Erick Virgil Hall

Timeline

• October 2004 — Erick Virgil Hall received a death sentence for the killing of Lynn Henneman.
• March 1, 2003 — Cheryl Ann Hanlon’s body was found in the Boise foothills.
• March 2003 — Cheryl Ann Hanlon was raped and murdered in Boise.
• 2000 — Lynn Henneman was found dead near the Boise Greenbelt after being abducted as she walked on the Greenbelt, then raped, killed and thrown in the Boise River.
• October 25, 2007 — A jury recommended that Erick Hall should be executed for the rape and murder of Cheryl Ann Hanlon.
• October 26, 2007 — Erick Hall returned to Idaho’s death row after being sentenced to die for two unrelated murders.
• January — Formal sentencing was set for January.
• Post-trial period — The sentence ended a trial that had been delayed several times.
• Earlier in the year (2007) — A 4th District Judge Thomas Neville decided to bus in a jury from Gooding County because of pretrial publicity in Boise.

Background

Erick Virgil Hall was 33. His defense team portrayed him to the jury as an abused child with a disturbing family background. Testimony said Hall was sexually, physically, and emotionally abused as a child and had mental health and drug addiction problems.

The offence

Lynn Henneman murder and rape

Lynn Henneman, 38, was a New York City airline attendant. Hall attacked Henneman on the city’s Greenbelt along the Boise River, raped her, and then strangled her with her sweater. DNA evidence proved Hall raped Henneman, who was in Boise on a layover. Her body was found near the Boise Greenbelt in 2000. Hall was also described as having abducted Henneman as she walked on the Greenbelt, then raped her, killed her, and threw her in the Boise River.

Cheryl Ann Hanlon murder and rape

Cheryl Ann Hanlon, 42, was raped and murdered in Boise in March 2003. Her body was found in the Boise foothills on March 1, 2003. Hanlon was strangled to death with her own belt. DNA evidence linked Hall to this murder as well.

Investigation

DNA evidence linked Hall to both murders, including proof that Hall raped Lynn Henneman.

Trial

2004 capital murder case involving Lynn Henneman

Hall was convicted in the killing of Lynn Henneman. Prosecutors requested the death penalty. The narrative described that, until last year, judges decided the sentence in capital murder cases, but that was changed after the U.S. Supreme Court in 2002 ruled that juries must determine whether there are sufficient aggravating factors in a case to justify execution. In response, the Legislature turned over sentencing decision-making in death penalty cases to the jury entirely. The option for execution was contrasted with life without possibility of parole. Hall was found guilty of first-degree murder and rape.

2007 capital murder case involving Cheryl Ann Hanlon

A jury recommended that Erick Hall should be executed for the rape and murder of Cheryl Ann Hanlon. Jurors began deliberations after three weeks of testimony. The trial involved three weeks of testimony and deliberations that took 2› days before finding him guilty, followed by four hours to decide the penalty. The trial’s verdict and sentencing were described in relation to a death penalty conviction automatically going to appeal.

The six-man, six-woman jury had to consider Hall’s upbringing. His defense used that upbringing to argue for the jury to spare his life. Jurors heard testimony that Hall had been sexually, physically, and emotionally abused as a child and had mental health and drug addiction problems. The jury agreed that his troubles did not outweigh the fact that he had killed Hanlon and that he had committed murder before.

It was also stated that none of Hanlon’s family or friends attended the hearing, and that Hall remained silent as he left the courtroom.

Sentencing

First death sentence (Lynn Henneman)

Hall was sentenced to death for the rape and murder of flight attendant Lynn Henneman. The death sentence was described as having been issued in October 2004. It was also stated that an Ada County jury handed down the death sentence for Hall three years earlier.

Second death sentence (Cheryl Ann Hanlon)

A jury recommended the death penalty for the rape and murder of Cheryl Ann Hanlon. It would be for Judge Thomas Neville to decide whether to follow the jury’s recommendation, with formal sentencing set for January. Erick Hall returned to Idaho’s death row on October 26, 2007 as the first state inmate to be sentenced to die for two unrelated murders. It was stated that the jury decided Hall’s previous conviction of murder in the death of Lynn Henneman in 2004 was the deciding factor that earned Hall his second death sentence for the murder of Cheryl Hanlon three years later.

Appeals

It was stated that in Idaho, a death penalty conviction automatically goes to appeal. It was also stated that it could be years or even decades before Hall’s appeals were exhausted.

Outcome

A jury determined that Hall should receive a death sentence for the rape and murder of Cheryl Ann Hanlon. Hall returned to Idaho’s death row after being condemned for killing Hanlon in 2003, while already on Idaho’s death row for the rape and murder of Lynn Henneman.

Aftermath

Hall returned to his cell Thursday in the Idaho Maximum Security Institution south of Boise, where 17 other men awaited execution. One woman was described as being on death row in Pocatello. Hall was to be kept alone in an 8-by-12-foot cell for 23 hours a day, with an hour outside the cell for exercise alone in a slightly larger cell. He could leave the cell for one hour up to five times a week for exercise alone and could meet with lawyers in a separate area with up to four visits a month.

Boise Deputy Police Chief Jim Kerns said the verdict was good news for a community Hall terrorized with the rape and murder of two women earlier this decade. It was stated that Hanlon was found dead in the foothills in 2003, and that Henneman was abducted as she walked on the Greenbelt then raped, killed and thrown in the Boise River in 2000.

Two quotations were recorded:

• Jan Bennetts, the Ada County deputy prosecutor who handled the case, said: "Cheryl Hanlon's life was important. It was justice in this case for Cheryl," Bennetts said, who thanked the jury for their work.
• Defense attorney Rob Chastain said: "We are always hopeful that (an inmate) can avoid it," he said. "I am not going to second guess the jury."
• Jim Kerns said: "Hall is a bad guy," Kerns said. "He caused a lot of concern for our citizens who use our Greenbelt and parks. I feel it's a good day for citizens in Boise to know that this is over."

Other details

The trial was described as having been delayed several times. It was stated that earlier in the year 4th District Judge Thomas Neville decided to bus in a jury from Gooding County because of pretrial publicity in Boise. It was also stated that Hall’s case followed rules changing after the U.S. Supreme Court in 2002 required juries to determine whether sufficient aggravating factors justified execution, and that the Legislature turned over sentencing decision-making in death penalty cases to the jury entirely.

Information about other Idaho executions and death row inmates was included:

• One Idaho inmate, Lacey Sivak, had been on death row since 1981.
• Idaho had executed only one person since reinstating the death penalty in 1977.
• Double-murderer Keith Eugene Wells was put to death Jan. 6, 1994 after dropping all his appeals and demanding lethal injection, and he had been convicted in 1992 of clubbing a man and woman to death outside a Boise bar.