Original subtitles

I have never seen anything

Like what happened to 19-year-old amy robinson

In arlington, texas, in 1998.

Tharp: This case has a real sense of emergency.

There is a fear and apprehension that is really palpable.

You couldn't go anywhere without seeing it on the news.

The longer she went missing, the more you knew

That something terrible had happened to her.

The thing about this case is that the victim

Is so defenseless and trusting.

And to think that people that she thought were her friends

Would be this horribly cruel

Is what makes this case really stand out.

Michael hall: As soon as she started walking,

Just... [imitates gunshot]

...Shot in the back of the leg.

Robert neville:

Anyone who sees the interviews with amy robinson's killers

Is gonna know they were looking into the eyes of pure evil.

I didn't handle this case personally

Because it happened in tarrant county,

But the prosecutors that did take it to trial

Are the best.

This was christy jack's

First death penalty case.

That one, you never forget.

A victim like amy, you never forget.

I am a mother, but this was a case

That spoke to everyone

Whether you were a parent or not.

Something cried out for justice in her case

More so than any other case I've ever been involved with.

[theme music plays]

February the 15th, 1998,

At about 4:15 in the afternoon,

We received a 911 call

From ben grogan

Who wanted to report that his daughter, amy,

Had left for her job at the kroger store

At about 12:30...

And had never arrived.

February 15th, me, my mom

And my little sister

Were hanging out at the apartment.

We get a call from ben,

Saying that the manager at kroger can't find amy.

My heart dropped

Because I knew something was wrong.

Amy was steady eddie.

She's gonna do exactly what she does every day,

And if she's out of that pattern, it's something bad.

I mean, I didn't know what to do.

That's the worst feeling in the world

Is not knowing where your child is at.

I remember getting that feeling in your stomach, like, "oh, no."

Because of her condition,

Amy was even more vulnerable, let's say,

To people who might want to do a young woman harm.

Amy was 19.

In her mind, though, she's like about 14.

She was just slow.

Amy has a condition called turner syndrome.

That's a genetic condition that, turns out,

Only affects females,

So it made her a little more developmentally slow,

A little smaller than average.

But she still wanted to be independent.

She was proud of herself for getting a job.

She wanted to have her own life.

Mark simpson: The day that amy robinson went missing,

Her father told us that she had

A green huffy mountain bicycle,

And she had her kroger uniform shirt

In a plastic bag, and that she had left home...

And went on to division street,

Which was a direct route toward the kroger store.

And that was the last she was seen.

Darrell: That part of division street's

A pretty rough area of town.

Nobody drove bicycles up and down division street

Except for amy.

My brother and I both told her

Not to ride her bicycle,

Just to ride it over to the shop,

Which we was directly across the street from her house,

And we'd take her, but amy was independent.

She just wanted to do it on her own.

Carolyn: It was her way to and from work.

It meant everything to her.

We had no direction on where to go search.

There's not a bicycle somewhere.

Nobody's seen anything.

I mean, you're just blindly walking

The railroad tracks and the lake,

You're searching, but you-- you-- you got no clues.

You wanted to hope that she's gonna pop up

And everything's okay.

Amanda: We literally just start walking

Down division street.

Walking, searching.

And the minute they sounded the alarm

That amy didn't show up for work,

The arlington police department

Were right away putting out the bolo,

Being on the lookout for her.

It was on the news.

They were doing grid searches.

Tharp: From the start, this case has

A real sense of emergency.

The police were treating it

Unlike your typical missing person report of a teenager.

A helicopter was flown in the area

Between amy's home and the kroger store.

The police were everywhere,

But we just couldn't sit at home and watch the news.

It was like, "no, get out there, let's find her."

There is a feeling of fear and apprehension

That is really palpable.

You couldn't go anywhere without seeing flyers

Or seeing it on the four o'clock,

The five o'clock, the ten o'clock news.

The fact that she was missing was everywhere in arlington.

Bring her home safe.

- Don't do nothing. - Woman: Let her go.

Let her go.

