"48 Hours Mystery:" In Too Deep

Laura Hall 48 Hours Mystery: In Too Deep (CBS)

In February 2009, in a surprising twist, Laura Hall is released from jail because a court ruled her sentencing hearing wasn't fair. She's out on bond while prosecutors fight to put her back in jail.

It was an appeals court in Austin set Laura loose. It upheld her conviction, but threw out her five-year sentence. She will get a new sentencing hearing. It all has to do with the testimony of a taxi driver in Laura's original sentencing hearing, who swore Laura was a passenger in his cab.

"And in making the small talk people do, he found out her boyfriend was accused of murder," Laura Hall's lawyer, Joe James Sawyer explains. "And he inquired, 'Oh, who is he accused of killing, Miss?' The answer in the presence of that jury, quote, 'Some bitch.' End quote. 'Some bitch.' I watched my jury and I saw women and men flinch at that answer."

Sawyer knew the cabbie's description of such callous and cold behavior was deadly. "And then they ask him, 'Can you identify that woman in court today?' 'Why yes,' he said, 'She's sitting right there by Mr. Sawyer.' And that would be Laura Hall."

Asked if the cab driver is lying, Laura tells Maher, "I never said that to him. He's certainly mistaken, if not flat out lying, yes."

As it turns out, the cab driver actually failed to identify Laura when investigators showed him a photo lineup. And then, it got worse when the district attorney failed to tell Laura's attorney about that - which was a significant legal mistake.

Prosecutor Bill Bishop was held accountable. "Mistakes were made," he says. "But it certainly wasn't a pattern of misconduct or an attempt to railroad or conspire against Miss Hall, as Mr. Sawyer would have you believe."

Because of the DA's mistake, Laura will be sentenced again. She could get more time or be let go permanently.

All along, Laura would continue to fight a current of public rage that she believed was sweeping away her very life.

"I think my life has been destroyed," she says. "I think if people set out to kill me, done. ...I can't live in Austin. I can't live in Texas."

And it is about to get much worse. "We have new evidence that we've developed that establishes that Colton was not responsible even for the killing," Joe Turner tells Maher. Turner says he "never did" believe that Colton Pitonyak shot Jennifer Cave.

Colton's lawyer suggests Laura Hall murdered Jennifer Cave. Her motive: jealousy.

"It's impossible for me to have been jealous of Jennifer Cave because I not only didn't know her, but I didn't know she existed," Laura tells Maher. "I'm innocent of all this. This was Colton's mess."

But according to Pitonyak's lawyer, once in jail, during a group therapy session, Laura told other inmates she is in fact the killer.

"They stated that during the group that inmate Hall confessed to the murder of Jennifer Cave," Turner explains.

But Laura has a strong alibi: at the time of the murder, she said she was staying with a friend - a friend who backed up her story in court.

"The state itself says she didn't get there until in the morning. Do you think for one moment that if the state could plausibly have put her at the scene, it would not have done so?" Hall's attorney asks.

"Did you have anything to do with the dismemberment of Jennifer's body?" Maher asks Laura.

"Absolutely nothing to do with it," she replies.

"Did you have anything to do with the murder?"

"No! God, no."

But Jim and Sharon, Jennifer's parents, weren't surprised by these latest accusations, because Laura Hall had frightened them since the first minute they saw her.

"The thing that I am most fearful about is that she will choose my family to yet again hurt," Sharon says. "She's a psychopath. I mean, when you look at Laura, there is nothing there. At all. Nothing. There is no soul."

Two scenarios were in play now and both were nightmares for Jim and Sharon. Colton Pitonyak was fighting for a new trial and Laura Hall was now fighting to clear her name.

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by welitlchic December 26, 2010 3:15 PM EST: Where is the video... It said that it was airing sat the 18th all i see is the story that you can read, not the video?
Can someone put the link here or direct me please? Thank you.; Reply to this comment

by laniedayz December 21, 2010 3:06 PM EST

I watched Colton's trial from start to finish. I watched every single day of the trial. It was shown on CourtTv and livestreamed on the internet. I also read the book about the case by Kathryn Casey.

I also agree that Laura Hall was way more involved in this than she was held accountable for. I believe she deserves life in prison without the possibility of parole. At the very least, she helped dismember Jennifer - I absolutely believe that with all of my heart.

