Court denies Laura Hall's appeal

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Laura Hall, convicted of tampering with evidence in Jennifer Cave's murder, will serve her 10-year prison sentence after a court denied her latest appeal.

The Third Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday that she will not be getting a new trial and will instead serve her full sentence.

Defense attorneys had requested a new trial for Hall primarily because of accusations brought against the Austin Police Department's Forensics lab, questioning the quality of its examinations.

Hall's appellate brief stated that her appeal "concerned itself, in the main, with allegations that came to light, days before Hall's trial, that the Austin Police Department's Forensics lab . . . had been accused of doing substandard, shoddy, and incomplete DNA analysis with lax training and quality controls."

In the document, Hall used the following in her request for a new trial:

"Prior to jury selection on June 28, 2010, according to Hall's motion, the prosecutors approached defense counsel and provided them with 'a short document outlining what they alleged were personnel issues by a disgruntled employee of the Austin Police Department Forensic Science Division. The document was a short synopsis of a complaint filed by DNA analyst Cecily Hamilton against the DNA Laboratory Director, Cassie Carradine. They explained that Ms. Hamilton had resigned in May . . . [and they] assured [defense counsel] it did not reflect on the quality of the work performed at the Austin Police Department Forensic Science Division.'"

However, the Third Court of Appeals on Wednesday denied Hall's appeal -- saying that "there is not a reasonable probability that, had the evidence concerning the issues at the forensics lab been disclosed, the result of the proceeding would have been different."

Eligible for bail in October, Hall was denied parole for her conviction and will stay in prison for her participation in the gruesome West Campus murder cover-up in 2005.

Hall is serving the decade-long sentence for tampering with evidence in connection with the mutilation of University of Texas student Jennifer Cave's body after Colton Pitonyak murdered her.

Pitonyak is serving a 55-year prison sentence for Cave's murder. The two friends then fled to Mexico in Hall's Cadillac before authorities caught up with them later.

Hall was convicted in 2007 and sentenced in July.

Officials transferred Hall into state custody Aug. 3, when she was then taken to Plane State Jail in Dayton, Texas.

Hall will again be eligible for parole in December.