You have to believe

That the arlington police department

Is truly invested in finding this young lady

Who's also mentally challenged,

Who's sweet and naive.

You're just on pins and needles.

If we heard sirens, we're running out the door.

Did they find her? Did they find her?

I couldn't sleep. I didn't eat.

I mean, it was just horrible.

Amy's family is going through hell.

They couldn't be looking any harder.

Me and my mom and sister searched day and night

From sun come up to sun go down.

And my daughter is one,

So I'm carrying a baby on my hip,

Just screaming her name, just screaming,

Knowing that something bad's happened,

But hoping we would find her alive.

Mark: As we are pursuing the investigation,

We interview her coworkers.

We learned that amy was universally liked by everybody.

She used to bag our groceries all the time.

She's a nice kid.

We also talked

To some of her former work associates,

And two of those were robert neville

And michael hall.

I was asked to make contact

With robert neville,

A young man who worked with amy,

Because some of the people at the store had said

Him and amy robinson were sort of

In a boyfriend-girlfriend situation.

But when questioned,

Robert neville said, "no, we were just kind of friends

Through work."

They were both sackers.

I think she enjoyed his attention.

They went to the kroger christmas party,

As a matter of fact, one year.

And then there came a point when robert met amy's father,

And amy's father put his foot down

And said you're not allowed to see him anymore.

Robert neville was questioned about his whereabouts

On February the 15th, the date amy went missing.

He described going to the kroger store

Kind of in and out,

And he went to the mall with his friend michael hall,

And they played video games

And hung out at the mall for a number of hours.

He was respectful,

Didn't seem that he was lying to us,

But robert neville had a criminal history,

So we asked for him to take a polygraph test.

Robert neville passed the polygraph,

Although he is marginal.

The marginal passing score

Is sort of a gray area.

Mark: I look at it as perhaps a lack of empathy.

And all that does

Is keep me focused on robert neville

Until one way or another I can either clear him

Or be a part of his arrest.

Robert neville's alibi is investigated.

When we go down and look at the surveillance cameras

At the parks mall,

Robert neville and michael hall are together,

But we are not able to definitively state

That robert neville is accounted for his entire day.

We also talked with his friend michael hall.

Michael hall told us that he is a friend

Of amy robinson.

Michael hall is a young man

Who came from a very troubled background.

He came from a broken home.

He himself struggled in school.

Not to the same extent as amy,

But he also had some special education classes.

He told us he did not know anything

About amy's disappearance,

And we're not seeing anything

That brings michael hall to the surface

As a potential suspect.

After about three days

Of actively looking for amy robinson,

We had a woman come forward

Who said she saw a person

Who she believes is amy robinson

Talking to an individual who had a red pickup truck.

And that she saw this individual

Put amy's bicycle into the red pickup truck.

She told us that the individual that she saw

Was a white male in his forties to fifties.

Clearly visible in the bed of the el camino is a crossbow

And a couple of double-edged knives.

They are armed and dangerous.

The drama that is unfolding over days is shocking.

Get out of my sight!

Kelly: Went missing.R days-yn

And because of her special needs,

Law enforcement and her family

Are searching for her around the clock,

But with no luck so far.

So, while the police are continuing to search for amy,

A witness comes forward with new information.

The information our witness tells us

Is similar to another case.

The amber hagerman case from 1996.

Amber was riding her bicycle in an abandoned parking lot.

Reporter: The vacant lot where amber disappeared

Now has bright pink ribbons,

Bright enough to draw attention,

And volunteers hope it might bring forward

Other witnesses.

We had a witness who actually saw amber kidnapped

By a man driving a pickup truck.

It was just a few short years prior

That this happened to amber in the very same community.

Amber was found a few days later murdered.

I was just like, "it's that same person,"

Like, "he's back."

The amber alert, as we know it today,

It started because of the amber hagerman case.

Before amber alert,

Let's say a child went missing in houston,

I don't think we even told harris county.

It was very localized, really inefficient.

The amber alert now it's all over the news,

It comes up on your phone, it's on the highway.

There's no telling how many different abductions

And kidnappings and murders

That amber alert has prevented.

