Walt Stephens/Bob Hall episode

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/alt.true-crime/Yy5qi6jKSRI

This was all I could find so far on the case. It's down about the middle of the page

August 15, 1999
Many rally behind suspect in property-dispute killing
By DAN WHITE
Santa Cruz Sentinel staff writer
LOMPICO - Walter Stephens' neighbors say they aren't the least bit scared of him. In fact,
they say, he could baby-sit their kids anytime.

It doesn't matter to them that the 29-year-old machinist is accused of bludgeoning his
neighbor over a property dispute, then burning the neighbor's body in a backyard trash
heap.

Nor does it matter to them that his victim, 45-year-old Bob Hall, seems to have been
hard-working and well-liked at his job with the Santa Clara County Health Department.

Several of these neighbors plan to support Stephens during his October jury trial, a court
case in which Stephens could lose his freedom and Hall his reputation.

If Stephens did kill Hall - and there is little question that he did - his strongest
supporters have said, in court papers, that there must have been a good reason for the
killing or that Stephens acted in self-defense.

Six months after the Nov. 20 slaying, some friends threw Stephens a welcome-back party.

"We celebrated Walt's release on bail!" wrote one neighbor, Salle Weber, in a letter to
Judge Samuel Stevens in April. "We had a dinner party, invited several neighbors and all
my children, who have been very distraught at Walt's predicament."

She said it would be a "waste of local resources to lock him up again."

A battle over reputations

At least five of Stephens' friends, including several in Lompico, have hailed Stephens'
sociable, helpful character in court documents while describing Hall as a mentally
unstable recluse and bully who was calm one moment and "popped" the next.

That is an assessment that angers Hall's relatives, who say the defense is trying to use
character assassination to get reduced charges for Stephens.

"I've heard these people characterize Bob in a way that I never knew him," said his
cousin, Joan Clements of Scotts Valley, who described Hall as a "family man" among his
relatives. She said the portrayals are inaccurate "but who would know that aside from us?
They'll say Walter was an Eagle Scout, so who's going to speak for Bob?"

Clements said she's gone to every court hearing. "I'm not allowed to say a single thing,"
she said. " But I am there for the satisfaction that someone is there to represent Bob."

The trial will focus on two seemingly ordinary men fighting over a sliver of property in
the isolated, redwood-lined community of Lompico, set in the hills above Felton. Both men
lived on a long, twisting street where well-kept properties stand side-by-side with
ramshackle homes.

Some details of the homicide have not surfaced publicly. The killing took place somewhere
on one of the two men's properties but not in Stephens' back yard, where the body was
found.

The coroner's report maintains Hall was killed by multiple blunt traumas to the head. Hall
's body also had a gunshot wound. According to a coroner's statement in court records, the
shot was inflicted after Hall was dead.

After his arrest, Stephens pleaded innocent to a murder charge. He has made no public
statement regarding his guilt or innocence in this case.

Stephens declined to comment about the case and his lawyer, flamboyant San Franciscan Tony
Serra, has not returned several phone calls to comment.

The defense takes shape

Court files show Stephens' previous lawyer, Benjamin Rice, had compiled a stack of letters
asserting that Stephens would never have provoked a violent altercation with Hall.

Rice said Stephens' guilt is not an issue. But he also has stated that if Hall provoked
Stephens, it would either "excuse any killing altogether through self-defense," or reduce
the offense to manslaughter.

"While we do not know the details on his case, we are absolutely sure that whatever he did
was completely justified under the circumstances," wrote H. Kirk and Marilyn Kellogg of
Los Altos in a letter compiled by Rice as part of his case.

Rice said in legal papers that Hall was on prescription medication for depression, had
liver disease, was fired from the job he had held with the state for 10 years, and had
"deteriorating relationships with his neighbors" dating as far back as 1996.

Rice successfully used a similar argument in the 1997 David Turturici case, involving a
road-rage killing in Capitola.

The unarmed shooting victim, Rick Foster, was described in neighbors' statements as
unbalanced and enraged, an assessment that angered Foster's family. In that case, like the
Stephens-Hall case, there were no witnesses, so the testimony of an accused killer weighed
heavily on the proceedings.

The jury hung in favor of a murder acquittal, and Turturici pleaded guilty to
manslaughter. He got a year in jail, and the victim's family later was awarded more than
$1 million in a wrongful death suit.

Rice said his replacement would have no logical reason to change his basic argument: that
Stephens is a good, even-tempered man, and that Hall had some "very serious problems."

