June 8, 2026
Terrifying & True | 10-Year-Old Killer & Dark American Murder History
The murder of Jeffrey Hall is one of the most disturbing modern American true crime cases — not because the killer was hidden, but because the person who pulled the trigger was only 10 years old.
On May 1, 2011, in Riverside, California, 32-year-old Jeffrey Hall was asleep on the couch when his son, Joseph Hall, took a .357 revolver from a closet, walked downstairs, and shot him in the head. Jeffrey Hall was not just a father. He was a local leader in the National Socialist Movement, a neo-Nazi organization, and had filled his home with extremist politics, weapons, instability, fear, and violence.
But this case is not a simple story of poetic justice. It is a deeply unsettling look at childhood trauma, extremist indoctrination, domestic chaos, juvenile justice, gun access, and the impossible question of what justice means when a child kills.
Inside this episode:
• The life and extremism of Jeffrey Hall — a Riverside neo-Nazi leader who brought hate into politics, public rallies, and his own home.
• Joseph Hall’s troubled childhood — marked by neglect concerns, instability, weapons, alleged abuse, behavioral issues, and a household shaped by fear.
• The night of the shooting — when a 10-year-old boy retrieved a loaded revolver and killed his sleeping father.
• The legal question at the heart of the case — whether Joseph, at just 10 years old, truly understood the wrongfulness and permanence of what he had done.
• The juvenile trial and appeals — including the court’s finding of second-degree murder, challenges over Miranda rights, and the larger debate over children in the criminal justice system.
• The tragedy beneath the headlines — a violent extremist father, a frightened child, a broken household, and a legal system forced to sort horror into categories that never fully fit.
This is not a murder mystery. Joseph Hall admitted what happened. The deeper mystery is how a child arrived at that couch with a revolver in his hand — and how many adults, systems, ideologies, and failures helped put him there.
A man was killed. A child was charged. A family was destroyed. And the house Jeffrey Hall built around hatred became the place where that violence came home.
We’re telling that story tonight.
🎧 LISTEN NOW and subscribe for spine-tingling horror stories every week!
🎉 Unlock exclusive bonus episodes and support the show on Patreon!
👉 WeeklySpooky.com/Join
📬 Contact Us / Submit Your Horror Story!
🎵 Music by Ray Mattis 👉 Check out Ray’s incredible work here !
👨💼 Executive Producers: Rob Fields, Bobbletopia.com
🎥 Produced by: Daniel Wilder
🌐 Explore more terrifying tales at: WeeklySpooky.com
On May 1, 2011, in Riverside, California, 32-year-old Jeffrey Hall was asleep on the couch when his son, Joseph Hall, took a .357 revolver from a closet, walked downstairs, and shot him in the head. Jeffrey Hall was not just a father. He was a local leader in the National Socialist Movement, a neo-Nazi organization, and had filled his home with extremist politics, weapons, instability, fear, and violence.
But this case is not a simple story of poetic justice. It is a deeply unsettling look at childhood trauma, extremist indoctrination, domestic chaos, juvenile justice, gun access, and the impossible question of what justice means when a child kills.
Inside this episode:
• The life and extremism of Jeffrey Hall — a Riverside neo-Nazi leader who brought hate into politics, public rallies, and his own home.
• Joseph Hall’s troubled childhood — marked by neglect concerns, instability, weapons, alleged abuse, behavioral issues, and a household shaped by fear.
• The night of the shooting — when a 10-year-old boy retrieved a loaded revolver and killed his sleeping father.
• The legal question at the heart of the case — whether Joseph, at just 10 years old, truly understood the wrongfulness and permanence of what he had done.
• The juvenile trial and appeals — including the court’s finding of second-degree murder, challenges over Miranda rights, and the larger debate over children in the criminal justice system.
• The tragedy beneath the headlines — a violent extremist father, a frightened child, a broken household, and a legal system forced to sort horror into categories that never fully fit.
This is not a murder mystery. Joseph Hall admitted what happened. The deeper mystery is how a child arrived at that couch with a revolver in his hand — and how many adults, systems, ideologies, and failures helped put him there.
A man was killed. A child was charged. A family was destroyed. And the house Jeffrey Hall built around hatred became the place where that violence came home.
We’re telling that story tonight.
🎧 LISTEN NOW and subscribe for spine-tingling horror stories every week!
🎉 Unlock exclusive bonus episodes and support the show on Patreon!
👉 WeeklySpooky.com/Join
📬 Contact Us / Submit Your Horror Story!
- Twitter: @WeeklySpooky
- Facebook: facebook.com/WeeklySpooky
- Email: WeeklySpooky@gmail.com
🎵 Music by Ray Mattis 👉 Check out Ray’s incredible work here !
👨💼 Executive Producers: Rob Fields, Bobbletopia.com
🎥 Produced by: Daniel Wilder
🌐 Explore more terrifying tales at: WeeklySpooky.com
WEBVTT
1
00:00:02.799 --> 00:00:06.839
A neo Nazi leader, is asleep on the couch. His
2
00:00:07.000 --> 00:00:11.759
ten year old son knows where the gun is. Before sunrise,
3
00:00:12.279 --> 00:00:16.359
one shot will leave Jeffrey Hall dead and force a
4
00:00:16.399 --> 00:00:20.440
courtroom to ask a question no one can answer cleanly.
