Rob Hall was supposed to find out Thursday how long he will go to prison for shooting and killing his wife’s lover in the parking lot of a Meridian drugstore in 2011.
Hall’s sentencing hearing on second degree murder and gun charges has been delayed so prosecutors can spend more time examining a recently completed mental health evaluation which determined Hall is suffering from depression and would be a low risk to re-offend if ever released back into society.
So instead of sentencing Hall on Thursday, 4th District Judge Michael McLaughlin is now set to do that March 21.
Prosecutors say the 42-year-old Hall shot and killed Emmett Corrigan, his wife's boss, in the parking lot of a Walgreens on March 11, 2011 because Hall suspected they were having an affair — which turned out to be true.
Hall's attorneys tell a different story. They say he was looking for his wife, Kandi, that night when Corrigan attacked him. They say a gun fell out of his pocket during a struggle and discharged.
A jury of seven women and five men agreed with prosecutors following a month-long trial.
Hall was charged with first-degree murder, which requires evidence of premeditation and purpose. The jury acquitted Hall of that charge, but found that Hall did have the "malice aforethought" - not premeditation but knowledge beforehand that an act is illegal - needed for a second-degree murder conviction.
Second degree murder is punishable by up to life in prison.
McLaughlin said Wednesday he was not surprised to find out that Boise-based psychologist Craig Beaver determined Hall was suffering from depression — pointing out that Hall had been involved in a killing, was in jail and about to go to prison, and was separated from his family — and asked prosecutors why a delay was needed.
Jason Spillman, a prosecutor for the Idaho attorney general's office who is handling the case for Ada County, said he wanted another mental health expert to go over the evaluation, which they just go last week — especially since Hall’s attorneys were planning to call Beaver to testify during the sentencing hearing.