Lompico draws a mix

Stephens and Hall lived in a place where nature lovers, young families and the occasional
misfit can still find freedom. Silicon Valley commuters have moved in. But methamphetamine
lab busts still happen from time to time. A few of the houses have dusty cars on cinder
blocks, piles of toys and junk outside.

Both men took pride in their properties. Stephens was an active member of the private
Upper Lompico Road Maintenance Association, even taking a day off from his job to fill in
potholes with a rented backhoe.

Most everyone on the block had some interaction with him. They say he was always in a good
mood and willing to make repairs, or pull a stranded car out of the mud.

Hall was not part of the road association. Divorced, with no children, he often worked
long hours on his computer, compiling a detailed family history for his relatives dating
to the 1700s.

These two men would have no reason to know each other at all if not for the disputed land.
Hall once told his cousin that Stephens was probably a nice man, "but we just got off on
the wrong foot."

Stephens said the strip of asphalt leading across his property was a private driveway.
Hall, citing maps of an old subdivision called Happyland, swore it was a public road. He
wanted to use the so-called "Lilac Road" to gain access to a piece of his property.

That disagreement seems to have touched off the tragedy, which has left a mixture of
sadness and bitterness in its wake.

Sitting in her Scotts Valley home, Hall's cousin, Clements, said Hall did not drink or go
to parties in the area. His job required he wear a uniform.

"People who live there are non-conformists," Clements said. "To them, Bob represented the
establishment."

She never visited him in Lompico or witnessed his neighborhood interactions. But Hall
tried to lessen the conflict with Stephens by having his property resurveyed, and asking
Stephens to do the same, Clements said.

"We're not all lily-white and pure," she said. "Maybe Bob did some things that provoked
neighbors. There's not one of us walking around that hasn't done something like that. But
not enough to be killed over."

Hall well-liked by co-workers

Hall's co-workers described him as good-humored and dedicated.

"He worked in all six of our regional offices and they universally loved him," said Karen
Smith, Hall's supervisor at the Santa Clara County Health Department. Hall served as a
tuberculosis control officer and communicable disease investigator for Santa Clara County.

"He had the necessary compassion to actually go out to (TB patients') homes and talk to
them."

Santa Cruz County Assistant Prosecutor Ariadne Symons, who will be prosecuting the case,
argues that the past year has given Stephens ample opportunity to invent stories about
what really happened with Hall.

"My question is, whatever it is that happened, why didn't (Stephens) tell the police, if
it's an innocent situation?" she said. "An innocent person would have dialed 911 and said
a terrible thing just happened."

"And if he's telling the truth, why'd he change lawyers?" she said, citing the fact that
Stephens is now on his third defense attorney.

She also criticized the neighbor hood's welcome-back party after Stephens bailed out.

"Whatever actions led up to this, (Stephens') actions should scare the pants off of those
people."

Neighbors waiting to see facts

Clearly, Lompico residents have mixed views on the case. While many support Stephens,
there also are many who say they need to see all the facts before coming to any
conclusions about Stephens.

"I'm holding up judgment," a neighbor, Dan Wilson, said. "They're both nice guys. Walter
was just more involved in the community than Bob was."

"All of us of course feel a quandary," neighbor Kevin Collins said. "All I can say is
people who knew (Stephens) continue to be friendly with him. We don't feel afraid of him.
We also understood the slow-building nature of his relationship with (Hall)."

Last week, it was easy enough to track down Stephens. He partially covered his face when a
photographer approached. Other than that, he did not seem the least bit bothered by the
visitors.

Stephens, wearing jeans, work shoes and a T-shirt, said he was doing some repairs on his
property. He would not say if he still lived in Lompico full time. But lately he's been
blocking his driveway with plastic roadwork cones.

"I can't talk for legal reasons," he said, smiling and throwing up his hands. "I'd be glad
to talk to you after (the jury trial)."

The Stephens-Hall tragedy took place in a small community where neighborhood cooperation
is critical, and not just because of the isolation. The sloping terrain ensures runoff
from one property is sure to wind up in another's yard.

For these reasons, along with old and often disputed property maps, land boundaries can be
hard to define, causing friction.

"In my life, I've seen how intense disagreements between neighbors can become," Collins,
the neighbor, said. "But I try to walk away from it."

Collins, who served with Stephens on the road association, said he did not realize how
complicated and intense the Hall-Stephens conflict was getting.

"(Stephens) was talking, laughing, saying 'Can you believe he's doing this?'" Collins
said. "We didn't realize how worked up he must have been getting. I felt like I should
have read between the lines."