5
00:00:22.199 --> 00:00:26.359
When a child kills after growing up surrounded by hate,
6
00:00:26.480 --> 00:00:30.559
fear and violence, What does justice even mean?
7
00:00:33.439 --> 00:00:37.079
What you were about to pit you? He spurt to
8
00:00:37.280 --> 00:00:46.560
be based on witness accounts, testamles, and puply record, this
9
00:00:46.840 --> 00:00:52.359
is terrifying and treat treat.
10
00:00:57.880 --> 00:01:02.320
In the early morning hours of May first, two, thy eleven,
11
00:01:03.119 --> 00:01:07.920
a quiet house in Riverside, California, became the scene of
12
00:01:07.959 --> 00:01:13.159
a crime that would disturb the nation. Thirty two year
13
00:01:13.200 --> 00:01:18.079
old Jeffrey Hall, a local leader in the National Socialist Movement,
14
00:01:18.959 --> 00:01:23.159
was asleep on the couch. Upstairs was his ten year
15
00:01:23.159 --> 00:01:28.319
old son, Joseph, a boy raised in a home marked
16
00:01:28.359 --> 00:01:36.480
by extremist ideology, weapons, fear, and alleged abuse. Before dawn,
17
00:01:37.159 --> 00:01:42.760
Joseph found a loaded revolver. He walked downstairs, he aimed
18
00:01:42.799 --> 00:01:47.799
at his sleeping father, and he fired. There was no
19
00:01:48.000 --> 00:01:53.959
search for a killer, no hidden suspect, no mystery about
20
00:01:54.000 --> 00:01:58.200
who pulled the trigger, but the case of Joseph Hall
21
00:01:58.799 --> 00:02:04.640
became something far more difficult, a test of the justice system,
22
00:02:05.400 --> 00:02:09.439
a portrait of a child shaped by violence, and a
23
00:02:09.520 --> 00:02:16.000
chilling question about responsibility, trauma and the lessons a hateful
24
00:02:16.120 --> 00:02:21.800
home can teach. Tonight, we examine the murder of Jeffrey
25
00:02:21.840 --> 00:02:26.680
Hall and the ten year old boy left standing in
26
00:02:26.759 --> 00:02:31.960
the wreckage. Make sure you're subscribed on your podcast app.
27
00:02:32.479 --> 00:02:36.919
We bring a brand new, terrifying and true story every
28
00:02:37.520 --> 00:02:57.879
single Monday, May one, two thousand and eleven. Riverside, California.
29
00:02:59.240 --> 00:03:03.000
The house is quiet in a way troubled homes can
30
00:03:03.039 --> 00:03:11.199
only pretend to be not peaceful or calm, just temporarily exhausted.
31
00:03:12.400 --> 00:03:15.960
In the living room, thirty two year old Jeffrey Hall
32
00:03:16.680 --> 00:03:20.599
is asleep on the couch. The television is still on,
33
00:03:21.520 --> 00:03:27.439
the lights are still burning. Somewhere nearby are children who
34
00:03:27.439 --> 00:03:31.560
have spent too much of their young lives surrounded by
35
00:03:32.159 --> 00:03:40.479
adult anger, extremist politics, weapons, shouting, and fear. Jeffrey Hall
36
00:03:40.639 --> 00:03:44.439
is not just a father. He is a local leader
37
00:03:44.759 --> 00:03:49.520
in the National Socialist Movement, a neo Nazi political organization.
38
00:03:50.639 --> 00:03:55.400
He has spent the previous years dragging hatred into public view,
39
00:03:56.199 --> 00:04:04.759
dwindling rallies, patrols, swastikas uniforms, political stunts, interviews, and angry
40
00:04:04.919 --> 00:04:10.280
speeches about race and power. He's tried to turn his
41
00:04:10.400 --> 00:04:15.639
home into a staging ground for an ideology built on domination.
42
00:04:17.000 --> 00:04:21.639
But inside that home, the ideology is not the only danger.
43
00:04:22.639 --> 00:04:26.959
According to later testimony and reporting, the children in that
44
00:04:27.079 --> 00:04:34.279
house have lived with chaos, violence, neglect, weapons within reach,
45
00:04:34.439 --> 00:04:40.920
with no supervision, and the constant pressure of an unstable household.
46
00:04:41.040 --> 00:04:45.439
Joseph Hall, Jeffrey's ten year old son, is small for
47
00:04:45.560 --> 00:04:50.399
his age, troubled, and already carrying more fear than any
48
00:04:50.560 --> 00:04:55.560
child should have to understand. In the early morning hours,
49
00:04:56.240 --> 00:05:00.720
Joseph gets up. He knows where the gun is, a
50
00:05:00.800 --> 00:05:05.319
three fifty seven revolver. He takes it from the closet.
51
00:05:05.920 --> 00:05:12.560
He moves downstairs. His father is asleep on the couch, unaware.
52
00:05:14.160 --> 00:05:18.800
Joseph later tells police he is afraid, afraid his father
53
00:05:18.879 --> 00:05:22.800
will hurt his stepmother, Afraid his father will hurt the family.
