{"version":"1.0","provider_name":"The News Journal","provider_url":"https:\/\/qa.thenewsjournal.net","title":"All felony charges against Hall dismissed &ndash; The News Journal","type":"rich","width":600,"height":338,"html":"<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"U9iCgRRfvJ\"><a href=\"https:\/\/qa.thenewsjournal.net\/all-felony-charges-against-hall-dismissed\/\">All felony charges against Hall dismissed<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" src=\"https:\/\/qa.thenewsjournal.net\/all-felony-charges-against-hall-dismissed\/embed\/#?secret=U9iCgRRfvJ\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" title=\"&#8220;All felony charges against Hall dismissed&#8221; &#8212; The News Journal\" data-secret=\"U9iCgRRfvJ\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\"><\/iframe><script type=\"text\/javascript\">\n\/* <![CDATA[ *\/\n\/*! This file is auto-generated *\/\n!function(d,l){\"use strict\";l.querySelector&&d.addEventListener&&\"undefined\"!=typeof URL&&(d.wp=d.wp||{},d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage||(d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage=function(e){var t=e.data;if((t||t.secret||t.message||t.value)&&!\/[^a-zA-Z0-9]\/.test(t.secret)){for(var s,r,n,a=l.querySelectorAll('iframe[data-secret=\"'+t.secret+'\"]'),o=l.querySelectorAll('blockquote[data-secret=\"'+t.secret+'\"]'),c=new RegExp(\"^https?:$\",\"i\"),i=0;i<o.length;i++)o[i].style.display=\"none\";for(i=0;i<a.length;i++)s=a[i],e.source===s.contentWindow&&(s.removeAttribute(\"style\"),\"height\"===t.message?(1e3<(r=parseInt(t.value,10))?r=1e3:~~r<200&&(r=200),s.height=r):\"link\"===t.message&&(r=new URL(s.getAttribute(\"src\")),n=new URL(t.value),c.test(n.protocol))&&n.host===r.host&&l.activeElement===s&&(d.top.location.href=t.value))}},d.addEventListener(\"message\",d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage,!1),l.addEventListener(\"DOMContentLoaded\",function(){for(var e,t,s=l.querySelectorAll(\"iframe.wp-embedded-content\"),r=0;r<s.length;r++)(t=(e=s[r]).getAttribute(\"data-secret\"))||(t=Math.random().toString(36).substring(2,12),e.src+=\"#?secret=\"+t,e.setAttribute(\"data-secret\",t)),e.contentWindow.postMessage({message:\"ready\",secret:t},\"*\")},!1)))}(window,document);\n\/* ]]> *\/\n<\/script>\n","thumbnail_url":"https:\/\/qa.thenewsjournal.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Tristan-Hall-mugF.jpg","thumbnail_width":186,"thumbnail_height":190,"description":"A Corbin man charged with allegedly trying to hire a hit man through an Internet message board to kill someone nearly three years ago, and who allegedly tried to intimidate a former prosecutor in his case, has now had all felony charges against him dismissed. During a brief hearing at last Thursday in Whitley Circuit Court, Special Judge Samuel Todd Spalding agreed to dismiss a 2013 criminal solicitation to commit murder charge against Tristan Hall and a 2015 charge of retaliating against a participant in the legal process. Special prosecutor Jackie Steele filed motions Thursday morning to dismiss the charges in both cases. &#8220;In preparation for trial, it became readily apparent to us that we were going to have problems producing the evidence to seek a successful conviction,&#8221; Steele said during a telephone interview Thursday afternoon. &#8220;There became issues of not only testimony and getting witnesses here from California and other places but also some testimony had changed from other witnesses that had given statements previously in the case.&#8221; Hall, 32, spoke about the case this week and said that he always felt confident the felony charges against him would be resolved in his favor, and said he\u2019s working hard now to get the remaining misdemeanor charges dismissed as well. He added that while he may have prevailed in court, the ordeal has ruinous for his personal life and difficult on his family. \u201cI\u2019m happy, but you don\u2019t recover from the amount of damage that was done to me,\u201d Hall said. \u201cYou pray to God when you apply for a job or anything that people don\u2019t Google your name because that is going to kill your chances. In this digital era, you don\u2019t recover.