www.texas-justice.com  

 

The Coercion of Harold Hall

 

Case account by Harold Hall

Edited by Kira Caywood

INTRODUCTION

 

In 1985, Harold Coleman Hall, an 18-year-old African American man, was arrested on a robbery charge. While in Los Angeles County Jail awaiting trial, a series of police maneuvers, including jailhouse informants and a coerced confession, ended with Harold being charged with a double murder/rape.

Lacking material evidence, witnesses and motive to tie Hall to the case, the police relied on tried and true methods of obtaining "justice." Harold was subjected to countless hours of interrogation, during which he was denied food, sleep, and the use of a restroom. Most importantly, his request for an attorney was denied. They said they had proof of his guilt, including fingerprints, witnesses and informants. After many torturous hours of this harassment, Harold broke. They fed him a story; he repeated it back to them. He reasoned that his innocence would speak for itself, once the facts were known.

Five years later, Harold was tried and convicted of the charges and given life in prison without the possibility of parole. The young man that arrived in LA County jail in 1985 with the equivalent of an 8th grade education is today writing his own legal papers. He has fought his battle with a will to win that has drawn lawyers, investigators, journalists and community people to his corner. He is currently in Corcoran Prison, continuing to work on appeals.

In Harold's narrative here, the witnesses' names have been changed.

My name is Harold Hall. I am a thirty-two year old African American and I have been unjustly incarcerated for over 14 years for a crime I did not commit. The following is a description of the facts leading to my false conviction and persistent fight for justice.

THE CRIME

On June 26, 1985, Nola Duncan was at home with her mother when her brother David Rainey came to visit. Nola and David went to a store to get cigarettes for Nola. Later, Nola telephoned her mother and told her they were having car trouble and were at a phone booth at a repair garage.

Sharon, who lived across the street from the repair garage, was outside with her friend, Estelle, when they noticed Nola and David in David's sports car talking with three men in a large beige car. The men pushed David's car into the garage's parking lot. Sharon asked one of the men for a cigarette, and he walked across the street to give her one. Later, Sharon picked Theadry Powell out of a photo line-up as the man who gave her the cigarette. She also said that I was not one of the three men in the beige car.

Nola called her mother a second time, saying the car was fixed and they would be home soon. Two or more patrol officers stopped to talk with Nola and David about their car problems. Then, Nola left in the beige car with the three men, while David stayed in his car. Sharon went into her house. Thirty minutes later, she came back outside and noticed that David was still sitting in his sports car in the parking lot.

In the early morning hours, two passing patrol officers noticed David's car. They found David dead in the driver's seat, with a knife wound to the left side of his neck.

The next morning, Nola's nude body was found lying on a piece of plastic sheeting in a dirt alley. No blood was found in the alley. The patrol officers who were talking with Nola and David could identify the three men seen with her before her death.

Sean and his mother Betty lived nearby, and their backyard bordered the alley where Nola's body was found. Sean, whose bedroom was in the back of the house, was awakened by a noise in the alley on the night of the murders. Sean got up, opened his curtains and saw a large, beige car with the engine running and the headlights on, with four or five people inside, in the alley directly in front of his bedroom window. Sean lay back down and then heard a female voice say, "No, no, don't do it!" Betty heard the same thing. When Sean investigated the noise the next morning, he discovered Nola's body in the alley. Both Sean and Betty testified for the defense.

Ronald Johnston, Nola's ex-husband, learned of her death the same morning. He started asking around, and happened to run into Evan Henderson. Evan accompanied Ronald to a house where he claimed to have seen Nola the previous night. Evan stated that Nola was killed because she traded bad water, or PCP, for crack cocaine to Theadry Powell. When Theadry discovered that the PCP was bad, he sent three men to kill Nola and David, Evan claimed. Ronald repeated this information to the police, but Evan refused to be interviewed.

Police interviewed Theadry Powell, who fingered Lonnie Wardlow for Nola's murder. In July 1985, police interviewed Lonnie, and he denied any involvement in the murder. Police gave him a lie detector test, which he failed. Lonnie claimed that Theadry Powell was responsible for Nola's death. He was released and never charged.