54
00:05:23.399 --> 00:05:27.160
Afraid of a threat he says his father made that
55
00:05:27.279 --> 00:05:30.879
he might remove the smoke detectors and burn the house
56
00:05:30.959 --> 00:05:38.959
down while everyone slept. Joseph approaches the couch. He pulls
57
00:05:39.040 --> 00:05:43.759
back the hammer, he raises the gun toward his father's head,
58
00:05:44.920 --> 00:05:49.680
and in that frozen moment, the horror of this story
59
00:05:49.759 --> 00:05:54.399
twists into something almost impossible to hold all at once.
60
00:05:55.639 --> 00:06:01.000
A violent man, a frightened child, a loaded gun, a
61
00:06:01.160 --> 00:06:06.360
house full of hate, and a single gunshot that will
62
00:06:06.439 --> 00:06:11.720
leave one person dead, one child charged with murder, and
63
00:06:11.800 --> 00:06:16.720
a courtroom forced to ask questions that sound simple until
64
00:06:16.759 --> 00:06:20.839
you try to answer them outside the realm of hypotheticals.
65
00:06:22.040 --> 00:06:26.800
When a ten year old kills what does justice look like?
66
00:06:28.439 --> 00:06:33.000
Before he became a national headline, Jeffrey Russell Hall was
67
00:06:33.040 --> 00:06:36.600
a man trying to build a life in Riverside County.
68
00:06:37.319 --> 00:06:42.160
He worked in construction and plumbing, had children, and lived
69
00:06:42.199 --> 00:06:46.240
in a suburban California home that might have looked ordinary
70
00:06:46.759 --> 00:06:51.319
from the street. By the late two thousands, though Hall
71
00:06:51.399 --> 00:06:56.040
had made himself into a public face of American white supremacy.
72
00:06:57.000 --> 00:07:01.160
He became a regional leader in the National Socialist movement.
73
00:07:01.920 --> 00:07:07.560
He hosted meetings, he gave interviews, He marched in Nazi imagery.
74
00:07:08.480 --> 00:07:11.879
He even ran for a seat on the Western Municipal
75
00:07:11.920 --> 00:07:16.800
Water District Board in twenty ten, drawing attention not because
76
00:07:16.839 --> 00:07:22.879
he hid his extremism, but because he refused to. That
77
00:07:23.079 --> 00:07:26.879
is one of the first uncomfortable realities of the case.
78
00:07:28.240 --> 00:07:32.639
Jeffrey Hall did not keep his hatred private. He brought
79
00:07:32.680 --> 00:07:38.240
it into politics, he brought it into the streets. Most
80
00:07:38.240 --> 00:07:44.680
disturbingly of all, he brought it into his home. Joseph
81
00:07:44.800 --> 00:07:49.519
was exposed to that world very young. Journalists and court
82
00:07:49.560 --> 00:07:55.639
records describe a child surrounded by extremist symbols, adult meetings,
83
00:07:55.800 --> 00:08:02.240
border patrol fantasies, and weapons. Reportedly boasted about teaching his
84
00:08:02.360 --> 00:08:07.800
son to use night vision equipment and firearms. Joseph was
85
00:08:07.839 --> 00:08:12.240
not merely living with a father who believed violent things.
86
00:08:13.040 --> 00:08:17.720
He was living inside a worldview where intimidation and domination
87
00:08:18.360 --> 00:08:22.639
were treated like virtues. But this case is not only
88
00:08:22.680 --> 00:08:29.560
about ideology. It's about domestic life, child welfare, mental health
89
00:08:30.000 --> 00:08:36.200
abuse allegations, and access to weapons. Joseph's early childhood had
90
00:08:36.240 --> 00:08:42.960
already been unstable. His biological mother, Letitia Neil, had lost
91
00:08:43.000 --> 00:08:48.120
custody after serious neglect concerns. Joseph and his sister went
92
00:08:48.159 --> 00:08:53.320
to live with Jeffrey. Later, Jeffrey married Christa Mcarey, whom
93
00:08:53.399 --> 00:08:59.879
Joseph referred to as Mom. The household eventually included several children,
94
00:09:00.080 --> 00:09:05.559
and by many accounts, it was filthy, chaotic, and frightening.
95
00:09:06.639 --> 00:09:12.679
Reporting described weapons being openly accessible to children. A psychologist
96
00:09:12.720 --> 00:09:17.840
testified that Joseph had suffered a long history of physical, emotional,
97
00:09:17.919 --> 00:09:23.879
and likely sexual abuse, though the precise facts and responsibility
98
00:09:24.320 --> 00:09:30.039
for every allegation became part of the painful dispute at trial.
