Gunman sentenced to life after 1-year virus delay
More than a year after a Franklin County jury convicted him of fatally shooting a friend, Marton D. Hall was sentenced Monday to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Hall, 26, has been awaiting sentencing in the county jail since March 9, 2020, when he was found guilty of aggravated murder in the death of 29-year-old Tayvon Peterson. The delay was the result of his lawyer's health concerns about COVID-19.
Common Pleas Judge Michael J. Holbrook, who could have opted for a life sentence with parole eligibility after as few as 23 years, instead imposed the maximum sentence.
Percy Squire, a 70-year-old defense attorney, requested several continuances of the case over the past year, writing that it was “medically ill-advised” for him to visit his client in the county jail, calling it “a COVID hotspot.”
Earlier this month, Squire filed his final continuance request, noting that he was scheduled to receive his second dose of the coronavirus vaccine on March 11 and would have enough immunity to the virus to visit his client and prepare for the sentencing hearing after March 25.
In mid-march 2020, after the state declared a medical emergency due to the pandemic, the Franklin County courts, prosecutors, public defenders and law enforcement began trying to reduce the jail population amid worries about an outbreak among inmates and staff.
By mid-april, 25 deputies assigned to the jail and four inmates had tested positive.
In his motions for continuances, Squire cited his age and medical conditions that made him at high risk for complications if he contracted the disease.
Hall had hoped for a self-defense claim at his trial, but Holbrook ruled that the evidence didn't support that defense.
Hall told Columbus police officers that he feared for his life when he fired 14 rounds from his 9 mm handgun at Peterson, a friend who had become combative while visiting Hall's Northeast Side apartment, on March 24, 2019.
In a follow-up interview with police, Hall admitted that he then took the .40caliber handgun that he said Peterson had been holding when he collapsed, and used it to fire one more shot at Peterson.
Evidence showed that one of the 9 mm shots struck the victim in the back of his head and another in the back of his right shoulder. jfutty@dispatch.com @johnfutty