Jeff Hall Murder: 10-Year-Old Killer Says Neo-Nazi Dad Beat Him and Stepmom, Allowed Family to Live in Piss-Stained Filth

The New York Times

Hall at his house, hours before the fatal nap

It's hard not to feel for the Riverside 10-year-old currently on trial for killing his father, National Socialist Movement leader Jeff Hall, last month. Sure, the kid was ruthless -- allegedly walking up to his father on the couch with a handgun he'd been keeping under his bed and, while Hall was sleeping, putting a single fatal bullet into the man's chest cavity. But new courtroom details on the kid's living conditions -- and those of his four young brothers and sisters, even his stepmom -- describe a screaming hellhole of a home, stained in urine and the constant fear of physical abuse from the heavyset 32-year-old skinhead.

The Los Angeles Times reads off court documents:

The Riverside boy facing charges in the case said during an interview with detectives that "he was tired of his dad hitting him and his mom," according to an arrest warrant declaration filed Tuesday in Riverside County Superior Court.

"He thought his dad was cheating on his mom and thought he might have to choose which person he would live with," according to the affidavit filed by an investigator.

Detectives described the home of the victim, Jeffrey R. Hall, as filthy, with dirty clothing strewn on floors throughout the house and bedrooms smelling like urine. Empty beer bottles were found downstairs, as was a National Socialist Movement flag hanging in the living room, they said.

For that, the boy's stepmom, 26-year-old KristaMcCary, is accused of child endangerment. She's also charged with "failure to properly store a firearm," as the 10-year-old had reportedly grabbed the family handgun -- a Rossi .357 revolver -- from an upstairs closet. Today, he tells authorities he then hid the weapon under his bed.

The alleged killer is up for an examination of his mental health, but we doubt that's because anyone thinks he's lying. His account of the events leading up to his crime are damn believable, given his dad's despicable affiliations and the following account from his stepmom:

McCary told detectives that her stepson "knew how to shoot guns" and that her husband took the 10-year-old target-shooting while the two were patrolling the Mexican border with the National Socialist Movement, a neo-Nazi group, according to the declaration. Hall was the leader of the group in the western United States.

So sick. If this is what Hall's fellow NSM leaders meant when they said Hall "touched the lives of so many people, and was a tremendous inspiration to everyone around him," we hope they're all ordered mental health examinations along with the fallen neo-Nazi's child murderer.

One question remains: Where was the poor kid's real mom?

[@simone_electra/swilson@laweekly.com]