99
00:09:31.399 --> 00:09:35.840
Joseph himself wasn't easy, and we'd be dishonest if we
100
00:09:35.919 --> 00:09:43.720
pretended otherwise. Prosecutors emphasized behavioral problems, violent incidents, and trouble
101
00:09:43.759 --> 00:09:50.600
at school. The defense emphasized developmental delays, trauma, ADHD, and
102
00:09:51.080 --> 00:09:57.559
low intellectual functioning. Both portraits could contain truth. A child
103
00:09:57.759 --> 00:10:02.519
can be frightening as well as frightened. A child can
104
00:10:02.639 --> 00:10:08.200
hurt others and still be profoundly damaged. That tension is
105
00:10:08.240 --> 00:10:14.240
what makes this case so complex. In most murder stories,
106
00:10:14.720 --> 00:10:19.519
we're trained to look for the monster. Here, the story
107
00:10:20.159 --> 00:10:24.799
doesn't really fit together quite like that Jeffrey Hall was
108
00:10:24.840 --> 00:10:29.559
a violent extremist who filled his home with hate. Joseph
109
00:10:29.600 --> 00:10:32.320
Hall was a ten year old child who shot a
110
00:10:32.399 --> 00:10:37.240
sleeping man in the head. The stepmother described fear and
111
00:10:37.440 --> 00:10:44.440
violence prosecutors described planning and awareness. Defense experts described trauma
112
00:10:44.559 --> 00:10:51.240
and developmental limits. The law demanded categories guilty or not
113
00:10:52.200 --> 00:10:59.879
capable or incapable, murder, or something else. Real life did
114
00:10:59.879 --> 00:11:07.480
not arrive in neat categories. On April thirtieth, twenty eleven,
115
00:11:07.960 --> 00:11:12.960
Jeffrey Hall hosted a gathering at the family home. Adults
116
00:11:13.080 --> 00:11:18.240
talked politics. Extremist symbols hung in the house. Joseph moved
117
00:11:18.279 --> 00:11:22.399
through that space like a child trapped in an adult nightmare,
118
00:11:23.080 --> 00:11:27.720
close enough to absorb everything, too young to truly understand
119
00:11:27.759 --> 00:11:32.480
any of it. According to later accounts, Joseph said something
120
00:11:32.600 --> 00:11:37.559
happened that frightened him deeply. He claimed his father had
121
00:11:37.559 --> 00:11:40.960
threatened to remove all the smoke detectors and set the
122
00:11:41.000 --> 00:11:45.919
house on fire while the family slept. Whether that was
123
00:11:45.960 --> 00:11:50.799
a true threat made by Jeffrey or coming from drunken rage,
124
00:11:51.399 --> 00:11:55.200
or whether Joseph understood it through the distorted lens of fear,
125
00:11:56.080 --> 00:12:00.919
the effect on the boy appears to have been very real.
126
00:12:02.639 --> 00:12:06.840
That night, Jeffrey drank. Eventually he fell asleep on the
127
00:12:06.879 --> 00:12:14.759
couch upstairs. Joseph woke. The next steps are simple, too simple.
128
00:12:15.960 --> 00:12:20.919
A child walks to a closet, finds a gun, takes
129
00:12:20.960 --> 00:12:28.919
it in his hands. There is no elaborate plot, no getaway,
130
00:12:29.159 --> 00:12:35.279
no masked intruder, just a ten year old moving through
131
00:12:35.360 --> 00:12:40.519
the house toward his sleeping father. Joseph later said he
132
00:12:40.559 --> 00:12:44.480
did not fully understand death the way an adult would.
133
00:12:45.519 --> 00:12:49.039
Reports said he had seen a television episode where a
134
00:12:49.159 --> 00:12:53.799
child killed an abusive parent and wasn't punished, and that
135
00:12:54.000 --> 00:12:59.480
this may have shaped his thinking in a distorted, childlike way.
136
00:13:00.480 --> 00:13:03.559
He reportedly believed there might be a way for his
137
00:13:03.720 --> 00:13:09.639
father to be gone, stopped, or changed, without fully grasping
138
00:13:09.720 --> 00:13:14.240
the permanent finality of what a gunshot to the head
139
00:13:14.879 --> 00:13:19.759
would do. But he knew where the gun was, he
140
00:13:19.840 --> 00:13:22.600
knew how to cock it, he knew how to aim it.
141
00:13:23.600 --> 00:13:27.600
At around four a m. On May one, twenty eleven,
142
00:13:28.519 --> 00:13:33.639
a gun shot cracked through the Hall home. Jeffrey Hall
143
00:13:34.480 --> 00:13:40.360
was dead, and Joseph Hall, age ten, had just become
144
00:13:40.480 --> 00:13:44.440
the center of one of the most troubling juvenile murder
145
00:13:44.559 --> 00:13:56.799
cases in modern American history. When police arrived, the scene
146
00:13:56.919 --> 00:14:03.039
was both shocking and strangely clear. There was no mystery
147
00:14:03.320 --> 00:14:08.240
about who fired the gun. Joseph admitted it. He told
148
00:14:08.360 --> 00:14:13.200
investigators he had shot his father. He described taking the revolver,
149
00:14:13.720 --> 00:14:18.519
cocking it, aiming it at Geoffrey while he slept, and firing.
150
00:14:19.720 --> 00:14:24.679
The death itself was not the puzzle. The puzzle was
151
00:14:25.279 --> 00:14:30.879
everything around it. Why had this child done it? What
152
00:14:31.039 --> 00:14:34.919
did he understand? And what should the justice system do
153
00:14:35.080 --> 00:14:41.120
with him? The first public reaction was almost automatic. Jeoffrey
154
00:14:41.159 --> 00:14:45.559
Hall was a neo Nazi. He filled his home with hatred.
155
00:14:46.360 --> 00:14:52.799
His son killed him cause an effect a grotesque moral fable.
156
00:14:53.840 --> 00:14:59.399
But the truth was more complicated and much much sadder.
