Topix death threat case set for trial for April 2016

Tristan Hall

Special Judge Samuel Spalding set an April 5 trial date Tuesday morning for a Corbin man, who is accused of advertising on the popular website Topix to hire a hit man to kill someone in 2013.

Tristan Hall, 32, is 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.

Spalding noted Tuesday that the court would have to look at the issue of venue in regards to where the case will be tried though.
Attorneys for Hall had previously lobbied to have the location of Hall’s trial for fraudulent insurance acts changed due to publicity surrounding Hall’s criminal cases.

Spalding agreed earlier this year to move that case to Madison County after defense attorneys successfully argued that if there had been a crime, this is where it actually occurred, i.e., the phone call by Hall to an insurance company reporting that a fur coat had been stolen.

Last month, Spalding agreed to dismiss a fraudulent insurance acts case against Hall due in part to "serious reservations about the trustworthiness" of one of the main witnesses in the case, Hall’s ex-girlfriend Angela Reeves.

On April 9, 2013 through Sept. 26, 2013, Hall allegedly acting alone or in concert with others falsified an insurance claim in order to obtain insurance benefits worth $500 or more from U.S.A.A. Casualty Insurance Company, according to his indictment.

The case allegedly involved a fur coat that a relative had given Hall that went missing and was reported stolen only to be found two or three weeks later, defense attorneys have said previously.

Hall was never paid anything by the insurance company.

Spalding noted Tuesday that finding an impartial jury now in Whitley County for the solicitation case would be even harder because of publicity about the insurance acts case.

Spalding also set Hall’s case for retaliating against a participant in the legal process for trial on April 5 in case something comes up preventing the solicitation case from being tried that day.

On March 2 of this year, Hall was indicted for retaliating against a participant in the legal process.

In June 2014, Hall allegedly made threats to Allen Trimble, who at the time was prosecuting Hall for criminal solicitation to commit murder. Trimble has since recused as prosecutor in that case.

Spalding indicated that the goal is to get the older solicitation case tried or resolved in April because after three years it needed some kind of closure.