An Illinois woman facing two death penalty charges for killing her pregnant friend, her unborn child and the victim's three children has entered a guilty plea in a deal that allows her to avoid the death penalty. Tiffany Hall was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.Hall, 26, pleaded guilty to four counts of murder and one count of intentional homicide, in the death of the unborn child of Jimella Tunstall.
Prosecutors said Hall repeatedly struck the 23-year-old Tunstall over the head with a table leg and then cut the fetus from her womb in a bathtub. Tunstall's autopsy showed that she bled to death.
Hall dumped Tunstall's body in a vacant lot in East St. Louis. A few hours later, Hall told Illinois police that she had given birth to a stillborn child, but she refused to be examined at a hospital.
Drowned the Three Children
Three days later, Hall told the father of Tunstall's children that Tunstall wanted her to pick up the children and Tunstall's car, according to prosecutor Robert Haida. Hall then drowned the three children in the same bathroom where she killed Tunstall. She hid their dead bodies in a washer and dryer in the apartment.
The victims were DeMond Tunstall, 7; Ivan Tunstall-Collins 2; and Jinella Tunstall, 1.
About a week after Tunstall's death, Hall was arrested after she admitted to her boyfriend that she had killed her pregnant friend to steal her unborn baby and the boyfriend contacted police.
James Gomric, an attorney for Hall, told reporters that Hall had been found competent to stand trial, but she had an IQ in the 70s. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that no one who is mentally retarded can be executed.
See Also:
Guilty Plea to Killing Woman, Her Fetus and Kids
Background:
The Murder Trials of Tiffany Hall
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