Thursday, August 06, 2009
Man gets 24 years in decade-old rape case
Argle Lee Hall pleaded guilty to the crime in April, two days before his case was to be heard by a jury.
Argle Lee Hall, 44, was friends with the woman whose Christiansburg home he broke into in 1994 and 1996 while she was in bed at night. She was in her 70s at the time.
The Roanoke Times isn't naming the woman because of the nature of the case.
In the first incident, Hall knew where the woman kept a hidden key outside her home and used it to get inside. In the second, he broke into her home through an unlocked window.
Hall's face was covered during both attacks. The case went unsolved for more than a decade, until Hall confessed after being confronted by police in 2007.
At that time, a family member of the woman told police that Hall had asked the woman to have sex with him.
Hall was charged with rape, attempted rape, sodomy, two counts of abduction and two counts of breaking and entering with intent to defile, all felonies.
He pleaded guilty to those charges in April, two days before his case was scheduled for a jury trial.
At his sentencing hearing Wednesday in Montgomery County Circuit Court, Hall asked Circuit Court Judge Ray Grubbs if he could look at the woman.
Grubbs nodded. Hall turned toward the woman and sobbed.
"You don't know how sorry I am for what I done to you and your family," he told her.
He said the Bible says that if you can't forgive your brothers, the Lord can't forgive you. "Please don't let me keep you from getting to heaven," he told her.
Hall's attorney, Angi Simpkins, called several people to the witness stand who testified that Hall had expressed remorse for what he had done to the woman. Hall said the guilt had eaten away at him like a cancer.
"I wish to God I'd never done it," he said from the witness stand.
But Assistant Montgomery County Commonwealth's Attorney Dean Manor noted that Hall kept his actions quiet for more than 10 years. Also, Manor said, Hall denied to police his involvement for several minutes before confessing.
Manor said he couldn't imagine the fear and anxiety the woman must have felt every night when she went to bed after being attacked twice in her own home.
He told the court there was no way to overstate the depravity of what Hall had done to a woman who trusted him.
Grubbs apparently agreed.
He told Hall he believed his remorse was genuine but that his remorse couldn't make up for what he had done.
"The crimes that have brought you here are amongst the most vile that have ever been tried in this courtroom," Grubbs told Hall.
He sentenced Hall to life in prison for rape, 10 years for attempted rape, 20 years for sodomy and 10 years each for two counts of abduction and two counts of burglary, with all but 24 years suspended.
After his release from prison, Hall must spend 10 years on supervised probation.
