| Jeffrey Russell Hall | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1979 |
| Died | 2011-05-01 Riverside California |
| Cause of death | Gunshot |
| Body discovered | by Wife |
| Residence | Riverside California |
| Citizenship | United States |
| Occupation | Plumber |
| Title | Southwestern States Regional Director |
| Political party | National Socialist Movement |
| Political movement | neo-Nazi |
| Spouse | Krista McCary |
Jeffrey Russell Hall was a plumber in Riverside, California, and was the regional leader of the National Socialist Movement. On May 1, 2011, he was shot to death by his 10-year-old son Joseph,[1] using his Father's gun. The murder took place on Sunday, May 1 at 4 AM as Hall slept on his couch.[2] Hall believed in fighting for an all-white society, and said before his death that he would die for the cause.[3]
The boy's attorneys first moved to seek a defense of not guilty by reason of insanity.[4] If convicted, he cannot be incarcerated past the age of 25.[5]
According to the boy, the motive for the murder was that he was tired of his father hitting him and his stepmother.[6][5]
On Sunday, September 25, 2011, the story of the murder aired on 60 Minutes.[5]
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For three years, 32-year-old Jeffery Hall had been having difficulty finding work, because of the economic downturn in the construction industry. Blaming his problems on Jews and non-whites, he became a local leader in the Neo-Nazi movement.
In October 2009, Hall lead a group from the National Socialist Movement (NSM), in a rally near a day-laborer site in Riverside. They wore World War II-era Nazi garb. In a November2009 interview about the rallies in Riverside, Arizona, and Minnesota, Hall said, "They're proud of who they are, tired of white guilt being shoved on their kids and multiculturalism. They can't see any reason for it."[7]
In 2010 he ran against an incumbent for the Western Municipal Water District board as a white supremacist,[8] and he got about a third of the vote.
In March 2011, Hall and his group of about two dozen white supremacists took to the streets in Claremont and had a screaming confrontation with counter-protesters of more than 200 immigrant rights activists, who decried the group as racist. Hall said, "We patrol the borders, we see the devastation, we see the drugs, we know the reality."[9] Dozens of officers from several police agencies were on hand.
Just 12 hours before Hall's death, a reporter from the New York Times was in Hall's home interviewing Hall and members of his group. She also spoke to Hall's son, and the ten-year-old showed off a leather belt bearing a silver insignia of the Nazi SS, which his father had given him.[10]
Jeffery bragged that he was teaching eldest son Joseph to use night vision equipment and shoot a gun.[11] Eventually that same ten-year-old child would tell police how he got a .357 revolver from a shelf in the closet, pulled the hammer back, aimed the gun at his dad's ear while he was asleep on the couch, and shot him.[2]
Joseph admitted to police that he was tired of his dad hitting him and his mom. His 26-year-old stepmother Krista also admitted Jeffery had been violent with her and the son, sometimes losing self-control and kicking his son in the back. He punished his children to varying extremes on a daily basis. The police report said that the house was filthy dirty, with the floor littered with clothes, and the odor of urine. Many weapons were accessible to the children.[2]
The son was arrested and taken to juvenile hall. The other four children were taken into protective custody. Krista was later arrested and charged with criminal storage of firearms and child neglect.[2] Joann Patterson (Jeffery's mother and Joseph's grandmother) was given temporary custody of the other four children. On a 60 minutes interview, she stated that her grandson had been acting out by starting fires. She was not surprised that he killed his father, only that she expected it would not happen until her grandson was older.
Jeffery Hall's was the son of Joann Patterson. Jeffery Hall's first marriage was to Leticia Neal, now of Spokane, Washington. They had two children—Joseph Hall and his younger sister. Neal later had twins by another father. In 2003, the twins were hospitalized for failing to thrive, resulting in Child Protective Services removing Hall's two children. Social workers reported that Neal had no electricity or gas, maggots were on dishes, and the children were dirty, hungry, thirsty, and had bruises.[12]
At the time, Hall was on probation for driving under the influence, so his two children were temporarily placed with their grandmother Joann Patterson, In 2004, Hall was granted full custody of his two children.[13]
After divorcing Neal, Hall married Krista McCary, and had three more daughters. At the time of his death, he had five children, ages 10, 9, 7, 3 years plus a 2-month-old infant.
Joseph was a volatile and violent child, who had been expelled from several schools for attacking students and staff, once nearly choking a teacher with a phone-cord.[13] His grandmother Joann Patterson said he had no understanding of cause and effect. Joseph and his sisters were being educated at home by their parent under the guidance of River Springs Charter School.