A former Halifax resident could be released from a Kentucky prison in the coming months, despite being found guilty late Tuesday of second-degree manslaughter in the 2009 death of his Cape Breton-born wife.
According to the Danville Advocate-Messenger, a jury recommended yesterday Dr. Steven Hall, a Dalhousie University medical school graduate, serve five years in prison, the lowest possible sentence for this specific conviction.
The 47-year-old will be formally sentenced on Oct. 5. The Advocate-Messenger reports Hall will be eligible for his first parole hearing soon after his sentencing date because of time already served since his arrest. Hall has been in jail for 15 months, and his attorney Steve Romines, is quoted in the Advocate-Messenger as saying he is a “strong candidate” for parole, for what the paper describes as the state’s overcrowded prison system.
Hall was convicted in a May 2009 incident during which a pontoon boat he was operating on Herrington Lake ran over his wife, who was in the water. Hall, who used to be a doctor in Cape Breton, said the incident that happened on their wedding anniversary was an accident.
Possible convictions
Jurors had the option of acquitting Hall or convicting him of murder, second-degree manslaughter or reckless homicide.
