Top Stories of 2022: No. 5 - Megan Hall pleads guilty, gets 25 years in Pottsville jeweler's slaying
Dec. 31—Megan E. Hall, charged in the Feb. 28, 2019, killing of Pottsville jeweler Patrick J. Murphy in New Orleans, was sentenced to 25 years in prison for the crime after pleading guilty in July to manslaughter, armed robbery and obstruction of justice.
Hall, 29, is currently at the Louisiana Transitional Center for Women in Tallulah, Louisiana.
The sentence was concurrent on all charges, with all but 10 years "suspended," meaning she won't serve the final 15 years unless they are reimposed by a judge, depending on Hall's behavior.
She also gets credit for time served, meaning she has less than seven years remaining to serve.
Hall has been in prison since March 3, 2019. She was previously incarcerated at the New Orleans Parish Prison.
A second-degree murder count was amended to the manslaughter charge.
Had she been convicted of second-degree murder, Hall faced a mandatory life sentence with no opportunity for parole. A conviction for armed robbery has a sentence of 10 to 99 years in state prison, and a sentence for obstruction calls for up to 40 years.
Police said Hall stabbed Murphy, 62, in the neck and abdomen at the Empress Hotel in the Treme section of New Orleans after arriving together at 2:10 a.m. Murphy had been visiting the city with his wife.
Hall left the room at 3:42 a.m. with some of Murphy's possessions, police said. His body was found at 11:41 a.m.
Murphy's family urged the district attorney's office to negotiate a plea deal with Hall to avoid the trauma of reliving their loss.
Hall, meanwhile, is being prosecuted in a separate case. On May 10, she entered a plea of not guilty to a sexual battery charge stemming from a Jan. 31 incident in the Orleans Parish Justice Center.
Court records allege that Hall and a fellow inmate held down a third female inmate, allowing another inmate to sexually assault the victim. Hall denies she took part, records show.
A pretrial conference is set for Jan. 6.
Contact the writer: amarchiano@republicanherald.com; 570-628-6023