Amanda: Amber's mom was out there daily

With my mom searching.

That woman was a saint.

She helped my mom through this

Because she went through it with her daughter,

So she was able to relate with my mom.

John stanton: After four days,

Police are definitely up against the ticking clock.

The more that time expires,

The less likely we are for a pleasant outcome.

I knew that something's bad happened.

You know?

So, the only thing you can do

In a situation like that

Is just keep searching.

["that sinking feeling" by iora]

♪ can't escape from this sinking feeling ♪

♪ ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh ♪

Carolyn: Amy was just a beautiful baby.

Her mother was 15 years old, not married

And she didn't know how to take care of her.

And she just left her with me.

Amanda: Amy's just kind.

She's just kind and gentle.

Amy is a person who didn't ever see

Any evil or bad or anything in anybody.

I think it was just her nature.

She just didn't believe anybody had bad in them.

Amy was in arlington's special olympics.

She was in the races.

Turner syndrome did not stop her from doing anything.

Carolyn: She was smart. She applied herself.

In the last year of high school,

Me and her grandpa stayed up at night

Helping her with her homework,

You know, get her through that last year.

And when she graduated,

She put that diploma up like that in front of me.

She said, "we did it, neenay!"

I said, "I know."

I was so proud of her.

♪♪♪

Amy robinson is out there somewhere,

And somebody knows something.

We were looking for this specific model

Of pickup truck.

But the searches

Really brought back nothing,

So people were very concerned.

And when something horrific happens in a nice,

Quiet small town,

It really throws people a curve.

The entire community cares and wants to solve this,

And they want to believe that she'll be okay

And there'll be a happy ending.

Amanda: We had candlelight vigils.

Everybody came, we would light candles and pray.

They were massive, like,

It would fill that whole kroger parking lot up.

And kroger offered a $10,000 reward

For information on bringing amy home.

Darrell: The police and kroger were as helpful

As they could possibly be, but here again,

They had no clues.

You wanted to hope...

That suddenly she's gonna pop up

And everything's okay, but you knew it was coming.

Reporter: Police have searched the creek near amy's home.

Friends and family members are also involved.

The fbi, the department of public safety,

Even the texas rangers have been contacted.

And then someone came forward with the break

That the arlington police department

Has been waiting for.

Michael hall's mother, karen hall,

Comes to the police station with some information.

She explained that

Michael's step-brother told her

That michael hall

Basically gave a full confession

About how he and robert neville...

Took amy out to this wooded area

And...

[tense music building]

[gunshot echoes]

Michael hall and robert neville

Took amy out to this wooded area

And...

[gunshot echoes]

...They killed her.

[melancholy melody]

Nearly two weeks into the investigation,

Michael hall's brother tells their mother

What michael told him.

And michael hall's brother

Was the first development in this case,

Telling the truth about what his brother told him.

And the mom, to her complete credit,

Went forward with what she knew

And told law enforcement what happened.

I was approached by someone that told me

That michael told him about

Amy robinson's death...

In detail.

It was a pretty good description...

Of how she possibly could have died

Or been killed.

[karen sobs]

And it made me sick.

When someone tells on their own blood,

It is a rare thing.

I think michael told his little step-brother

Because it was a secret and it was weighing on him

And he felt he needed to share, but he also said,

When he told his little brother, that if anyone told the police,

He'd kill them.

The step-brother of michael hall

Didn't provide specifics

As to amy's whereabouts,

But this is a major break in the investigation.

And based on that information,

While we do not have amy's body,

We have every reason to believe that she had been murdered.

Warrants are drafted

For both michael hall and robert neville.

Deep down inside, amy's family was holding out hope

That amy was still alive.

When they're told this,

I think it took them a while to absorb it.

She's a very happy child. How could they hurt her?

How could they do this to her?

Looking at these pictures kills me.

I never dreamed about her being murdered.

No way.

No way.

Like amy said, you think about the best,

Don't think about the bad.

So, I'd always think about

The best, you know?

Growing up, I was always the one that had her back...

But I wasn't able to protect her.

