Former Emporian sentenced to life in 18-year-old’s death
The Associated Press
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
OLATHE — After emotional testimony in a courtroom packed with the family and friends of his victim, a suburban Kansas City man was sentenced Tuesday to life in prison for the 2007 kidnapping, rape and murder of 18-year-old Kelsey Smith.
Edwin R. Hall, 27, of Olathe, pleaded guilty in July to capital murder to avoid the death penalty. Hall was raised in Emporia by an adoptive family.
Hall spoke briefly after Johnson County District Judge Peter V. Ruddick sentenced him to life without parole and about 47 concurrent years for aggravated kidnapping, rape and aggravated sodomy.
“I can’t find the right words to say today,” Hall said through tears. “I am so sorry for what I have done. That’s it. That’s all I can say.”
Smith was abducted in June 2007 from the parking lot of a Target store in Overland Park. Her body was found four days later about 15 miles away in a Missouri park.
Most of the dozens of people in the courtroom were wearing light blue T-shirts with “Kelsey’s Army” printed in white on the front. Her three sisters and younger brother and her parents all gave emotional testimonials before the sentencing. They also showed a video of Kelsey from when she was a baby until her high school graduation the month before she was killed.
“Hall should not be able to see his child again since we cannot see ours,” Kelsey Smith’s mother, Missey Smith, said in court. “But if there were true justice we would be able to bring Kelsey home.”
Before the sentencing, defense attorney Paul Cramm told the judge about Hall’s very difficult childhood and showed him a drawing Hall had done when he was a child. Cramm said the drawing was two stick figures, one of Hall and one of an uncle who abused him.
“My client had been sexually abused before the age of 6 more times than you can count on your hands. These were his blood relatives. It happened over and over again,” he said.
“There is no excuse for what happened to Kelsey Smith,” Cramm said. “But it is an explanation for how his life spun so terribly out of control on June 2, 2007.”
Cramm was the only person to speak on behalf of Hall, whose wife, Aletha Hall, sat behind him in court. She appeared distressed at times, but did not comment.
But in her tearful testimonial, Missey Smith dismissed Cramm’s pleas on Hall’s behalf and said she, too, had been the victim of abuse.
“I know what it’s like to grow up with alcoholic parents. I know what it’s like to grow up in an abusive home. I know what it’s like to grow up in a single parent household that is so poor you receive public assistance and go without electricity.
“I know what it’s like to be molested as a child. I know what it is like to a victim of rape. I know what it’s like to be a teen mother,” Missey Smith said.
“But I also know that life is about choices. When does one have to take responsibility for their own life?”
Greg Smith, Kelsey Smith’s father, choked back tears as he remembered his daughter and took aim at defense attorney Cramm, “whose antics made a mockery of the system.”
On the Net:
The Kelsey Smith Foundation Inc.: www.kelseysarmy.com
Happiness08 (anonymous) says...
My deepest sympathy to Kelsey's family. I too have lost a child and a grandchild and know how painful it is. I want to say though that I think Edwin Hall's uncle should be in prison for the rest of his life right along with him. There is never an acceptable excuse for rape and murder in any circumstance. If you do some research you will find that any serial rapist or murderer was horribly abused as a child. When the victims of this abuse grow up they then make someone else their victim. What a tragedy for everyone involved.
September 18, 2008 at 8:20 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )