Comedy Central Roast to Play Key Role in Supreme Court Death Sentence Hearing

Comedian Jeff Ross has found himself at the center of a death-row petition being considered by the Supreme Court. A lawyer for Gabriel Paul Hall, sentenced to death in 2015 for killing a retired professor and his disabled wife, has asked the Supreme Court to reverse his sentence, Deadline reported. It is alleged that when Hall was awaiting trial, a Comedy Central roast performed by Ross and featuring him was filmed; according to the petition, the prosecutors later used the video footage to prejudice the jury against him, which led to his death sentence. McKenzie Edwards, an attorney representing Hall, wrote in a Dec. 28 tweet, “A Texas jail volunteered to let Comedy Central comedian Jeff Ross roast its inmates. It encouraged inmates to participate. Texas then used the footage to sentence my client, Gabriel Hall, to death. We’re asking SCOTUS to review the constitutionality of Mr. Hall’s sentence.” As Hall was being held in the Brazos County Detention Center, Ross, an insult comic known as the “roastmaster general,” taped the special Jeff Ross Roasts Criminals: Live at Brazos County Jail in 2015. According to the petition, Hall’s attorneys were not informed that the nine-person film crew was permitted to interview him without first seeking their consent. They had requested that sheriff’s deputies obtain their permission before Hall could interact with anyone.

Ross made “numerous vulgar provocations by Ross and damaging responses from Petitioner (Hall),” according to the petition. Hall’s segments were not included in the final cut of the comedy show, but they were used as evidence against him during sentencing. A petition on behalf of McKenzie and co-counsel Robert C. Owen and Raoul D. Schonemann asks the Supreme Court to review the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals’ ruling that Hall’s Sixth Amendment right to an impartial jury wasn’t violated. The petition states, “The State gave a third-party civilian otherwise unobtainable physical access to Petitioner and then used the statements that civilian elicited from Petitioner as evidence against petitioner at the penalty phase of his capital murder trial.” Hall confessed to the murders committed when he was an 18-year-old student at Texas A&M Consolidated High School. There was unaired footage from the special showing Hall and Ross joking about hurting a fly. When Ross asked Hall about hurting people, Hall replied, “Eh, they’re annoying. We’ll leave ’em to their own devices, so,” Law and Crime reported.

A Texas jail volunteered to let Comedy Central comedian Jeff Ross roast its inmates. It encouraged inmates to participate. Texas then used the footage to sentence my client, Gabriel Hall, to death.

We’re asking #SCOTUS to review the constitutionality of Mr. Hall’s sentence. pic.twitter.com/JFNFskKHDw

— McKenzie Edwards (@mckeds) December 28, 2022

Hall’s lawyers said he “jokily tried to play along” in footage from the comedy special, in which he made a pun on “hacking” when describing his crime. According to Deadline, they alleged the footage showed “a professional comic consciously working to provoke a response from an unwary subject — aggressively pushing [Hall] to make ‘outrageous’ statements to which Ross offered ‘wild’ or scandalous rejoinders — to maximize the video’s commercial value as entertainment.” Hall’s lawyers argued that he did not violate the “no contact” order because he agreed voluntarily to speak to Ross and signed a release form, according to the state. Supreme Court justices will consider the petition for a writ of certiorari during their conference on Jan. 6. If at least four of the nine believe the case merits consideration, it will be added to their docket for a hearing. In regards to the case, neither Ross nor Comedy Central has commented.