Hall in jail until sentencing trial

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Laura Hall is back in jail Monday afternoon, something her family and her attorney were not expecting.

Hall was convicted of helping dismember Jennifer Cave's body in a West Campus apartment in 2005. Prosecutors said Hall helped convicted murder Colton Pitonyak hide his crimes before they fled to Mexico, where they were arrested a short time later.

It was a very dramatic turn of events Monday morning, which started off with Hall in good spirits. Though she said she was a little nervous, she walked into the courtroom smiling and even joked with reporters.

"Are you guys as nervous as I am?" asked Hall with a chuckle as she approached reporters outside the courtroom. "Raise your hand if you're nervous. Oh, is that me?"

However, the scene changed when the judge denied her lawyer's request that she be freed on bond and ordered her to be taken into custody. At that point, Hall started crying, pulled her hands away from the deputy trying to take her into custody and started screaming that she was innocent.

"She was doing really good and she had a good attitude she wasn't expecting this," said Debbie Ray, Hall's aunt. "She just broke down she started crying."

Her family also broke down when they heard the news.

"If my daughter was guilty, I wouldn't be feeling like this," said father Lauren Hall. "But I know my daughter's innocent."

Hall was initially sentenced to five years in prison but was granted a new sentencing trial last October when the court ruled the prosecution withheld information that could have helped her case.

Hall's lawyer had asked for a completely new trial for the tampering with evidence and hindering apprehension charges but was denied. That means her conviction still stands, but punishment will be redecided.

For nearly a year, Hall has been out on a $150,000 bond and has been staying with her parents and she was getting used to life back home with her parents at the Caribbean Cowboy RV Resort near San Antonio.

"She got her drivers license back and was working at the resort," said Loren Hall. "She's making friends, she's trying to make the best of her life and studying for the LSAT test."

Her new sentencing trial is set for March 4, and the judge said he did not believe she had the right at this point to be out on bond.

Meanwhile, Cave's mother said she was "very relieved." Cave's parents are expected to testify in Hall's upcoming trial.

"It was a tense emotional morning for everybody," said Sharon Sedwick, Cave's mother. "Now we're just getting ready for trial."