Murder suspect Elijah Hall was scheduled to be sentenced this morning. Instead, SeattlePI.com reports he dismissed his attorney and wants to withdraw his guilty plea.
Back in November, 17-year-old Hall pleaded guilty to last summer’s killing of convenience store clerk Manish Melwani. Melwani’s family was in the courtroom today, upset by Hall’s move. “I don’t know why he is doing this,” Melwani’s sister said, according to SeattlePI.com. The online site says the state plans to object the withdrawal. The site states that “Hall would have to show his guilty plea would result in a manifest injustice. As Hall had until Friday been represented by veteran defense attorney Tony Savage — former counsel to Green River Killer Gary Ridgway — a showing of failed assistance from his attorney may prove difficult.” A hearing on the matter will be scheduled once he’s assigned a new attorney. (Thanks Angelatini!)
Murder suspect wants to withdraw plea
![](https://www.myballard.com/wp-content/uploads/2024-My-Ballard-Tile-Ad-Troop-100.png")
Let me rewrite the headline: Dimwitted D-Bag Desires Do-over
He got what he's entitled too — the right to ask. But the judge is gonna say no.
Bad luck in prison Eli.
I wish they would stop putting this gross punks picture on the front page. Makes me want to puke.
Might be a little difficult to prove Tony Savage is incompetent since he got Ridgeway out of the death penalty. (Norm Maleng's real legacy)
Boy, this kid sure doesn't believe in much of anything. Guess we can thank his mother for his strong sense of personal responsibility, accountability and morality.
If he tries this stunt, can the judge add years to his sentence? If he gets out before he's 60, it would totally unjust to Melwani's family.
“he robbed the store was because he was broke and needed money,”
Poor kid, he probably had too much pride to get on welfare….
l-o-s-e-r-! and a stupid one at that. but this is the kid that ran back to a house blocks away from the scene. fitting….
He's probably getting advice from all the jail house lawyers.
ugh…yeah yeah he's within his rights. what a waste a tax dollars A, and B, why drag this out for the poor surviving family members.
i'm starting to dislik ethis kid.
Do you ever watch 'The First 48'? Most of these guys are dumber than rocks.
Did he ever say why he shot Manish in the first place, during the trial?
There has not been a trial. His attorney negotiated a plea bargain with the prosecutor's office in which he would get a 23 year sentence recommendation in exchange fora guilty plea (and no trial.)
The best outcome in my book now, is for the judge to let him withdraw his guilty plea, and let him go to trial where he will hopefully be found guilty of both the murder and the enhancements (using a gun, robbery, his prior robberies, etc.) and he gets sentenced to Life in prison.
He's a scumbag who's now rolling the dice against the system hoping for sympathy from a judge or jury.
” hoping for sympathy from a judge or jury”
In Seattle? That won't be hard.
*Starting* to dislike?
It sounds like the reality of the situation is finally settling in on this kid which is ironically making him act in such a way as to only increase his sentence.
Then again, this could be just a ploy to try to negotiate a little bit more before he is sentenced. Either way he will still wind up in prison for quite some time.
I'm no lawyer so this is all pure speculation.
And that's why they are criminals. (I like that name, Fred)
He's doing it to inflict more pain on the victim's family.
Let him withdraw his plea.
He goes to trial and gets life.
He really should get the death penalty.
However, I don't think he'll last too long in prison.
Death, really? For a 17 year old playing gangster who leg and gut (not head or chest) shoots a store clerk who attempts to tackle him and is shot during the physical skirmish?
Don't think of this is excuse making — if you know me you know I'm kind of a harsh guy interested in accountability. I don't oppose the death penalty in theory or in perfectly clear cases (but as it's been practiced — killing Black people almost 3-1 in Texas over Whites who've committed analogous crimes; ridiculously high rates of executed “criminals” exonorated post-mortem by DNA, etc — we definitely need to pump the brakes …).
Scaled against preceding sentences for other murders, manslaughters and negligent deaths this one feels like 30 years to me, out for his 40th birthday if he is a model prisoner, comes to god in a big way (I don't believe but if authentic it prevents recidivism), learns to be a master of a useful trade, and pays a fund to help the victim's family (if they choose). Hopefully he has a hell of a lot of unhappiness foist on him in the process too.
