Orange County

Man found guilty in estranged wife’s beating death inside Pine Hills home, gets life sentence

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — An Orange County jury Monday found a man guilty of first-degree murder in connection with the beating death of his estranged wife inside her Pine Hills home.

The judge immediately sent the man, Tommy Hall Sr., to life in prison.

It’s been two and a half years since prosecutors said Hall beat Christa Hall to death while she slept.

The jury also concluded that Hall used a weapon.

First, the jury requested a list of all the exhibits presented, which the judge allowed. They then asked for the transcript of an interview with the girlfriend of Tommy Hall.

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Tommy Hall showed no expression while prosecutors described the fatal beating of his 30-year-old estranged wife inside of her Kathy Jo Terrace home in September 2017.

Prosecutors said Hall's DNA was detected on plastic finger coverings found at the scene.

Orange County deputies arrested him in March 2018, nearly six months after they say he killed Christa Hall with her three young children in the home, leaving them to find her the next morning.

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Evidence photos also show investigators noting blood throughout Christa Hall's bedroom, in some spots, as high as the door frame.

In an interview Tommy Hall gave detectives just hours after her body was discovered, he said both he and Christa Hall had been seeing other people, but he was OK with it.

Investigators pointed to text messages they say depict Tommy Hall as a jealous ex, after learning of Christa Hall’s new boyfriend. But the defense said there are simply too many large gaps in the evidence to connect Tommy Hall, or even those fingers coverings, to the crime.

Christopher Boyce, WFTV.com

Christopher Boyce joined WFTV in January of 2019.

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