judge advised everyone present that contempt carried a penalty, $500 and up to six months in jail, and that he would find anyone who interrupted the proceedings to be in contempt. He wanted order in his courtroom. Then he summoned the jury.

“Has the jury reached a verdict?” he asked.

“We have, your honor,” relied the foreman.

Shane Hall was told by the judge to stand. Families held hands on each side of the courtroom. And the judge read the verdict on all six counts against him.

Guilty. On every one. Five counts of Sex Abuse in the First Degree, one count of Unlawful Sexual Penetration. It was not unanimous. The jury returned the guilty verdict with 11 out of 12 jurors making the call.

There were tears from families on each side of the courtroom. Halls new wife sobbed. The victim’s mother cried softly.

The judged thanked the jury. Hall’s lawyer asked that his client be allowed to remain free until he was sentenced later in the month of February.

The answer took a very short bit of time. Looking down from the bench at Shane Hall, the judge said, “Remanded to custody and held without bail.”

Shane Hall went to jail.