157
00:15:00.919 --> 00:15:05.240
Joseph was taken into custody. The other children were removed
158
00:15:05.320 --> 00:15:11.159
from the home. Christa. Mcarey, Joseph's stepmother, was later charged
159
00:15:11.200 --> 00:15:16.000
with child endangerment and criminal storage of a firearm after
160
00:15:16.120 --> 00:15:20.200
prosecutors said the loaded gun had been left where children
161
00:15:20.600 --> 00:15:25.480
could access it. Police reports also described other weapons in
162
00:15:25.519 --> 00:15:29.559
the home, including a rifle in the garage and edged
163
00:15:29.600 --> 00:15:34.960
weapons in the master bedroom. The case immediately became more
164
00:15:35.039 --> 00:15:40.240
than one killing. It became a public autopsy of a
165
00:15:40.279 --> 00:15:44.639
household that had failed its children before the gun even
166
00:15:44.720 --> 00:15:51.120
went off. Investigators and attorneys built two very different portraits
167
00:15:51.519 --> 00:15:56.840
of Joseph. The prosecutions Joseph was a child who knew
168
00:15:56.840 --> 00:16:00.559
what he was doing. They argued that he had planned shooting,
169
00:16:01.039 --> 00:16:05.320
understood the wrongfulness of the act, and made a deliberate
170
00:16:05.480 --> 00:16:12.080
decision to kill his father. Prosecutors pointed to alleged statements
171
00:16:12.120 --> 00:16:17.679
that he had talked beforehand about shooting Jeffrey, including claims
172
00:16:17.720 --> 00:16:21.159
that he had mentioned it to his sister. They also
173
00:16:21.399 --> 00:16:26.440
highlighted his history of violent behavior, arguing that this was
174
00:16:26.879 --> 00:16:32.399
not an accident or a reflex the defense's Joseph was
175
00:16:32.799 --> 00:16:40.120
a traumatized child formed by abuse, neglect, instability, and extremist conditioning.
176
00:16:41.000 --> 00:16:45.799
His lawyers argued he had developmental disabilities and a warped
177
00:16:45.919 --> 00:16:52.799
understanding of consequences. He was not, they said, a miniature
178
00:16:52.840 --> 00:16:58.600
adult with adult malice. He was a damaged child acting
179
00:16:58.639 --> 00:17:03.440
out of fear and confusion. This is where the case
180
00:17:03.559 --> 00:17:08.559
turns from true crime into something closer to a nightmare.
181
00:17:08.640 --> 00:17:15.559
Philosophy exam. California law, like many legal systems, recognizes that
182
00:17:15.720 --> 00:17:20.319
children below a certain age are presumed incapable of committing
183
00:17:20.359 --> 00:17:25.799
crimes unless the state proves they understood the wrongfulness of
184
00:17:25.880 --> 00:17:30.480
their conduct. In Joseph's case, the court had to decide
185
00:17:30.519 --> 00:17:34.960
whether a ten year old boy, This specific ten year
186
00:17:35.000 --> 00:17:40.920
old boy, with his specific history, limitations, and home environment,
187
00:17:41.799 --> 00:17:47.400
understood what he did was wrong, not just dangerous, not
188
00:17:47.680 --> 00:17:54.279
just forbidden wrong. The legal question was not whether Joseph
189
00:17:54.319 --> 00:17:58.279
pulled the trigger he had admitted to shooting Jeffrey Hall.
190
00:17:59.000 --> 00:18:02.000
The central legal dal dispute was whether, at age ten,
191
00:18:02.680 --> 00:18:07.920
he understood fully the wrongfulness of his actions, and whether
192
00:18:08.000 --> 00:18:13.920
the killing amounted to murder under juvenile law. The California
193
00:18:13.960 --> 00:18:18.720
Court of Appeal later described the Juvenile Court's findings. Joseph
194
00:18:18.920 --> 00:18:22.599
understood the wrongfulness of the act, committed what would have
195
00:18:22.680 --> 00:18:26.960
been second degree murder if done by an adult, and
196
00:18:27.119 --> 00:18:33.799
personally discharged a firearm causing death. Joseph's police interviews became
197
00:18:34.160 --> 00:18:38.640
a major issue. Later, appeals challenged whether a child that
198
00:18:38.799 --> 00:18:44.039
young could validly waive miranderites and whether statements taken from
199
00:18:44.119 --> 00:18:49.359
him should have been used. In twenty fifteen, the California
200
00:18:49.400 --> 00:18:53.920
Court of Appeal upheld the Juvenile Court's decision. The California
201
00:18:54.000 --> 00:18:59.559
Supreme Court declined review. The U. S Supreme Court declined
202
00:18:59.599 --> 00:19:04.240
to take the case in twenty sixteen. Think about the
203
00:19:04.279 --> 00:19:08.440
scale of that question. A ten year old is small
204
00:19:08.559 --> 00:19:13.279
enough that juvenile authorities reportedly struggled with how to house
205
00:19:13.359 --> 00:19:18.599
him among older offenders, but legally, the court still had
206
00:19:18.599 --> 00:19:23.960
to examine whether he could understand rights, consequences, and moral
207
00:19:24.079 --> 00:19:30.319
wrongfulness at a level sufficient for adjudication. The court room
208
00:19:30.359 --> 00:19:35.799
would hear about Jeffrey Hall's public extremism, but prosecutors argued
209
00:19:35.839 --> 00:19:40.240
that his neo Nazi activity was not the legal cause
210
00:19:40.400 --> 00:19:46.279
of the murder. They focused on Joseph's conduct, alleged planning,
211
00:19:46.400 --> 00:19:52.480
and ability to distinguish right from wrong. The defense argued
212
00:19:52.519 --> 00:19:55.880
that Joseph's act could not be separated from the world
213
00:19:56.359 --> 00:20:01.240
that had shaped him. A child raised around Hey instability
214
00:20:01.319 --> 00:20:06.519
and violence does not process fear like a healthy adult would.
