Murder defendant is out on bond

BOISE - A southwestern Idaho man charged with first-degree murder but who was released on $1 million bond has been fitted with an electronic monitoring bracelet and been placed under other restrictions.

Robert Dean Hall, 42, appeared Friday in 4th District Court where he was also instructed to have no contact with his wife, Kandi Hall, who police say is a witness.

Judge James Cawthon also ordered that Hall have no contact with the widow of the man police say he shot and killed, that he not leave Ada County, and that he report to the Ada County Sheriff's office daily.

Police said Hall, who lives in Meridian, shot and killed 30-year-old Emmett Corrigan, his wife's boss, outside a Walgreens store on March 11.

Prosecutors last month didn't ask for restrictions on Hall because he couldn't afford his own attorney and was appointed a public defender, meaning the $1 million bond would likely keep Hall in jail.

But he was released a few days later after posting the money, causing Cawthon to question the mechanics of the transaction.

"The court is curious as to how it is that Mr. Hall has a public defender appointed, yet has the financial ability to put up what must be a substantial amount of money to post a $1 million bond," said Cawthon.

Deputy Attorney General Melissa Moody said that, through recorded phone calls, prosecutors learned that Hall's mother would pay $20,000 to Aladdin Bail Bonds, with up to another $60,000 in additional payments. Bail bond companies typically pay the full bond at a cost to their clients of 10 percent of the bond.

"If I thought that an indigent person would have been able to post a million dollar bond then I would have asked for conditions," said Moody.

The state Attorney General's Office is prosecuting the case because Hall worked for the county.

Hall's attorney, Ed Odessey, said Hall and his wife were no longer employed, had no income, and the bond was paid by family and friends.

Moody said in court that Kandi Hall and Corrigan, an attorney, were at a legal office on the day Corrigan died so that Kandi Hall could get information about getting a divorce from her husband and a protection order.

Moody also said Robert Hall was in the process of moving out of the couple's Meridian home.

Also, one of Kandi Hall's co-workers told investigators that Robert Hall in the past had hit his wife, giving her bruises.

Police say that on the day of the shooting, Kandi Hall met Corrigan in the parking lot at Walgreens around 10 p.m. Prosecutors say Robert Hall was armed and waiting for them when a confrontation broke out. Police said Corrigan was shot in the head and chest.