
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 3, 1991                   TAG: 9104030564
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-3   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Short

APPEALS COURT UPHOLDS MURDER CONVICTION

The Virginia Court of Appeals has upheld the murder and robbery convictions of Dock Hall Jr. for the Christmas Eve 1987 slaying of a gasoline station manager that netted the robbers $50.

The appeals court ruled Tuesday that a Lynchburg judge erred during Hall's murder trial by admitting testimony from a prosecution witness whose recollection had been altered by hypnosis. But the three-judge panel said the error by Judge William Sweeney was harmless.

The court held that the mere fact a witness has been hypnotized does not make the witness incompetent to testify - provided the testimony concerns facts the witness recalled before hypnosis.

James Angel, a Lynchburg lawyer representing Hall, said he would appeal the ruling to the Virginia Supreme Court.

- Associated Press

by CNB