43
Killer gets life sentence
The murderer belongs in a ‘deep, dark, lonely, miserable hole,’ a judge says.
YOUNGSTOWN — Calling him “a genuine menace to society,” Judge R. Scott Krichbaum sentenced James A. Hall to life in prison without parole for the murder of Jeffrey A. Queen.
“You’re not going to be a member of our society again,” Judge Krichbaum told Hall at Friday’s sentencing hearing. “For someone to do what you did, you should be in some deep, dark, lonely, miserable hole,” the Mahoning County Common Pleas Court judge added.
After two hours of deliberations at the end of a four-day trial, a jury returned verdicts Thursday, convicting Hall of aggravated murder with a firearm specification and being a felon with a gun.
Judge Krichbaum imposed life without parole for the aggravated murder charge, the mandatory consecutive three years for the gun specification and five consecutive years for being a felon with a gun.
Queen, 35, of Austintown, a confidential informant who had made undercover drug buys from Hall for police, was shot three times in the torso with a .38-caliber gun at 12:30 a.m. on Oct. 14, 2006.
Queen was to testify against Hall in a federal drug trafficking case. Two days after a pre-trial hearing in the drug case, Hall picked Queen up at Queen’s Lanterman Road residence in Hall’s car and fatally shot him a few minutes later about a half-mile away off Riblett Road.
A witness discovered Queen’s body in the woods in the 4000 block of Riblett Road eight hours later.
“I feel as if James Hall has taken my life as well,” said Queen’s widow, Andrea Queen, who called for “the absolute maximum penalty.” She added: “Please keep Hall in a cage where he belongs for the rest of his life.”
In imposing life without parole, Judge Krichbaum followed the recommendation of J. Michael Thompson, assistant county prosecutor, who described the crime as “a cold-blooded assassination.”
Hall’s lawyer, Thomas E. Zena, said a request for a new trial and an appeal will be filed. Hall, 30, of Victoria Street, did not speak at his sentencing.
Hall pleaded guilty Nov. 7 to the federal crack cocaine trafficking charges, for which he awaits sentencing in June. The sentencing range in that case is from five years to life in prison.
Hall was sentenced to five to 25 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and felonious assault in a May 1995 shooting that killed Arthur Tarver and critically wounded Larry J. Hargrave. Hall and both victims were then 17.
Tarver died from bullet wounds to his neck and chest. Hargrave survived 13 gunshot wounds.