\u201d Hall has regularly denied any wrongdoing in any of the cases against him and his lawyers have vigorously defended him against the charges. &#8220;Tristan Hall is pleased. The record in this case speaks for itself and the issues that have been addressed over the last three years. Today put an end to it and we are pleased,&#8221; said Herbert Moncier, the lead attorney in Hall&#8217;s cases. Original allegations Hall was charged with criminal solicitation to commit murder in connection with a Jan. 10, 2013 incident where he allegedly advertised on the popular website Topix that he would pay someone $5,000 cash for the murder of Melissa Jones Davis and the concealment of her body. On March 2, 2015, Hall was indicted for retaliating against a participant in the legal process. In June 2014, Hall allegedly made threats to Allen Trimble, who was prosecuting him for criminal solicitation to commit murder. Trimble recused as prosecutor in that case. Prosecutors said Hall made a series of threatening phone calls to Trimble\u2019s office. But when recordings of the calls surfaced, all of the calls in question were actually made by his then-girlfriend, Angela Reeves. Reeves was initially charged along with Hall, but officials decided to focus on him for a conviction in the case and planned to use her as one of the main witnesses. In any event, Hall\u2019s defense attorneys claimed none of the calls contained threats or attempts to intimidate. Hall said it was infuriating that Trimble and Bird told television news crews that he made the calls, and accuses both of misleading a local grand jury in order to obtain an indictment in the case. Thursday&#8217;s dismissals came nearly three months after Steele&#8217;s office agreed to dismiss an attempt to commit insurance fraud case against Hall. Previous case dismissed A grand jury indictment accused Hall of filing a fraudulent claim in 2014 with the insurer of a fur coat he had given to his former girlfriend, Angela Reeves. The coat was lost, but Hall said it was later found before the claim was processed. The insurer never paid him anything. During a hearing in November, Brandon Jones, another special prosecutor in the case, said prosecutors planned to drop the case because he was notified through a &#8220;third party&#8221; that Reeves had continued to try to contact Hall despite being told not to do so. &#8220;It was an admonishment we had placed on her not to do,&#8221; Jones said. &#8220;It basically causes the Commonwealth to have serious reservations regarding the trustworthiness of Ms. Reeve&#8217;s ability to testify in this proceeding. So much so, that the Commonwealth is now prepared to dismiss &#8230; the indictment in this matter.&#8221; During a hearing last summer, Reeves took the witness stand and admitted lying to insurance investigators, and signing a notarized letter to the insurance company regarding the lost coat dated Sept. 24, 2014, that contained false testimony. At the July hearing, Moncier asked Reeves why she had lied to insurance investigators when they visited her in jail about the case. &#8220;I did what Tristan told me to do. Stick to the story,&#8221; Reeves testified. &#8220;You were always doing what Tristan told you?&#8221; Moncier asked. &#8220;Correct,&#8221; she replied. What lead to dismissal Moncier declined to speculate Thursday on what ultimately lead prosecutors to agree to dismiss the charges in both cases, and deferred comment on that issue to Steele. &#8220;I&#8217;m not going to speculate as to what brought this about,&#8221; he added. Steele said there wasn&#8217;t any one thing that prompted prosecutors to decide to dismiss the charges but just a &#8220;convergence of everything kind of coming together.&#8221; &#8220;We have ethical obligations. Once we feel as though we can&#8217;t successfully prosecute a case or have probable cause to prosecute a case. We had to dismiss it and that is where we found ourselves at,&#8221; Steele explained. &#8220;As we tried to get these cases ready for trial, we realized some statements of witnesses could not be relied on any more and the problems we would have getting witnesses here in the future.&#8221; Much delayed case The criminal solicitation to commit murder case against Hall has faced various delays in the three years that it has been pending, including the original prosecutor and judge recusing themselves from the case, the appointment of various [&hellip;]"}