HOT SPRINGS -- A homeless man was sentenced Monday to 50 years in prison without the possibility of parole after being convicted in Garland County Circuit Court of second-degree sexual assault involving an 8-year-old girl in 2013.
Neil Allen Hall, 46, was, at the time of his arrest, on parole from a 1990 conviction for rape and kidnapping in Polk County regarding an 11-year-old victim. Hall is classified as a habitual offender, which increased the punishment range of the crime from a maximum of 20 years to a range of 30 to 60 years.
After one day of testimony Monday, the 12 jurors deliberated for about 45 minutes before finding Hall guilty.
According to an affidavit, Hot Springs police officer Randy Rodgers responded shortly after 5 p.m. April 9, 2013, to the Goodwill Store at 631 E. Grand Ave. to investigate a reported sexual offense.
A witness in the store said she had seen a man with his hand on the victim's bottom and saw him lean in and say something to the girl, but she could not hear what was said, according to the affidavit. She later identified Hall as the man she had seen.
Deputy prosecutor Kara Petro said the victim, now 12, testified Monday. She said the girl had been riding around the store on one of the bicycles offered for sale when her father admonished her to stop. She then walked over to one of the mirrors in the store. That was where Hall grabbed her from behind, Petro said.
"She screamed and started crying. She broke away from him and ran under a coat rack and then ran to her mother" Petro said.
She said numerous other patrons heard the victim scream and saw Hall "put on his sunglasses and start booking it toward the door." Hall fled the store and ran into the woods behind the building, where he was apprehended by police.
Petro said that when Hall was arrested he had "a pocket full of candy."
Petro said Hall testified and claimed he had only been consoling the victim after her father "yelled at her" and that he only touched her back.
State Desk on 11/04/2017