I should have been there.

It was devastating. It still hurts.

Murder in texas means you have to prove that

There is an intentional taking of a life.

It doesn't mean it has to be deliberate

Or well thought out ahead of time,

There is no premeditation requirement.

I used to say, "that fast."

If I intend to take your life, if I pull the trigger,

That's murder, but to elevate it to a capital murder,

You need an underlying felony.

Here, the possibility of kidnapping exists.

Michael hall's mother also tells us

That michael hall is missing.

That he's been gone a couple of days

As has robert neville.

These guys are on the run

And have about a three-day head start on us.

We're pleading for my son...

Safe and return.

Same time, my heart aches for the loss to her daughter.

Texas has got so much borderline with mexico.

You can cross into mexico any number of places.

If you're a texas citizen,

You can walk across any number of international bridges.

Imagine how that feels.

You know that your baby

Is probably murdered when you're being real with yourself,

And the two people that everyone believes did it

Is on the run and they're about to leave

The united states of america forever.

How frustrating, how horrible would that be?

I'm totally devastated.

I'm in shock.

[sobs] I just want him to come home.

[sobs] this is not my son

That they're talking about.

At this point in our investigation,

We got a call from a car dealership

In the middle of arlington.

We learned that robert neville had purchased a car

And the car had some mechanical problems,

So the car dealership,

They gave him an el camino to drive.

And he returns the el camino to the dealership.

The owner of that dealership contacted the arlington police.

And they tell us that, clearly visible

In the bed of the el camino, is a crossbow.

[daunting tone building]

And in the passenger compartment of the el camino

Are a couple of air guns

And a couple of double-edged knives.

So, we considered both of them

Potentially armed and dangerous.

Unless these guys are stopped,

Neville and hall are

More than likely going to kill again.

In eagle pass, texas,

There's an international bridge into mexico.

Michael hall and robert neville

Were stopped

As they were en route

Over the international bridge in eagle pass.

Their demeanor

Just doesn't seem right to the agents,

So they talk to them, search their backpacks,

Find pellet pistols, wine coolers.

Those officers on the border ran the names

And the birthdates, found that these guys

Are wanted for murder in arlington, texas.

So they took them to the eagle pass jail.

My supervisor says go home and pack a bag.

We're going to go to eagle pass

And interrogate these two that are in custody.

When apd was racing to the border

To get to the suspects,

There's a worry that they could lawyer up

And we would never know where amy is,

But, boy, look what happened.

There was a customs agent that talked to them.

They seemed almost happy to be in custody

And they're telling this agent

Anything and everything he wants to hear.

Robert neville and michael hall wound up giving him

Sufficient descriptors that we now have a place

Where we can go search for amy's body.

If you get too emotionally involved in something,

You can't think.

If you can't think, you can't do your job properly.

So, for me, finding amy's body at that point in time,

It was all about securing

The entire area of the crime scene.

It was two other detectives and myself.

The two other detectives went to the right,

Or what would be east,

Looking for amy's body, and I went to the west.

And if you look back in there to where--

Basically between those two cottonwood trees,

There was an area of grass and when I walked into that,

I could see amy's body laying there in the grass.

She was not camouflaged or anything like that.

She'd been in the field since February the 15th.

You know, I've been looking at her picture every day,

So even though I couldn't say with scientific certainty

That it was her, looking at her, her build, her size, her hair,

There's no question in my mind that that was amy robinson.

The two detectives that went to the east

As they were coming to me,

They could see amy's bicycle

In the brush pile.

That's no way for a child to die.

That's no way for anybody to die.

Amanda: When they told us they found a body...

In the field on mosier valley...

All I could do was go to amy's room...

At her dad's house...

And lay on her bed and cry 'cause I knew it was her.

I knew it was her.

I just felt it.

Still, in my mind, I couldn't believe it was amy.

It was just...

[sobs softly] ...Horrible.

Horrible.

This is the part of the case where you know

Things are about to start happening.

They had to get an autopsy done,

Charges need to be filed, and then hall and neville

Need to be brought back from the border.