I am so happy that she appealed her sentence and ended up getting an even longer sentence. That's KARMA - although I am not a big believer in Karma-- sometimes the dust settles exactly the way it should.. and although I wish her sentence would have been life in prison - the fact that Laura was so full of arrogance and gambled...and lost.. was so fitting.

Jennifer's family is so strong and beautiful. Keeping up with the case for years - I feel like I know them personally--just via interviews they've done, newspaper articles and of course the book I read. They're amazing people, especially Jennifer's mother--- who used her daughters tragedy to try to help other people.

RIP Jennifer. Although I am a stranger - I will never forget you.

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by Wildwood1966 December 21, 2010 4:13 PM EST: great tribute - laniedayz - sounds like you got to the heart of this


by Wildwood1966 December 20, 2010 4:43 PM EST: think about it - no matter if love is involved or not - how many of you could look at the body of that poor girl in the bathtub and if he infact "told you to go" not call the police? I don't care if I knew her or not - there is lots of fishy tales here and she is lucky she only got ten years - when she gets out if her parents must deal with her - they need to move and take her to a doctor she is one sick puppy. My heart thought and prayers go to Jennifer's parents may you find some oeace in your memories - when I was in my teens I was described as having a heart "as big as all outdoors" I am lucky that I was not taken advantage of - sometimes you can be too naive to see the bad; Reply to this comment


by rar78 December 20, 2010 1:07 AM EST: I believe Laura Hall is a good liar and either an accomplice to the murder of Jennifer or infact: the killer. If indeed the killer, it was 'jealousy'. When I heard her say: "When I got the tattoo, I was still in love with him,"/"I felt he was innocent/I felt bad for him/I felt that he didn't really do this, you know/And I was on his side, I'm sorry to say." After those words, I felt she was guilty. Who else is going to do this, how could he be innocent? They both went to Mexico in hopes that they would get away with what they did. Laura Hall deserves to be in prison for the rest of her life!! She is a good actress, I admit that. She over-emphasizes too much!! Guilty!!; Reply to this comment


by mzrizz December 19, 2010 9:54 AM EST: Anybody who can "see" what a boyfriend did to a body, not call the police, not be scared of the boyfriend, run off to Mexico and hide, is guilty enough to have participated in a gruesome murder.

Laura's parents need to be grateful that their daughter is in prison. And her parents need to wish she were there longer, because they have a pycho child who is capable of killing again.; Reply to this comment


by strikerF2 December 19, 2010 8:15 AM EST: I feel sorry for her,but she helped her boy friend flee to Mexico after she knew there was a dead woman in his bath tub. That is Accessory after the fact at the least. She could have called the cops and did not.; Reply to this comment


by rsmik December 19, 2010 7:37 AM EST: I believe she was in shock and denial and was an active participant in the getaway scheme as some kind of game, but seriously doubt she had anything to do with the actual murder or dismemberment. Her immature and angry words on the phone calls were just the threats of a kid feeling wrongfully accused and attacking her accusers, nothing more. Her father didn't help much by making up the story as he went along, though. Good thing he didn't take the stand. I don't understand the sentence, even if she had helped cut up the body, which to me is seriously in doubt, when Robert Durst admitted cutting up a body and disposing of it and was set free.; Reply to this comment


by psychology67 December 19, 2010 4:14 AM EST: I hated watching this story the first time I saw it--I only watched this installment to see what was going to happen to that young woman. It is so telling that her story evolved as she told it. She started out denying everything, then said she had been scared of the murderer--but she showed not real signs of having been afraid of him. She was working it so hard, but it still never really rang true. I don't think we can assess guilt or innocence by a person's demeanor--most people may react one way to a situation, but of course there will be some who do not react that way. That is not the case here. She's not even necessarily a good liar, I think she got fairly lucky for a while. But she is definitely not what she wants us to believe she is. I will refrain from calling her a sociopath, cause, well, we know how that turns out, don't we. Urghhhhhh Scary; Reply to this comment


by edumaz December 19, 2010 12:39 AM EST: ...she will be 30 years old. AND READY TO CAUSE MORE MAYHEM.; Reply to this comment


by coloradojess December 19, 2010 12:12 AM EST: I also believe she was involved. She has no empathy for Jennifer's family and she had the nerve to call and threaten them. If she was so scared why did she get the guys name tattoo on her ankle. She is a sociopath with an attitude and that was her downfall. She is a threat because she will never change.; Reply to this comment