Hall gets maximum sentence in Cave case

AUSTIN (KXAN) - After five years of emotional legal wrangling in the wake of the violent West Campus killing of a UT student, a Travis County jury sentenced Laura Hall to a collective 11 years in prison and $14,000 in fines. 

The sentence was the maximum possible for dismembering Jennifer Cave's body, for which Hall had been convicted in 2007.

Cave's mother sobbed into her hands as the verdict came down at 4:25 p.m. Before it was read, Judge Will Flowers instructed the audience to keep a handle on their emotions.

Cave's family began hugging each other as Hall showed little emotion during the verdict.

"I hate the word 'closure.' I hate that word," said Sharon Cave Sedwick, the victim's mother. "Satisfied? How can you be satisfied when your child is gone, when your child is dead? There is no satisfaction. Do I feel justice has been done, the system has worked? Yes. That's what we all have to strive for, when you have something like this. It may not be the best system, but it's a pretty damn good one."

Hall's father continued to proclaim his daughter's innocence, and that the jury's sentencing - and earlier guilty verdict three years ago - didn't mean she wasn't.

"Its really disappointing," Loren Hall said. "My daughter is innocent. No matter what the system says. I've talked to other lawyers out here, and they say 40% of the people in penintentiaries are innocent. You still feel she's innocent? I know she is."

The jury gave Hall one year for a charge of hindering apprehension and 10 years for the charge of tampering with evidence. She is expected to serve the two sentences concurrently, and get credit for the two years she's already spent behind bars.

"I guess that 'Not Guilty party' has been cancelled," said prosecutor Allison Wetzel, referring to remarks by Laura Hall in phone conversations.

Hall was convicted of helping Colton Pitonyak dismember the body of Jennifer Cave after the 2005 killing.

The jury had the option of sentencing Hall a maximum of ten years in prison or a minimum punishment of probation.

Jennifer Cave’s family testified on Thursday that their family lives in fear and only feels safe when Hall is incarcerated. Loren Hall, Laura’s father, pleaded to the jury that if given probation, his daughter and her family can be rehabilitated.

The judge is allowing a camera inside the courtroom for closing arguments and the sentencing.

Hall did not take the stand in her defense. Her father, Loren Hall, testified that his daughter had bipolar disorder and asked the jury to sentence her to probation.

A jury convicted Hall in 2007 of helping former University of Texas student Pitonyak dismember Cave's body in a West Campus bathtub at the Orange Tree condominiums. Pitonyak is serving 55 years for the slaying.

However, the Texas Third Court of Appeals threw out her five-year sentence on Feb. 19, 2009 . Meanwhile, Pitoynak is serving 55 years for the killing of his friend and UT peer, then 21 - whose mother's boyfriend found her body. The jury is deliberating on two charges: Tampering with evidence, and hindering prosecution.

Follow today's arguments and sentencing on Twitter
 

8:58 am

Judge Wilforn Flowers is taking care of other cases on the docket before resuming with the jury trial. He has given instructions that the prosecution and defense will have 30 minutes each for their closing statements.

Laura Hall enters the courtroom as Judge Flowers discusses with the prosecution the media which will be used for the closing arguments.

After that discussion ends, the jury enters the courtroom.

9:21 am

Prosecutuion begins their opening statement.

Prosecutor Chris Baugh is speaking with the jury and adamently asks the jury to give Hall ten years.

"How do you rehabilitate a person who would do this?"  says Baugh as he shows pictures of the crime scene to the jury.

While showing the pictures to the jury he asks "Is this to hide identification or is it just evil?"

"What has the defendent done to show us she could be rehabilitated? Zero."

He repeats callous quotes attributed to Hall that she made about Jennifer Cave and the Cave family while in jail.

"This is not about Colton Pitonyak. This woman has threatened the judge, she's threatened (former prosecutors) McFarland and Bill Bishop and I have no doubt I will be added to that list."

Baugh says he wants the jury to be selfish for themselves and the citizens of Travis County. He pleads to give the Cave family a small ten year window of peace they will receive if Hall is locked up.

Talking to the jury, "Nothing you can do will take the images away from the Sedwick family. She is going to get out. Give the Sedwick's some peace."

9:32 am

Chris Baugh is finished and now the defense begins.

"We are not a system led by emotion or we would be a 14th century lynch mob" says Amber Elliot who says the DNA evidence proves Hall was not a part of the mutilation.

Elliot says "DNA shows us who did this... Colton Pitonyak."

9:40 am

At this point Joe Sawyer takes over the statment.

"If