As we learn about hall and neville's arrest,

The team I'm on at the newspaper,

We immediately start to think about

How quickly can we get down there.

That's what every other media outlet

In the area is thinking.

Eagle pass is fairly remote.

It's hundreds of miles

From the nearest commercial airport.

We had the idea to rent an airplane

And as a result, we're down on the ground

In eagle pass before anyone else gets there.

- Reporter: How are you doing? - Just fine.

The news media got down there before stanton could,

And robert neville and michael hall

Were both granted a jailhouse interview.

- Reporter: Hey, robert. - Hello.

You never expect to encounter somebody

Who has done something just so horrific

And for them to be so eager to tell you about it.

Reporter: What did you do?

Uh, I helped in killing...

- Amy robinson. - Reporter 2: Why?

I probably have to say it was...

Just for the adrenaline rush.

[shutter clicks]

So we talked her into getting in the car

And she kept running back saying,

"I gotta get back to work.

I'm gonna be late, I'm gonna be late."

Well, you're late now. [laughs]

There are few things that will leave me speechless

For a few minutes, but this was one of them.

As soon as she started walking towards the car,

I just went... [imitates gunshot]

...Shot her in the back of the leg.

Pretty good too. Moving target.

Reporter: What did she say at that point?

She kept saying, "ow, that hurt! Ow, that hurt!"

- [chuckling] - [shutter clicks]

Me and robert just bust out laughing.

Total lack

Of empathy or responsibility

Or contrition or anything.

It's sick.

I remember my repulsion

At seeing him on the tv screen.

I'll be perfectly honest.

I mean, I was so shocked during the...

After seeing what happened...

That I died laughing, I thought it was all--

I thought it was all a joke.

I thought there were very few surprises left

As a prosecutor,

And I'd never seen anything like that

When I watched them laugh.

These two guys bragging about what they did,

I've never seen that before. That was crazy.

So evil.

I can't believe this is on national tv.

Everybody in the world is seeing these sick boys

Describe how they tortured and murdered my sister,

And laughed about it like it was a joke.

It was sick.

Have you ever seen that movie, natural born killers?

That's how I describe them. They were natural born killers.

They wanted to be famous.

Reporter: Michael, are you sorry

About what happened?

I seen it, and of course everybody had seen it

And everybody called me after it happened.

It's just evil that you-- you don't see every day.

If I had been close to 'em

And I could have,

I would have probably tried to kill them.

That wouldn't have been what amy would have wanted, no.

She would've forgive 'em.

No.

No.

Only god can forgive them.

Kelly: Less than a week later, after amy's body was found

And after the suspects

Had done their talking on television,

Amy's family and friends laid her to rest.

Amy's funeral was massive.

It was the biggest funeral I've ever seen

Still to this day.

I guess I felt peace about having her

At the family cemetery, but I was angry.

I don't think funerals give you a peace.

I would give my life to have amy back.

Kelly: The prosecution's getting ready for the trial

Of michael hall and robert neville.

These two were really stupid.

What these suspects said in this interview

Before they were able to invoke their rights

Or have a lawyer or be told to shut your mouth,

It doesn't get better evidence than that.

I'm sure that any lawyers that were ultimately

Going to represent them thought,

"oh, my god, what have they done?"

But for the prosecution,

I don't think what people know about

Is the stress that you have making sure

The family survives it.

If you screw up any one thing

Or you don't get the death penalty,

You let them down.

The media attention also brings with it

Even that much more pressure and criticism,

And there's always those people out there

That secretly hope that you mess up.

Cases like this can make your career,

But they can also break your career.

Christy: I got involved in the case in March of '98.

I've been responsible

For the prosecution of thousands of cases.

Something cried out for justice in her case

More so than any other case I've ever been involved with.

I'm a mother with two boys,

One of whom who has special needs,

And so I have a particular sensitivity to this case.

It's one thing to choose

To take the life of another individual.

It's something entirely different

To see someone

And to recognize their weakness and their vulnerability

And to choose them because of those traits.

The prosecutors get the case and decide

That they're going to be tried in separate trials.

