Boy who shot dead his neo-Nazi father at age 10 is sentenced to seven years in juvenile prison

Joseph Hall shot his father Jeffrey Hall in the head at point blank range in May 2011

Jeffrey Hall was a leader of a neo-Nazi group and had been fighting with Joseph's step-mother

Joseph had an extensive history of violence prior to the shooting

Boy, now 13, will go to a juvenile facility, where he will be held until he is 20

A California boy who shot dead his neo-Nazi father at age 10 has been sentenced to seven years in juvenile prison.



In sending the boy to a detention center instead of a mental hospital, Riverside Judge Jean R. Leonard ruled that Joseph Hall - now age 12 - is a threat to society and must be kept behind bars. Defense lawyers had argued he needed intensive treatment, not a prison cell, in order to rehabilitate him.



Under the sentence, Joseph is expected to be eligible for parole when he is 20 - though he could get paroled at age 18 with good behavior. He cannot be held past age 23.



He will likely be sent to the O.H. Close Detention Center in Stockton, California - a juvenile prison that houses inmates in bunk-style housing and includes school classes and strict discipline.



Troubled: Joseph Hall was just 10 when he admitted to shooting his father in the head at point blank range while he slept

Joseph will likely be sent to the O.H. Close Detention Center in Stockton, California (stock photo)

In May 2011, Joseph shot his father Jeffrey Hall in the head at point blank range as the 32-year-old slept on the couch. He was just 10 at the time - one of the youngest boys charged with murder in recent years.

Hall was a leader of the local chapter of the neo-Nazi group the National Socialist Movement.



In January, a judge convicted him of second degree murder. Since then prosecutors and defense attorney's have been locked in battle over where Joseph should serve out his sentence.

For an adult, the charge usually carries a sentence of 40 years to life.



Riverside prosecutors say the boy has a history of violent behavior - choking his teacher, stabbing his sister and clubbing his uncle - and that he planned the killing because he didn't like his father.

The defense questioned whether it is right to punish a 13-year-old boy for a killing he committed two and a half years ago and how best to rehabilitate someone who grew up in an abusive home, attacked his elementary school teachers and was indoctrinated in the beliefs of white supremacy.



He has been living in the county's juvenile hall since the killing but spent about three months at a state youth detention center where he was evaluated to see whether a placement there could serve his needs. Several people from the state are expected to testify at the hearing.

In the meantime, the small child who scribbled on a notepad and looked bored during his trial as prosecutors displayed photos of his father's blood-splattered body grew into a gangly teenager who is more focused than ever before.



He attends class, gets regular therapy and has made progress in controlling the violent outbursts that got him kicked out of almost every school he attended. He has even, with time, won the affection of the prosecutor who got him convicted.

Neo-Nazi: Jeff Hall, 32, was a regional leader of the white supremacist group the National Socialist Movement - though prosecutors argue that had nothing to do with his murder

'I have grown attached to him in an odd way. I enjoy watching him grow and change but I am convinced he has done better in a quasi-military penal environment,' said Riverside County Chief Deputy District Attorney Michael Soccio.



'He seems to like it, he knows what the rules are and what is expected and he is treated with dignity.'



That's why Soccio argued the boy, now 13, would do best in the state's juvenile justice system, where he would go to school and live in a dorm-like setting at a high-security facility for young offenders, possibly until age 23.



Defense attorneys, however, said the teen has serious emotional disabilities that the state isn't equipped to handle.



They want to see him placed in a residential treatment center, where security would be lighter and the therapy would be more intense.



Punam Patel Grewal, the boy's defense attorney, said he would also be at risk in a state facility because of his father's neo-Nazi beliefs.



'It is a very dangerous place for him. He's got a lot of vulnerability here,' she said. 'When he comes out at 23, we've got a huge problem.'

Speaking out to NBC Los Angeles, Joseph's mother said that she fears for her son's safety and education if he is sent to a state juvenile justice facility.



'With the current situation, it looks really dim,' Leticia Neal said.



Neal said her son has been struggling with emotional issues and learning challenges as a result of his upbringing.



'I’m very concerned,' Neal told NBC4. 'It makes me wonder, will he ever graduate from high school?'



Abusive: Defense lawyers said Jeff Hall beat and kicked his son and that he raised in children in a household infected by violence

Murders by defendants as young as the one in Riverside are extremely rare and usually involve children who have mental health issues and have lived through extreme physical and psychological trauma, said Sarah Bryer, director of Washington, D.C.-based National Juvenile Justice Network.



'If the end goal is rehabilitation, then that youth's mental health concerns are going to have to be front and center,' she said. 'I think the judge has to ask the question, when this kid walks out — and this kid will walk out eventually — how is this kid going to be better?'



Hall's killing attracted national attention when it happened on May 1, 2011 — and not just because of the defendant's age.



Hall, an out-of-work plumber, was also a regional leader of the National Socialist Movement who organized neo-Nazi rallies at synagogues and day labor sites and had hosted a meeting for the group at his house the day before he died.



Hall, 32, ran unsuccessfully for a water board in 2010 and alarmed voters with his white supremacist rhetoric.

Prosecutors say Joseph waited until Jeff Hall passed out drunk on the couch after an argument with his wife and then retrieved his father's Rossi .357 magnum revolver and shot him in the head at point-blank range.



Joseph admitted to the shooting and told police that he didn't think he would be prosecuted because he saw an episode of the TV crime drama criminal minds where a young boy killed his abusive father and wasn't arrested.



'A bad father did something to his kids and the kid did the exact same thing I did - he shot him,’ the boy said in a video recording of an interview played at the trial.



‘He told the truth and wasn't arrested and the cops believed him. He wasn't in trouble or anything. I thought maybe the exact same thing would happen to me,’ Joseph said.

Brutal: Joseph Hall, age 10 at the time, admitted to using his father's .357 magnum revolver to shoot him in the head at point blank range

Prosecutors said the boy shot his father behind the ear at point-blank range as he slept on the sofa after coming home from a night of drinking.



The child took the .357-Magnum from his parents' bedroom and later told police he was afraid he would have to choose between living with his father and his stepmother, who had been fighting and were headed for a divorce.



The boy's stepmother initially told police she had killed her husband, but later recanted and said she was trying to protect her stepson. His sister testified that he told her of his plan the day before, while they were playing on a swing set.



During trial, the boy's defense attorney portrayed him as a victim of both his father's racist beliefs and of his violent upbringing.



The boy's stepmother told authorities that Hall had hit, kicked and yelled at his son for being too loud or getting in the way.



Hall and the boy's biological mother had each accused the other of child abuse multiple times during a protracted custody dispute. Social service workers visited 20 times but never removed the boy or his siblings from the custody of Hall.

