955 S.W. 2d 198 (Mo.banc 1997)
Stanley Hall was executed at 12:06 a.m., March 16, 2005.
Case Facts: On the evening of January 15, 1994, Stanley Hall and Rance Burton borrowed a car and drove to the South County Shopping Center in St. Louis, Missouri. They were searching for a vehicle to steal. Hall and Burton got out of their car and approached Barbara Jo Wood’s car as she pulled into the parking lot. They forced her at gunpoint to the passenger side and then drove her in her car to the McKinley Bridge.
Wood was forced out of the car, and there was a struggle on the bridge. At some point she was wounded. Witnesses in a passing car saw her bleeding. Burton got back in Wood’s car and drove away. Wood, pleading for her life was still holding on to Hall as he tried to lift her over the bridge railing. He eventually succeeded, and Wood fell ninety feet to the river.
Meanwhile, the two witnesses in the car had notified the Venice, Illinois police department. The police arrived and captured Hall moments after he pushed Wood off the bridge. The icy condition of the river impeded search and rescue attempts.
Both witnesses identified Hall as the man they has seen struggling with Wood. After waiving his Miranda rights, Hall identified Barbara Jo Wood from a picture as the woman he had forced over the guardrail. Seven-and-a-half months later, the lower portion of a torso matching Wood’s physical condition was found in the Mississippi River.
Legal Chronology
1994
01/15 -Stanley Hall murders Barbara Jo Wood in St. Louis, Missouri.
1996
03/18 – Hall goes on trial for First Degree Murder in the Circuit Court of St. LouisCounty. On March 27, 1996, Hall is found guilty, and the jury recommends a sentence of death.
06/21 – That court sentences Hall to death.
1997
10/21 – The Missouri Supreme Court affirms Halt’s conviction and sentence. State v. Halt, 955 S.W. 2d 198 (Mo. banc 1997)
1998
03/30 – The United States Supreme Court denies Hall’s petition for writ of certiorari. Halt v. Missouri, 523 U.S. 1053 (1998)
1999
02/20 – Hall files a post-conviction relief motion in the circuit court.
05/11 – Circuit court denies Halt’s post-conviction relief motion.
2000
04/25 – Missouri Supreme Court affirms the circuit court’s denial of Hall’s post-conviction relief motion. Halt v. State, 16 S.W. 3d 582 (Mo. banc 2000)
2001
01/16 – Hall files a petition for writ of habeas corpus in the United States District Court.
09/05 – The United States District Court denies Hall’s petition for writ of habeas corpus.
2003
09/02 – The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals affirms the District Court’s denial of Halt’s petition for writ of habeas corpus. Hall v. Luebbers, 341 F.3d 706 (8th Cir. 2003).
2004
04/19 – The United States Supreme Court denies Hall’s petition for writ of certiorari. Hall v. Roper, 124 S.Ct. 2031 (2004).
07/27 – State files motion to set execution date with the Missouri Supreme Court.
2005
02/15 – Missouri Supreme Court sets Hall’s execution for March 16, 2005.