In the death penalty case, you try them separately

Because michael hall's attorneys would have said

That robert neville's criminal history

Would unfairly influence a jury

Against michael.

Picking a jury on a death penalty case

Is unlike anything else you could ever do.

It's that variation on the spectrum of,

Can you really give the death penalty

If we prove it to you?

After a while, it's just exhausting

And you just want to get done,

But you can't let your guard down

When you're picking juror number 11 or 12

'cause they're just as important as a one and two.

Christy: Before the trial, most important

Is meeting with the victim's family.

They have to trust you, and so

You want to do everything as a prosecutor

To make them feel as comfortable as they can

Given the circumstances.

Robert neville was tried first because in our opinion,

His case was the easier case and he was the leader.

Had it not been for robert neville,

I don't believe this crime ever would have occurred.

Records go back a long time for robert.

He began setting fires as young as the age of four.

And not only do you have sexual abuse of children,

There are multiple reports of robert abusing animals.

A neighbor saw him throwing kittens off of a roof.

A cousin reported robert tying a cat to a tree

And beating it with a pole.

[inquisitive melody]

Kelly: The very first death penalty case I ever had,

And you don't really forget that one,

Had a victim who was mentally challenged.

It makes the case different, it makes it stick out to you,

It makes it even sadder and more tragic.

I think that juries really understand that dynamic.

In order for these defendants

To be found guilty of capital murder,

The state had to prove that there was a murder

And also the underlying felony of kidnapping.

Christy: Neville's confessed to murder, that was easy.

The hard part was circumstantially proving

The kidnapping element.

Robert neville gave a statement

That confesses to murder without the kidnapping.

The defense took a legal challenge to it

That there was insufficient evidence of the kidnapping.

In other words,

Robert neville is guilty of murder

But not capital murder because there was no kidnapping.

She voluntarily got in the car.

The strongest evidence was the lack of restraints.

Neville's attorney was asking me

Whether or not there was any ropes,

Or ligatures, tape, anything like that.

There was not.

Kelly: But you have to understand

That kidnapping is not what you think of

As classically defined kidnapping.

The definition in texas means

By force, intimidation, or deception.

His videotaped confession

Allowed the jury to hear the words

Directly from robert neville.

When they were playing in the courtroom,

You could see the jury's face just drop

And you could see tears in their eyes.

You're just sitting there being quiet

When you want to just

Jump across the counter and choke the guy.

As a prosecutor that handles a lot of death penalty cases,

You have to be ready for the defense

To present mitigation.

Mitigating evidence is evidence

That lessens your culpability

Or in any way makes you believe that life is warranted

Instead of death.

The defense was trying to say that robert neville

Committed this capital murder because he had lupus,

Which is offensive to people that suffer from lupus.

Lupus is a chronic autoimmune disease,

Basically where the body kind of attacks itself.

So, then we put on the region's expert

On lupus at unt.

He said, "you can commit acts of criminal violence

And also have lupus,

But lupus doesn't make you go commit

A horrific crime like this."

[suspenseful music plays]

One of the things you have to learn as a prosecutor

Is to channel your emotions into a closing argument,

Finding the right words

That will touch those jurors' hearts.

She was an easy [bleep].

Her only fault is she trusted too many people.

She didn't see this defendant for what he was.

She didn't see his plan to take her life.

I wanted that jury to understand,

The last moments of her life

Were filled with someone laughing at her death.

When she laid there and choking on her blood,

Do you think she could hear his laughter?

Because this defendant...

Is the personification of evil.

The evidence does not support the one element

That the state has to have,

And that's the kidnapping aspect.

There's always a concern that we would come up short.

A jury has to be unanimous,

And we were not sure what the jury would do.

[suspenseful music plays]

Reporter: Prosecutors asked a jury to show

Robert neville junior the same mercy

He showed amy robinson,

A mentally challenged teenager

Who was tortured and killed

In a remote fort worth field.

Christy: There's always a concern

That we would come up short.

Could be one juror, just one out of 12.

The jury came out and they were crying.