Divided by a road

Hall lived in the Lompico neighborhood on and off since 1988. He owned a small four-room
home with a garage on nearly one acre.

Stephens, who bought property there in the mid-1990s, is a relative newcomer, occupying a
two-bedroom home on a half-acre perched above the road.

The property, a former "fixer upper," is now meticulously maintained. It sits near where
pavement gives way to a private dirt road leading to upper Lompico. The burned area where
Hall's body was found is still plainly visible, just a few steps from the driveway.

The two men had a few things in common. Both had fairly recent job changes, were single
and commuted over the hill for work.

But Lilac Road, a street that exists at least on paper, divided them.

Lilac Road is part of the so-called Happyland subdivision. According to Lompico lore, the
lots were offered as door prizes, and given out as gifts to promote the Call-Bulletin, a
now-defunct San Francisco newspaper.

But some Lompico residents don't take the map seriously because the lots were drawn on a
flat grid, although Lompico's land is precariously steep. Its 500 tiny parcels - 25 feet
wide and 100 feet deep - were never developed.

"Happyland is tragically misnamed," Wilson, a neighbor, said.

Zayante Fire Chief Ken Boynton spoke with Hall about the debated subdivision.

"Someone obviously drew all those streets with a ruler, even though it's all at a
45-degree angle and you can't even stand on it without hanging onto the poison oak
bushes," Boynton said.

The Happyland map has led to plenty of minor heartbreaks over the years, as land investors
show up in Lompico and realize the lots made little sense.

But it's never been a factor in something that got so ugly and out-of-control.

"Property disputes are very very common but usually they just end up in court," Boynton
said.

Rice, Stephens' first defense attorney, cited a case last year where Hall had an alleged
conflict with Stephen's tenant, Susan Friedrich, who called sheriff's deputies Aug. 3,
1998.

According to court papers, Friedrich said Hall angrily demanded she move a car from the
disputed driveway. A deputy responded, and Hall left the property.

The driveway also played a major role in the notorious "backhoe incident" of last Aug. 28.

An earlier confrontation

According to court papers, Hall installed a culvert in a drainage ditch that ran to the
side of Stephens' driveway. Stephens got a backhoe to remove it on at least three
occasions.

What happened next is open to dispute. Hall told deputies, co-workers, friends and family
that Stephens came at him that last week of August with the backhoe, scooping him up and
dropping him about five feet, landing him flat on his back.

Hall's cousin, Joan Clements, said Hall was in shock and clearly in pain when she picked
him up at Dominican Hospital in Santa Cruz. "He had to have physical therapy," she said.

Rice said it was Hall who jumped in front of the backhoe and hung on to the bucket, trying
to stop Stephens.

Hall later sued Stephens over the incident, citing intentional injuries and negligence.
The complaint was filed Oct. 26, and served to Hall Nov. 15.

Five days later, Hall's co-workers at the Santa Clara County Health Department called
sheriff's deputies, wondering why Hall hadn't shown up to his last day of work; Hall and
his co-workers had planned a get-together at a Mexican restaurant.

Hall had given notice to quit the county job so he could work for the Santa Cruz Water
District. The Highway 17 commute was wearing him out, friends said.

Deputies arrived in Lompico to find a log burning in Hall's fireplace, the TV on and the
door wide open.

They knocked on Stephens' door and became suspicious when he broke off questioning to tend
a fire. After walking with him to his back yard, they saw a couch burning. Taking a closer
look, a deputy thought he saw a human arm sticking out from under the couch.

Deputy Steve Watson reported that he drew his gun, pointed it at Stephens and said, "I'm
sorry if I'm wrong about what I think I saw, but let me see your hands."

"Before you go any further, it is what you think it is," Stephens reportedly replied. At
that point, he was placed in handcuffs.

Now there is nothing left for the community to do but wait.

And now, as much as neighbors speak about withholding judgment, both of these neighbors
have been judged, at least to some extent.

Hall has faced the accusations of Stephens' friends. And Stephens faces the anger of Hall'
s family.

Joan Clements said she's bracing herself for "nastiness" in October.

At breaks in court proceedings, "I overhear (Stephens) talking about planning his
vacations," she said. "I think it's disgraceful. He's walking around, enjoying his freedom
and his life when Bob can't."

It was, and all for what was likely a partially paved fire access road. But then again you never know with Santa Cruz.

I think I said something about the snow as well in an earlier post. I grew up in Capitola and thought while watching the episode when the hell has ever really snowed in Felton. I know it can get kind of icy in the winter but it never snowed like that.