THE FRAME-UP

In August 1985, while I was already incarcerated on a robbery charge, several jailhouse informants told detectives that I had confessed to killing Nola and her brother David.

On September 5, 1985, after interviewing the informants, detectives questioned me about Nola's murder. I explained to them that I had not been involved and that I had learned of the murder from neighbors. Then they claimed I gave them an unsigned statement stating I was in a beauty salon with a guy named Jimmy King, who was bragging about killing Nola because she smoked up his dope. Jimmy King was in prison at the time of these murders. The police did not know this, but I did. It should be noted also that the detectives did not read me my Miranda Rights during this session.

On September 6, police received a call from jailhouse informant Cornelius Lee, who said that I confessed to him that Jimmy King and I killed Nola and David in the beauty shop.

On September 9, detectives came to question me again. They asked me to identify some photos of people, and had me draw a map of the alley where my neighbors told me the body was found. I placed the body on the south side of the alley; in fact, the body was found on the north side of the alley. I printed my name on the map and the photos I identified. Later, detectives claimed I confessed to them my involvement in Nola's murder during this session. Again, they failed to read me my Miranda Rights.

On September 11, police returned to question me about the murders.Again, I denied any involvement. Four detectives continued to question me relentlessly for many hours. I was denied food, use of the rest room, and an attorney. I was only 18 years old, exhausted and mentally drained. Finally, I gave up and told them what they wanted to hear. Although I did admit to the crimes, my story did not corroborate any fingerprints, footprints, witnesses, semen, or blood found at the crime scene. It should have been evident to the detectives that I was confessing to a crime I did not commit. The detectives also told me to say that two other men had been involved in the crime along with me. Although I agreed to this, and named the men, neither of those men was arrested. One was questioned, but released.

On September 23, informant Cornelius Lee told police that I confessed again, this time saying my friend Darren and I killed Nola in Darren's garage.

Police searched the garage and found no evidence that the murders were committed there.

On September 30, Cornelius Lee gave detectives two handwritten notes, claiming he wrote me questions concerning the murders, and that I wrote him incriminating answers back.

In 1990, I went to trial for the murders of Nola Duncan and David Rainey. The only evidence presented against me was a coerced confession, which was not corroborated by any physical evidence, and the two notes from Cornelius Lee. I was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

CONCLUSION

In 1994, the appeals court reversed and dismissed the murder of David Rainey because of insufficient evidence, but upheld the murder/rape of Nola Duncan. That same year, informant Cornelius Lee recanted and told my appellate attorney and investigator how he fabricated the notes between us. Cornelius explained that he erased his original questions and replaced them with questions that made my answers appear to incriminate me in the murders.

With this information, I filed a Habeas Corpus. After Cornelius gave his testimony and both the DA and defense experts testified that the notes used at trial had been partially erased and rewritten, the judge granted me a new trial.

The DA appealed and, on July 23, 1996, the appeals court reversed the judge's decision to grant me a new trial. On February 27, 1997, the court re-sentenced me to life in prison without the possibility of parole, plus one year.

Although it would conclusively prove that I was not involved in the rape, the court refuses to conduct DNA testing on blood, semen and hair found at Nola's crime scene.

After my conviction, it was discovered that the detectives gave perjured and false testimony. They testified that I was a witness when they questioned me; however, Internal Affairs and police reports proved that detectives believed I was a suspect at that time. Detectives violated my Miranda rights, but testified that they didn't. Also, Detectives Arneson and Crocker claim I voluntarily confessed to them privately. However, a fourth detective and his partner, who were present, corroborate my version that the confession was coerced. In addition, a Los Angeles Times reporter, along with an Internal Affairs investigation, revealed that Detective Arneson has a history of coercing false confessions from defendants, and has a record of giving perjured and false testimony in other murder cases. One of those cases was recently dismissed.

There are several lawyers, private investigators and community people who have freely donated their time and energy to support my efforts. Without them, I know I would not have made it this far. I only hope and pray that I will soon be able to personally thank them from outside these jail walls, which have kept my body, but not my spirit, captive for the past 14 years.