Man, 46, sentenced to 50 years in prison

Hall
Hall

A 46-year-old homeless man was sentenced to 50 years in prison without the possibility of parole Monday after being convicted in Garland County Circuit Court of second-degree sexual assault involving an 8-year-old girl in 2013.

Neil Allen Hall, who was on parole at the time of his arrest from a 1990 conviction for rape and kidnapping in Polk County involving an 11-year-old victim, is classified as a habitual offender, which increased the punishment range of the charge from a maximum of 20 years to a range of 30 to 60 years.

After one day of testimony Monday, the 12-man jury deliberated for about 45 minutes before finding him guilty and about 20 minutes before recommending the sentence.

"Because he is a habitual offender and because of the nature of his prior convictions, he will have to serve the 50 years day for day," Deputy Prosecutor Kara Petro, who represented the state along with Deputy Prosecutor Shana Alexander, said Tuesday.

According to the affidavit, on April 9, 2013, shortly after 5 p.m., Hot Springs police Officer Randy Rodgers responded to the Goodwill Store, 631 E. Grand Ave., to investigate a reported sexual offense and arrived to find officer Sam Spencer had the suspect, identified as Hall, detained at the scene.

The victim was there with her mother, who told Rodgers her daughter said Hall had touched her on her bottom and told her "I want to f - - - you."

A female witness in the store stated she had seen a man with his hand on the victim's bottom and saw him lean in and say something to the girl, but she could not hear what was said. She later identified Hall as the man she had seen.

Petro said the victim, now 12, had testified Monday about the incident. She said the girl had been riding around the store on one of the bicycles being offered for sale when her father admonished her to stop. She then walked over to one of the mirrors in the store.

"She had a loose tooth and was at the mirror wiggling the tooth around when (Hall) came up behind her and grabbed her butt and told her he wanted to f - - - her," Petro said. "She screamed and started crying. She broke away from him and ran under a coat rack and then ran to her mother."

Petro said the witness saw Hall's hand on the girl's bottom and told the girl's mother. "(The victim) was so frightened she was having trouble getting the words out about what happened," and the witness told them to call 911.

She said numerous other patrons heard the victim scream and saw Hall "put on his sunglasses and start booking it toward the door." Hall fled from the store and ran into the woods behind the building where he was finally apprehended by police after officers had to command him to stop twice and "had to cut him off."

Petro noted when Hall was arrested he was found to have "a pocket full of candy."

She said jurors were shown the store video, which showed the victim riding the bicycle. She went out of camera range after she got off the bicycle, but could be seen moments later running under the coat rack and to her mother.

She said Hall testified and claimed he had only been consoling the victim after her father "yelled at her" and that he only touched her back. He said moments later he exclaimed, "What the f - - - am I doing?" and suggested that was what the victim heard.

Petro said she asked him why he would have said that and he claimed because of his past record. "I pointed out that no one in that store would have known he was a convicted sex offender," she said. "Then he basically said everyone was lying about him."

Hall was arrested and remained in custody until May 5, 2014, when he was released on $7,500 bond.

He was set to stand trial on the sexual assault charge on June 25, 2014, but failed to appear in court. Hall had been wearing an ankle monitor as part of his release, but reportedly removed the monitor around 1:30 p.m. that day and was being sought by police. His photograph was published in The Sentinel-Record and on social media.

Chief Deputy Prosecutor Joe Graham said Hall was later arrested in Texas where he was living for failure to register and convicted under the federal Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act for crossing state lines. He said it took them several months before they could extradite him back to Arkansas to stand trial in Garland County.

Local on 11/01/2017

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