Comedy Roast Blamed For Felon’s Death Sentence
Convicted murderer may gets his death sentence overturned because footage from a 2015 comedy roast was used in his sentencing.
Stand-up comedian Jeff Ross probably never hoped he would make legal history, but that may end up happening regardless. Ross spoke to Gabriel Hall for a 2015 comedy roast and after Hall was convicted of murder, footage of that discussion was used to help secure a death sentence. Hall’s lawyers argue Ross should never have been allowed to speak to their client, and in January the US Supreme Court will hear arguments about whether or not the death sentence should be overturned.
According to Deadline, Gabriel Hall was 18 when Ross spoke to him during the filming of 2015’s Jeff Ross Roasts Criminals: Live at Brazos County Jail. None of the comedian‘s interactions with Hall actually made it to the finished product, but regardless the state of Texas subpoenaed the footage. The unused footage from the comedy roast, in which Hall reportedly made light of the death of his victim, was shown during the sentencing proceedings.
Hall’s lawyers argue they had issued a “no contact” order which should have prevented the prison from allowing anyone to contact Hall without his attorneys present. That comedy roast interview, Hall’s lawyers argue, wound up unfairly informing his death sentence. The prosecution counters that Hall — like all the prisoners involved in the roast — willingly signed a release form before Ross and his camera crew arrived.
Lawyer and legal columnist Elura Nanos spoke with Law & Crime Network about the case, and she uses the word “bizarre” quite a bit in describing it. She uses it when talking about the very notion of prosecutors using comedy roast footage to secure a death sentence, she uses it when talking about Hall’s lawyers allegedly not being made aware that Jeff Ross would be at the prison with access to their client, and she uses it when describing how the prison promoted the event. Nanos said the prison posted flyers “encouraging” prisoners to sign release forms.
Nanos also says that Hall’s attorneys claim Ross and his “9 person Comedy Central camera crew” went “directly” to Gabriel Hall to speak to him. They argue Ross was there to “purposely elicit some sort of statement” from their client. Nanos speculates Hall’s lawyers found out about the interview after the fact — but before the roast aired — and that they managed to force Comedy Central to remove Hall from the final edit.
The same year the roast aired, Hall was convicted of the murder of 68-year-old Ed Shaar in 2011 at Shaar’s home in College Station, which is about 100 miles northwest of Houston. After watching the unaired footage from the comedy roast and reviewing the other evidence, it took the jury seven hours of deliberation to come back with a death sentence.
