Judge Delays Sentencing in ‘3rd Strike’ Case

In a case that could send him to state prison for life, a 25-year-old Inglewood man was convicted Tuesday of felony possession of a firearm for carrying a gun he said he purchased only to protect himself after threats by local gang members.

But in ruling that Nigel Fitzgerald Hall had committed his “third strike” felony, Torrance Superior Court Judge Robert M. Mallano postponed sentencing Hall for five weeks--at which time the judge is expected to receive a new probation report and other information on how the ex-convict conducted himself by getting married, returning to school and getting a job before his gun possession arrest last October.

The decision by Mallano gives Hall’s public defender, family and friends one last chance to make their case that while breaking the law, Hall does not deserve a “third strike” sentence. And while that argument has not been shared by the head of the district attorney’s Torrance office, the prosecutor and sheriff’s detective assigned to the case made it clear Tuesday that they have mixed feelings about sending Hall away for 25 years to life.

“Everybody believes that in a perfect world, the lengthy [‘third strike’] sentences will be given only to violent felons. However, this is the law . . . and this is the law I have to enforce,” prosecutor Kathleen Mullen said, a comment that was endorsed by Det. Dwayne Decker of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

“I’m just hoping God will intervene,” said Hall’s mother, Delores, “and that this judge will have compassion on my child.”