215
00:20:07.680 --> 00:20:11.920
A child who sees guns as household objects and hears
216
00:20:12.039 --> 00:20:19.119
threats as possible realities may reach conclusions that are horrifying, irrational,
217
00:20:19.240 --> 00:20:27.720
and still tragically understandable. The distinction is very important, but
218
00:20:27.799 --> 00:20:33.039
it's also what makes the case so morally uneasy. If
219
00:20:33.119 --> 00:20:37.599
we treat Jeffrey's death as poetic justice, we forget the
220
00:20:37.640 --> 00:20:42.039
shooter was a child. If we treat Joseph only as
221
00:20:42.079 --> 00:20:46.400
a murderer, we forget the adult failures that brought him
222
00:20:46.480 --> 00:20:50.599
to that couch at four in the morning, and in
223
00:20:50.640 --> 00:20:54.440
the middle of it all was a dead man on
224
00:20:54.680 --> 00:20:59.440
said couch, a man who had preached hate, a father
225
00:20:59.480 --> 00:21:03.480
who had left a gun within reach, a household that
226
00:21:03.559 --> 00:21:08.559
had become a furnace, and a little boy who had
227
00:21:08.640 --> 00:21:15.599
learned somewhere along the way that violence was an answer.
228
00:21:22.839 --> 00:21:28.160
Joseph Hall's juvenile trial opened in Riverside in twenty twelve,
229
00:21:28.720 --> 00:21:33.400
when he was just twelve years old. That detail alone
230
00:21:33.599 --> 00:21:37.839
is worth some pause. The killing happened when he was ten.
231
00:21:38.960 --> 00:21:42.720
By the time the court finally weighed the evidence, he
232
00:21:42.799 --> 00:21:45.359
was still barely older than he had been on the
233
00:21:45.480 --> 00:21:50.400
night of the shooting. Both sides agreed Joseph shot Jeffrey
234
00:21:50.440 --> 00:21:57.880
Hall at close range. The dispute was responsibility, intent, and understanding.
235
00:21:58.920 --> 00:22:02.880
The trial was held in juvenile court, but it became
236
00:22:03.160 --> 00:22:08.440
unusually public because of the seriousness of the allegations and
237
00:22:08.519 --> 00:22:12.880
the notoriety of the case. The courtroom had to handle
238
00:22:12.960 --> 00:22:20.680
testimony about extremist politics, domestic violence, allegations, child development, mental health,
239
00:22:21.240 --> 00:22:24.559
and a killing carried out by someone young enough to
240
00:22:24.720 --> 00:22:29.960
still misunderstand the world in a way only a child can.
241
00:22:31.240 --> 00:22:36.759
The prosecutors argued premeditation and awareness. They said Joseph had
242
00:22:36.799 --> 00:22:41.480
talked about killing his father before it happened. They also
1
00:00:02.799 --> 00:00:06.839
2
00:00:07.000 --> 00:00:11.759
3
00:00:12.279 --> 00:00:16.359
4
00:00:16.399 --> 00:00:20.440
5
00:00:22.199 --> 00:00:26.359
6
00:00:26.480 --> 00:00:30.559
7
00:00:33.439 --> 00:00:37.079
8
00:00:37.280 --> 00:00:46.560
9
00:00:46.840 --> 00:00:52.359
10
00:00:57.880 --> 00:01:02.320
11
00:01:03.119 --> 00:01:07.920
12
00:01:07.959 --> 00:01:13.159
13
00:01:13.200 --> 00:01:18.079
14
00:01:18.959 --> 00:01:23.159
15
00:01:23.159 --> 00:01:28.319
16
00:01:28.359 --> 00:01:36.480
17
00:01:37.159 --> 00:01:42.760
18
00:01:42.799 --> 00:01:47.799
19
00:01:48.000 --> 00:01:53.959
20
00:01:54.000 --> 00:01:58.200
21
00:01:58.799 --> 00:02:04.640
22
00:02:05.400 --> 00:02:09.439
23
00:02:09.520 --> 00:02:16.000
24
00:02:16.120 --> 00:02:21.800
25
00:02:21.840 --> 00:02:26.680
26
00:02:26.759 --> 00:02:31.960
27
00:02:32.479 --> 00:02:36.919
28
00:02:37.520 --> 00:02:57.879
29
00:02:59.240 --> 00:03:03.000
30