It was my first death penalty case,

And I remember thinking, "oh, no, they're crying.

"what does that mean?"

Juror: We the jury, find the defendant,

Robert james neville junior,

Guilty of the offense of capital murder.

It's a catharsis.

It's a very onerous burden

To ask a jury to live with that decision

For the rest of their life.

It's a lot.

Judge: The court sentences you to death

By lethal injection.

Yeah, I'm sorry for what you did,

But you're gonna pay for it.

Reporter: Emotions ran high

From both sides throughout the trial.

Get out of my sight!

It was tough during the trial

'cause that feeling that anything could happen,

Any little bitty thing could happen.

These guys get away with this,

But when we got the first one done,

Then I felt a lot better about the second one.

Kelly: Christy jack and her co-counsel

Have successfully sent robert neville to death row.

Now they have to focus on the trial of michael hall.

[camera shutters clicking]

His confession, talked about how they told her

They were going to take her to work and they didn't.

And that's how they got her into the car

And that they never intended to take her to work.

And they took her to mosier valley

And basically used her for target practice.

And then he goes on to say, we went back to the body

And we went and ate dinner at sonic

With the money we took from her pocket.

Kelly: Michael hall's defense lawyers had a little bit

More to work with because they could play the card of--

He wouldn't have been here if it weren't for robert neville,

He would've never come up with this plan

Or idea or thought to hurt somebody like amy,

And I think that was their best weapon.

The defense dressed him the part.

I mean, they put big glasses on him.

They had him stare at a bible in front of him the entire time.

Simply to listen to him talk,

You don't immediately detect that he's mentally [bleep].

It was a far different image

Than what the jury saw on the videotaped confession.

[chuckling]

He acted like and talked to me like

He was in adolescence or that he was a young adult.

The challenge is convincing the jury

That you don't have to be a rocket scientist

To be eligible for the death penalty.

We talked about all the decisions

That michael made independent of robert

That showed he was not intellectually disabled.

And who selected those. 22's?

Well, it wasn't robert neville, it was michael hall.

Mental deficiency or being slow

Or not being as mean and cunning

As the other co-defendants,

It probably really is the truth.

You have co-defendants, one is always

More the leader than the other.

The prosecution's job is to know it's coming

And to be ready to answer that back.

This is the part that this defendant played.

There was evidence that hall was not as smart as neville.

There was no evidence that he didn't understand

The difference between right and wrong.

And if any of you think this answer should be no,

Then I beg you watch this tape.

As soon as she started walking towards the car,

I just-- [imitates gunshot]

You know what he said? "I helped kill amy."

Why? "because she trusted me."

The very quality that enabled this defendant

To deceive and prey upon

Someone who truly was mentally challenged

Is now the quality he wants to cling to

To save his life.

If ever a defendant earned the death penalty,

This man has.

Christy: The jury returns a sentence the same day.

The jury finds michael hall guilty of capital murder.

They sentence him to death.

They were given death.

And it made me feel good

That they couldn't hurt nobody else.

Christy: Robert neville's executed in 2006.

Michael hall is executed

February the 15th,

The date that he's executed,

It is the anniversary of amy's disappearance.

What we wanted, we got.

However...

We thought that's what we wanted.

Going to the executions, we're thinking,

"okay, we're gonna get closure,

"we're gonna feel better," but I didn't feel better.

I felt angry,

Like, this ain't fair, they went out too easy.

They just got a shot and went to sleep.

I was glad it was finally all over,

But I thought amy's gonna be remembered.

That's when I put the cross up.

What this marker does represent

Is where people can come and pay their respects.

It started with one cross and it's just grown and grown.

Carolyn: A lot of people started coming

And putting their cross up.

The next thing I knew there was

120 crosses out there.

I don't want anybody to ever forget amy.

She's gonna be remembered.

And I know where she's at.

[crying]

A case like this when you're representing

And trying to get justice for a victim

As sweet and naive as amy,

When it's resolved the way it should be

And you get justice,

It makes you able to get up and go again another day.

It never gets any easier,

But this is why you do what you do.