Hall’s sentence reduced on sexual battery,

abduction charges; expected to be released from jail

By Jason Norman

A former Bute Street resident was expected to be released from jail Friday after pleading guilty to attempted rape in Suffolk Circuit Court.

Horace Hall, 45, was scheduled to go to trial on charges of sodomy, sexual battery and abduction stemming from a July 27, 2004 incident with his bedridden father’s nurse. On Friday, he agreed to the plea agreement.

Judge Carl Eason sentenced Hall to six years, with five years and two months suspended. Because Hall has been in the Western Tidewater Regional Jail since the incident, Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Susan Walton said

she expected him to be released.

Hall, who served six months for shooting into an occupied dwelling in 1987, will be on supervised probation for the next five years, and must register with the Virginia Sex Offender Registry.

&uot;Would we have preferred more time? Of course we would,&uot; Walton said. &uot;But we didn’t want to put the victim through the trauma of a trial. The victim was satisfied with the sentence.&uot;

As part of his probation, Hall can have no further contact with the victim, who no longer works with the family.

jason.norman@suffolknewsherald.com