00:03:03.039 --> 00:03:11.199
31
00:03:12.400 --> 00:03:15.960
32
00:03:16.680 --> 00:03:20.599
33
00:03:21.520 --> 00:03:27.439
34
00:03:27.439 --> 00:03:31.560
35
00:03:32.159 --> 00:03:40.479
36
00:03:40.639 --> 00:03:44.439
37
00:03:44.759 --> 00:03:49.520
38
00:03:50.639 --> 00:03:55.400
39
00:03:56.199 --> 00:04:04.759
40
00:04:04.919 --> 00:04:10.280
41
00:04:10.400 --> 00:04:15.639
42
00:04:17.000 --> 00:04:21.639
43
00:04:22.639 --> 00:04:26.959
44
00:04:27.079 --> 00:04:34.279
45
00:04:34.439 --> 00:04:40.920
46
00:04:41.040 --> 00:04:45.439
47
00:04:45.560 --> 00:04:50.399
48
00:04:50.560 --> 00:04:55.560
49
00:04:56.240 --> 00:05:00.720
50
00:05:00.800 --> 00:05:05.319
51
00:05:05.920 --> 00:05:12.560
52
00:05:14.160 --> 00:05:18.800
53
00:05:18.879 --> 00:05:22.800
54
00:05:23.399 --> 00:05:27.160
55
00:05:27.279 --> 00:05:30.879
56
00:05:30.959 --> 00:05:38.959
57
00:05:39.040 --> 00:05:43.759
58
00:05:44.920 --> 00:05:49.680
59
00:05:49.759 --> 00:05:54.399
60
00:05:55.639 --> 00:06:01.000
61
00:06:01.160 --> 00:06:06.360
62
00:06:06.439 --> 00:06:11.720
63
00:06:11.800 --> 00:06:16.720
64
00:06:16.759 --> 00:06:20.839
65
00:06:22.040 --> 00:06:26.800
66
00:06:28.439 --> 00:06:33.000
67
00:06:33.040 --> 00:06:36.600
68
00:06:37.319 --> 00:06:42.160
69
00:06:42.199 --> 00:06:46.240
70
00:06:46.759 --> 00:06:51.319
71
00:06:51.399 --> 00:06:56.040
72
00:06:57.000 --> 00:07:01.160
73
00:07:01.920 --> 00:07:07.560
74
00:07:08.480 --> 00:07:11.879
75
00:07:11.920 --> 00:07:16.800
76
00:07:16.839 --> 00:07:22.879
77
00:07:23.079 --> 00:07:26.879
78
00:07:28.240 --> 00:07:32.639
79
00:07:32.680 --> 00:07:38.240
80
00:07:38.240 --> 00:07:44.680
81
00:07:44.800 --> 00:07:49.519
82
00:07:49.560 --> 00:07:55.639
83
00:07:55.800 --> 00:08:02.240
84
00:08:02.360 --> 00:08:07.800
85
00:08:07.839 --> 00:08:12.240
86
00:08:13.040 --> 00:08:17.720
87
00:08:18.360 --> 00:08:22.639
88
00:08:22.680 --> 00:08:29.560
89
00:08:30.000 --> 00:08:36.200
90
00:08:36.240 --> 00:08:42.960
91
00:08:43.000 --> 00:08:48.120
92
00:08:48.159 --> 00:08:53.320
93
00:08:53.399 --> 00:08:59.879
94
00:09:00.080 --> 00:09:05.559
95
00:09:06.639 --> 00:09:12.679
96
00:09:12.720 --> 00:09:17.840
97
00:09:17.919 --> 00:09:23.879
98
00:09:24.320 --> 00:09:30.039
99
00:09:31.399 --> 00:09:35.840
100
00:09:35.919 --> 00:09:43.720
101
00:09:43.759 --> 00:09:50.600
102
00:09:51.080 --> 00:09:57.559
103
00:09:57.759 --> 00:10:02.519
104
00:10:02.639 --> 00:10:08.200
105
00:10:08.240 --> 00:10:14.240
106
00:10:14.720 --> 00:10:19.519
107
00:10:20.159 --> 00:10:24.799
108
00:10:24.840 --> 00:10:29.559
109
00:10:29.600 --> 00:10:32.320
110
00:10:32.399 --> 00:10:37.240
111
00:10:37.440 --> 00:10:44.440
112
00:10:44.559 --> 00:10:51.240
113
00:10:52.200 --> 00:10:59.879
114
00:10:59.879 --> 00:11:07.480
115
00:11:07.960 --> 00:11:12.960
116
00:11:13.080 --> 00:11:18.240
117
00:11:18.279 --> 00:11:22.399
118
00:11:23.080 --> 00:11:27.720
119
00:11:27.759 --> 00:11:32.480
120
00:11:32.600 --> 00:11:37.559
121
00:11:37.559 --> 00:11:40.960
122
00:11:41.000 --> 00:11:45.919
123
00:11:45.960 --> 00:11:50.799
124
00:11:51.399 --> 00:11:55.200
125
00:11:56.080 --> 00:12:00.919
126
00:12:02.639 --> 00:12:06.840
127
00:12:06.879 --> 00:12:14.759
128
00:12:15.960 --> 00:12:20.919
129
00:12:20.960 --> 00:12:28.919
130
00:12:29.159 --> 00:12:35.279
131
00:12:35.360 --> 00:12:40.519
132
00:12:40.559 --> 00:12:44.480
133
00:12:45.519 --> 00:12:49.039
134
00:12:49.159 --> 00:12:53.799
135
00:12:54.000 --> 00:12:59.480
136
00:13:00.480 --> 00:13:03.559
137
00:13:03.720 --> 00:13:09.639