Maybe though you think if a person causes a death (by gun, knife, car, fist, shove near the stairs, etc) they then die? This one sounds good on a biblical bumper sticker but is an obvious slippery slope and has never been practiced in real life without widespread and terrible injustice (think Saudi Aradia, etc).
Or maybe you intend something more nuanced? Like “gun + store + intent to rob + someone dies from your bullet = death penalty no matter the circumstances?” Sounds even better, but life is messy and I prefer to let guidelined-people (juries, judges) do *some* sorting rather than accepting that anomolous cases will suffer gross injustice because even well intentioned, detailed rules can't reasonably apply to all situations.
Okay I'm taking my soapbox and going home :)
There's always someone willing to excuse a killer. I love your first line, “Don't think of this is excuse making”. Sorry guy, you're making an excuse. If you bring a loaded gun to commit a crime it's reasonable to think you intend to use it. And the suggestion that the clerk is somehow responsible because he tried to tackle him? Give me a frigging break. That is like saying a rape victim is responsible because she wore a short dress. I hope he's raped to death in prison.
I said the guy should get 30 years in prison and serve at least 23, and only then if he is a perfect model of reform. This means I'm excusing him?
Because I'm not jumping up and down like an ape shrieking for the death penalty I'm letting him off the hook?
Because I'm noting that there are differences between the egregiousness of murders and murderers (this guy is clearly a murderer and should be accountable; he's not that pig farmer in BC grinding whores by the dozen into slop) I'm a quaking, pusilanimous liberal crime lover?
Balderdash.
Go ahead and try a complicated thought some time, k precious?
In this case, the death penalty is perfect. When violent inmates leave prison they are worse than when they entered. Nothing gets corrected.
K precious?
What a douche
Hanging from a utility pole at 15th NW and Market St. would be appropriate. Give the crows something to snack on.
This kid was lost and “a goner” long before he pulled the trigger. He was probably failed by his family, his neighbors, his friends, his school, his community. My hunch is that he will do something similar again, no matter how long he spends behind bars. He has formally launched his “career” and our prison rehabilitation programs will help him advance. .
Miracles do happen, occasionally. We can hope for that. All of it, the death, the legal games, the suffering in prison, is so completely unnecessary…
Wow you yap a lot.
He killed a man in the course of robbing him.
If found guilty he's a prime candidate for the death penalty.
All the rest is useless static.
A murderer is a murderer is a murderer. Whether he commits one or a dozen or a dozen dozen is not material. Those poor young ladies slaughtered by that pig farmer in BC were no less nor no more precious than the young man gunned down in Ballard in cold blood.
You'd have fit in just fine with Mengele on the that platform at Auchwitz there, Precious!
But if you wish:
The 775 killers who were executed in the United States between 1998 and 2008 had murdered at least 1591 people. That is an average of 2 victims per executed killer.
They earned their punishment.
And for the record, the probability of any of those 775 reoffending: a solid 0%.
yes baby girl, clearly I'm a Nazi war criminal because I think, as most intelligent, civilized people do, that in legal cases we ought to draw distinctions between acts that have the same results.
As I said before I don't oppose the death penalty and don't feel sorry for people who deserve it.
This kid is a complete POS. He doesn't deserve the death penalty, no matter how much you want you and your buddies at Fox News set him up for a date with sparky. Americans save that for the sick animal freaks whose living presence is simply intolerable.
If you want every criminal in front of a firing squad you'd better move to the Middle East. Say hi to your boy Osama.
not to be all like the morons on the other side, but there are social causes for everything bad thing that happens. 99% of people with this kid's same exact set of influences, with the same set of support systems failing them, however, would not have done what he did. He is totally and solely responsible for his action regardless of his background.
Hopefully he stays in jail long enough for the testosterone to fade — young men murder; old men don't.
I totally agree with you that the suffering all around is unneccesary. But only one party doesn't deserve it.
A lot more people are killed by people who run red lights, yet we don't have the death penalty for running a red light.