 "Photo: Dawn Jones-Garcia")
A judge ruled Monday that statements UT alumna Laura Hall made prior to her arrest will be admissible as evidence in her upcoming trial for allegedly aiding convicted killer Colton Pitonyak.
Hall is charged with evidence tampering and hindering the arrest of Pitonyak for her involvement in the 2005 murder of 21-year-old legal secretary Jennifer Cave in Pitonyak's West Campus apartment. Pitonyak was convicted of fatally shooting Cave, but when her body was discovered by her mother's boyfriend, Jim Sedwick, the head and hands had been severed. Both charges are third-degree felonies punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
Charges allege Hall aided Pitonyak by dismembering Cave's body. A day after the murder took place, Hall drove him to Piedras Negras, Mexico. Eventually, Mexican authorities extradited Pitonyak to Eagle Pass, Texas, where police apprehended him. Authorities initially let Hall go free.
"Not only did Colton Pitonyak murder [Cave] and mutilate her corpse, he abused [Hall]," said Loren Hall, Laura's father. "He burned her and carved his initials into her arm. Now he continues to abuse her through the justice system."
During Pitonyak's trial, he testified that Hall had been the mastermind for the aborted attempt to eliminate Cave's remains and the trip to Mexico.
Defense attorneys for Hall argued Detective Mark Gilchrest, the Austin Police Department officer in charge of the investigation, coerced Hall into waiving her Miranda rights by implying she would be arrested if she did not cooperate with authorities.
"Do you understand the gravity of the charges against you?" Gilchrest said during a taped interview with Hall. "Do you want to make things right?"
On the tape, Hall appears noticeably conflicted, asking Gilchrest and another officer in the room, Detective Keith Walker, about her options concerning probation. Walker informed Hall that at any time she could terminate the interview. After approximately a minute of silence, while Hall contemplated whether to talk, she finally agreed, signing a document indicating that she would waive her Miranda rights.
Subject to the motion were four statements made from Hall: one document signed by her, one unsigned document similar to the first but with corrections made by her, an audio recording and the video from an APD interrogation room. All four pieces of evidence are now admissible and will be used in her upcoming trial.
"It's clearly a voluntary statement on her part," said Judge Wilford Flowers.
Hall's trial is set to begin on Aug. 27.
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