138
00:13:09.720 --> 00:13:14.240
139
00:13:14.879 --> 00:13:19.759
140
00:13:19.840 --> 00:13:22.600
141
00:13:23.600 --> 00:13:27.600
142
00:13:28.519 --> 00:13:33.639
143
00:13:34.480 --> 00:13:40.360
144
00:13:40.480 --> 00:13:44.440
145
00:13:44.559 --> 00:13:56.799
146
00:13:56.919 --> 00:14:03.039
147
00:14:03.320 --> 00:14:08.240
148
00:14:08.360 --> 00:14:13.200
149
00:14:13.720 --> 00:14:18.519
150
00:14:19.720 --> 00:14:24.679
151
00:14:25.279 --> 00:14:30.879
152
00:14:31.039 --> 00:14:34.919
153
00:14:35.080 --> 00:14:41.120
154
00:14:41.159 --> 00:14:45.559
155
00:14:46.360 --> 00:14:52.799
156
00:14:53.840 --> 00:14:59.399
157
00:15:00.919 --> 00:15:05.240
158
00:15:05.320 --> 00:15:11.159
159
00:15:11.200 --> 00:15:16.000
160
00:15:16.120 --> 00:15:20.200
161
00:15:20.600 --> 00:15:25.480
162
00:15:25.519 --> 00:15:29.559
163
00:15:29.600 --> 00:15:34.960
164
00:15:35.039 --> 00:15:40.240
165
00:15:40.279 --> 00:15:44.639
166
00:15:44.720 --> 00:15:51.120
167
00:15:51.519 --> 00:15:56.840
168
00:15:56.840 --> 00:16:00.559
169
00:16:01.039 --> 00:16:05.320
170
00:16:05.480 --> 00:16:12.080
171
00:16:12.120 --> 00:16:17.679
172
00:16:17.720 --> 00:16:21.159
173
00:16:21.399 --> 00:16:26.440
174
00:16:26.879 --> 00:16:32.399
175
00:16:32.799 --> 00:16:40.120
176
00:16:41.000 --> 00:16:45.799
177
00:16:45.919 --> 00:16:52.799
178
00:16:52.840 --> 00:16:58.600
179
00:16:58.639 --> 00:17:03.440
180
00:17:03.559 --> 00:17:08.559
181
00:17:08.640 --> 00:17:15.559
182
00:17:15.720 --> 00:17:20.319
183
00:17:20.359 --> 00:17:25.799
184
00:17:25.880 --> 00:17:30.480
185
00:17:30.519 --> 00:17:34.960
186
00:17:35.000 --> 00:17:40.920
187
00:17:41.799 --> 00:17:47.400
188
00:17:47.680 --> 00:17:54.279
189
00:17:54.319 --> 00:17:58.279
190
00:17:59.000 --> 00:18:02.000
191
00:18:02.680 --> 00:18:07.920
192
00:18:08.000 --> 00:18:13.920
193
00:18:13.960 --> 00:18:18.720
194
00:18:18.920 --> 00:18:22.599
195
00:18:22.680 --> 00:18:26.960
196
00:18:27.119 --> 00:18:33.799
197
00:18:34.160 --> 00:18:38.640
198
00:18:38.799 --> 00:18:44.039
199
00:18:44.119 --> 00:18:49.359
200
00:18:49.400 --> 00:18:53.920
201
00:18:54.000 --> 00:18:59.559
202
00:18:59.599 --> 00:19:04.240
203
00:19:04.279 --> 00:19:08.440
204
00:19:08.559 --> 00:19:13.279
205
00:19:13.359 --> 00:19:18.599
206
00:19:18.599 --> 00:19:23.960
207
00:19:24.079 --> 00:19:30.319
208
00:19:30.359 --> 00:19:35.799
209
00:19:35.839 --> 00:19:40.240
210
00:19:40.400 --> 00:19:46.279
211
00:19:46.400 --> 00:19:52.480
212
00:19:52.519 --> 00:19:55.880
213
00:19:56.359 --> 00:20:01.240
214
00:20:01.319 --> 00:20:06.519
215
00:20:07.680 --> 00:20:11.920
216
00:20:12.039 --> 00:20:19.119
217
00:20:19.240 --> 00:20:27.720
218
00:20:27.799 --> 00:20:33.039
219
00:20:33.119 --> 00:20:37.599
220
00:20:37.640 --> 00:20:42.039
221
00:20:42.079 --> 00:20:46.400
222
00:20:46.480 --> 00:20:50.599
223
00:20:50.640 --> 00:20:54.440
224
00:20:54.680 --> 00:20:59.440
225
00:20:59.480 --> 00:21:03.480
226
00:21:03.559 --> 00:21:08.559
227
00:21:08.640 --> 00:21:15.599
228
00:21:22.839 --> 00:21:28.160
229
00:21:28.720 --> 00:21:33.400
230
00:21:33.599 --> 00:21:37.839
231
00:21:38.960 --> 00:21:42.720
232
00:21:42.799 --> 00:21:45.359
233
00:21:45.480 --> 00:21:50.400
234
00:21:50.440 --> 00:21:57.880
235
00:21:58.920 --> 00:22:02.880
236
00:22:03.160 --> 00:22:08.440
237
00:22:08.519 --> 00:22:12.880
238
00:22:12.960 --> 00:22:20.680
239
00:22:21.240 --> 00:22:24.559
240
00:22:24.720 --> 00:22:29.960
241
00:22:31.240 --> 00:22:36.759
242
00:22:36.799 --> 00:22:41.480