What a wonderful inspiring thread! My best wishes for the both of you and I want to congratulate you on your tough love! This has helped me somewhat. I am waiting for my brother and sister in law's murderer to go to trial. Her uncle killed them both in March 2008. This is actually what inspired me to join WS. Their murderer (Berry Hall) was in general population and was ALMOST killed, twice. Now he is in protective custody. We, as a family, offered him LWOP but he refused it. Now the DA is seeking the DP so the blood shed will not be on our hands and the DA has told us that he WOULD get the DP. This saddens me in a way because there are so many more people involved in this than just *US*. He has a wonderful mom that was soooo good to my brother. His two sons were the ones to call 911 when this took place. I don't want to see another life taken, even my brother's murder, for the simple reason that enough people have been hurt. I don't want to see his mom go through what my mom went through. I don't want HIS sons to lose their father, but I also don't want him to ever walk the streets again. Believe it or not, but Caylee's death has ALMOST made me sway in favor of the DP. How sad is that? This little girl stole my heart and lisalei, thanks again for starting this thread and please give your darling daughter a hug from me.
Below is a copy of a newspaper clipping about my brother's murder, for those who are not aware of it.
PRESTONSBURG — The mournful cries of traumatized children silenced the courtroom Wednesday afternoon, when Det. Ben Cramer, of the Kentucky State Police, played a 911 tape that brought sharp focus to the reality of the scene that took place in the home of Alan and Lisa Tackett, of Abbott, on the evening of March 20, at approximately 6:30 p.m.
It was on that evening that Alan Tackett, 47, and his wife, Lisa, 30, were gunned down sniper-style in their own front yard by bullets allegedly fired by Berry Hall, 45, the uncle of Lisa Tackett, from a second-story window of his home.
According to testimony provided Wednesday by Det. Cramer, Lisa Tackett's dead body, struck once through the chest, was found lying in the front yard of her home, while her husband's body lay half-in, half-out across the threshold of the home's front door. Alan Tackett, according to Cramer, had been struck twice — once in the hand, and again on the right side of his head.
Four children under the age of 5 years old were inside the home at the time of the shootings.
Though Hall, according to Det. Cramer, "made three separate confessions" to the crime, his court-appointed attorney Steven Goble, of Pikeville, entered a plea of not guilty before District Judge James R. Allen on Wednesday afternoon.
"I lost it and I killed them," Det. Cramer said Hall told him on the evening of March 20. Cramer also said that Hall told him that he had been arguing with his niece and her husband earlier that day about "some ongoing issues" involving property lines and a dog owned by the couple that had wandered onto Hall's property. Hall, according to Det. Cramer, had said that "he just had all he could stand and he shot and killed them."
Cramer said that during the course of questioning, he queried Hall in regard to the possible danger that existed for the children in the home. "He repeatedly said that he was in control of himself enough that he knew he would not harm any of the children," Cramer said.
Following the shootings, Hall allegedly entered the home of the slain couple and retrieved the four children, who he then took to his own home, allegedly stepping over the dead bodies of the children's parents in order to do so.
Along with the alleged confessions, examination of the crime scene, and a taped 911 recording of Hall's son alleging that it was his father who had fired the shots that killed Alan and Lisa Tackett, evidence was compelling that it was, indeed, Berry Hall who committed the double murder.
Though Hall's attorney conducted a cross-examination of Det. Cramer's testimony, Hall himself remained quiet, appearing calm throughout the proceeding.
Judge Allen declared that Hall would remain held without bond in the Floyd County Detention Center. Allen also declared that charges against Hall of two counts of murder and four counts of wanton endangerment will be referred to the grand jury.
