Fulton County murder conviction upheld

The Georgia Supreme Court on Monday upheld the murder conviction against a man who said he killed a travel agent in his Buckhead condo because he had made unwanted sexual advances.

Joseph Hall Jr. had claimed that when David Cook tried to force him to have sex at his condo in April 2002, Hall stabbed him more than 20 times because he was in a trance triggered by childhood memories of seeing his father stab his mother to death, the ruling said. According to trial testimony, Hall, then 18, and his co-defendant Edward McCloud, met Cook and then went to his condo where Cook and McCloud engaged in sex. Hall said he then shunned Cook's advances.

The court's ruling noted that Cook had been hogtied with a telephone cord and a yellow shirt and that a pillow case had been put over his head. Prosecutors said robbery was the motive and that Hall and McCloud, whose murder conviction was upheld in 2008, stole Cook's car and his credit cards.

About the Author

Editors' Picks