Suspect in Teen's Death Has Previous Record of Violence

Jun 09, 07:34 AM

Current Headlines: By JOHN MILBURN

By John Milburn

The Associated Press

TOPEKA, Kan.

A man accused of kidnapping and killing a suburban Kansas City teenager pleaded no contest as a 15-year-old to threatening his sister at knifepoint, according to court records.

Edwin R. Hall remained jailed on $5 million bond Friday, a day after being charged with first-degree murder and aggravated kidnapping in 18-year-old Kelsey Smith's abduction from a Target parking lot.

Prosecutors said Friday that Smith was strangled with a ligature but would not say exactly what was used.

A judge ordered Hall removed from his home after he entered the plea to aggravated assault in May 1996, and he was placed in state custody, the court records state. A second charge of making a criminal threat was dismissed.

Hall's parents, Carol and Don Hall of Emporia, didn't immediately return a call Friday.

Carol Hall told The Emporia Gazette that the couple adopted Edwin Hall when he was 7 and knew he had problems associated with his early childhood.

Court records show that the boy ran afoul of police several times before the attack on his sister, a biological child of the couple, though the earlier offenses were nonviolent.

In Kansas, court files are open for crimes involving defendants who are at least 14 years old, said Ron Keefover, spokesman for the state judicial system.

Carol Hall told the paper the boy did something when he was 15 that made the couple feel he was a danger to the family, which included three biological daughters. She did not provide details but said the couple felt they would have to give up on him.

"That was the last time he was in our home," Carol Hall said . The Halls hoped then that someone would be able "to get him the help that he needed," she said.

Hall was confined in four facilities from 1996 until 1999, according to the Kansas Juvenile Justice Authority.

In 2002, Hall and his adoptive parents were sued by a Lyon County man who claimed Hall beat him in the back of the head with a baseball bat, court records show. The man sought $50,000 , but the case was dismissed.

Hall, 26, of Olathe, faces a sentence of 25 years to life in prison if convicted of the murder charge and more than 12 years on the aggravated kidnapping count.

Johnson County District Attorney Phill Kline said it was unclear whether the case would be tried in state or federal court but that the death penalty would be possible either way.

Hall's attorney of record, Paul Cramm, declined to comment Friday through his secretary.

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