Q&A re Hall's Bond & Scott Engle's Testimony

I posted this in response to Bud's comments/questions, and I'm not sure people read the comments, so I thought I'd post the whole thing here.

Bud said:

Iris, Great question and answer section !!!

Here's a few more - 1) how do they determine who is escorted by a dedicated court appointed law enforcement officer? I guess to say it planner, what reaches a level of concern enough to warrant that? 2) Did Scott Engle testify and if so to what? 3) I guess this is kinda a question - why would the judge let someone who's has been shown to be a flight risk, free on bail? Was there any justification for that made any sense? 3) was there any mention of her Instant Messages to JC's little sister or any other members of JC's family? I heard an interview on another post and the comments were twisted and cruel. Can't understand why that stuff wouldn't have been brought out.

And foot note - after reading your last answer about her screen name. I looked it up and it is the name of a horror movie, in the lines of a Friday 13th type series. Really does seen more relevant than some of the other internet stuff.

Do you know what her weekend bail is? Did they ask her to surrender her passports or anything like that? I mean doesn't she seems like a flight risk, she did leave the country in an "on the run" episode.

Thanks Again,
Bud
August 31, 2007 11:39 PM

Iris said...

Hey Bud,

Hall's been out on bond, originally posted at (according to the Daily Texan) $175,000.00 for close to a year now, I think. I don't know if her bond was increased when the "tampering w/evidence" charges were filed against her.

The judge only said, "denied," when DA Bishop requested that Hall's bond be revoked and that she be taken into custody. He didn't ask/say anything about conditions, increased bond, flight risk, passports, etc.

I'm guessing that the reasoning is that if she were going to flee, she would have done it a long time ago, not on Labor Day weekend after she's been convicted & had lots of media scrutiny. That's just my guess.

Nothing about instant messages (IMs) was presented. Once again, I'm making an educated guess here, but IF they're going to come in, it would probably be during the sentencing phase, which begins Tuesday. That's when character witness testimony is usually allowed to be presented for both sides.

If the State had indeed attempted to introduce the alleged IMs during the guilt phase, they may have been overruled on grounds of relevance or on that more-prejudicial-than-probative rule. I wasn't present for any pretrial hearings, so I don't know...

Scott Engle did testify. Here's what I noted on direct exam from the prosecution:
Engle said that Jennifer Cave (JC) dated him (Engle) from around Jan '05 through July '05. In August '05, they were still friends.

Engle said he'd known Pitonyak (CP) since Jan '05 but hadn't seen him at all in Aug '05. On Monday, 8/15/05, Engle called Jennifer (JC) & on Tuesday (8/16/05) they'd talked again & JC was very excited about her new job at a law office, which she was to start the next morning.

On Wed, 8/17/05, around 2 p.m., Sharon Cave (Jennifer's mom) called Engle asking about JC because JC had not shown up to her first day of work. Sharon obtained all the cell phone numbers from JC's phone (because the account was in Sharon's name.) Later that afternoon, Sharon shared all JC's cell numbers with Engle, who identified CP's cell number.

Engle and/or Sharon Cave, (my notes are confusing at this point, sorry) called CP's cell twice, leaving messages that the police were on their way to his (CP's) apartment because they knew JC's car was parked there.

Around 6:30 p.m., CP answered his cell, sounding "jittery", according to Engle. Engle said he did not know Laura Hall.

Upon Sawyer's cross exam, Engle said that JC was not attracted to CP but wanted to help CP as a friend--she always wanted to help people. Engle also admitted that JC had said that CP had once held a knife to her throat.

Sawyer asks Engle if he thought CP was a mean guy? Engle says, "no, but maybe under the influence..."

--Iris
September 1, 2007 4:55 PM