Bio 

Michael Wayne Hall was born on April 6, 1979, in Dallas County, Texas. Texas prison records listed him as a laborer with a ninth-grade education and no prior prison record before the capital murder case. Hall was 18 years old when he committed the crime. He had previously worked at the same Kroger grocery store as Amy Robinson in Arlington, Texas. His co-defendant, Robert James Neville Jr., also knew Robinson through the same store.

Court records show that Hall had documented learning and functioning difficulties. During sentencing and later appeals, his defense argued that he was intellectually disabled and therefore ineligible for execution. Teachers, family members, and others testified that Hall had struggled in school and with basic daily tasks. The state disputed the claim, arguing that he was not intellectually disabled and pointing to evidence that he could plan, communicate, and make decisions.

Hall’s claim of intellectual disability became a major issue in his appeals after the United States Supreme Court ruled in Atkins v. Virginia that executing intellectually disabled offenders was unconstitutional. Courts ultimately rejected Hall’s claim and allowed the death sentence to stand.

Murder Story

On February 15, 1998, Michael Wayne Hall and Robert James Neville Jr. decided to abduct and kill someone. According to court records, Hall said he wanted to kill someone because he was angry about his life. They armed themselves with a crossbow, pellet gun, rifle, and ammunition.

The two men targeted Amy Robinson, a 19-year-old woman who worked at a Kroger grocery store in Arlington. Robinson had Turner syndrome and was described in court records as mentally and physically impaired. She trusted Hall and Neville because she knew them from work.

Hall and Neville waited for Robinson as she rode her bicycle to work. They persuaded her to get into their car by promising that they would take her for a short drive and then drop her off at work. Instead, they drove her to a remote area in Tarrant County.

Neville pretended the car had a flat tire. Hall and Neville got out with weapons, while Robinson stayed in the car listening to the radio. Hall later convinced her to get out of the vehicle. Neville fired a crossbow at her several times and missed. Hall then shot Robinson in the back of the leg with a pellet gun. As she cried in pain, Hall and Neville laughed.

Neville then shot Robinson in the chest with a .22-caliber rifle. Hall shot her several more times in the chest with the pellet gun. Robinson fell to the ground, making sounds and shaking. Neville then shot her in the head, killing her.

Hall and Neville left Robinson’s body and bicycle in a remote area. A few days later, they returned to the scene. Neville fired more shots into the body, and Hall took Robinson’s keys and money from her pocket.

Robinson was reported missing after she failed to arrive at work. Two weeks later, Hall’s mother reported that he had been missing for several days. Hall’s stepbrother told police that Hall had admitted he and Neville abducted and killed Robinson. The two men were arrested on March 3, 1998, while trying to cross the border into Mexico. Robinson’s body was found the same day.

Hall was indicted for capital murder on March 24, 1998. On February 17, 2000, a Tarrant County jury convicted him of capital murder. On February 23, 2000, he was sentenced to death.

His conviction and death sentence were affirmed by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. The United States Supreme Court later remanded his case for review under Atkins v. Virginia, but Texas courts and federal courts ruled that Hall had not proven intellectual disability. His appeals were ultimately denied.

Robert Neville was executed on February 8, 2006. Michael Wayne Hall was executed by lethal injection at the Huntsville Unit on February 15, 2011. In his final statement, Hall apologized to Amy Robinson’s family and said he wished he could take back what he had done. He was pronounced dead at 6:23 p.m.