Why Did 10-Year-Old Boy Murder Jeff Hall, His Neo-Nazi Dad?

When neo-Nazi leader Jeff Hall was shot and killed by his 10-year-old son, attention immediately turned to the California father's extremist views.

A "60 Minutes" report now shows the motives of the murder may have been more complicated -- and yet more commonplace.

Early on the morning of May 1, hours after the family hosted a neo-Nazi gathering in their Riverside, Calif., home, Joseph Hall retrieved a handgun from his father's closet and shot his dad in the head, investigators allege.

At the time of his death, Hall, an unemployed plumber, had turned himself into a rising star in the National Socialist Movement, according to the CBS News program.

However, it was his parenting more than his controversial politics that played a role in his death, authorities believe.

Joseph Hall told investigators he pulled the trigger to end the abuse he suffered at the hands of his father.

Megan Hall, the Neo-Nazi leader's sister, said her brother wasn't always violent, but in recent years had beaten both Joseph and his wife "on random occasions."

Joseph Hall told investigators that his father hit him, kicked him and pushed him. He allegedly admitted firing the shot to "end the son vs. father thing," a law enforcement source told the news magazine.

According to the boy's grandmother, Joann Patterson, the child always had behavioral problems.

Joseph Hall had reportedly been kicked out of schools for violent behavior and once tried to strangle a teacher with a phone cord.

The boy's struggles were so apparent that Patterson claims the killing didn't even surprise her.

"I wasn't surprised by it, I just somehow felt it could always happen -- but I thought it would be when he was older," said Patterson.

Joseph Hall's arraignment had been scheduled for Sept. 12, but it was delayed until next month to give more time to specialists studying the child's mental state, according to Southern California Public Radio.

Reports indicate that the public defender representing Joseph Hall, who is now 11, may pursue an insanity defense.

If convicted, Joseph Hall will be released from custody by the time he is 25 years old, at the oldest.

Comments

[Eddgar Mann]

02:42 PM on 11/03/2011

OK, here's the deal...the women that was married to Jeff when the boy killed him was not his real mother, I wouldn't even call her a mother to the baby that was really hers. as far as I know there were 3 children in that house and only one of them was hers, and that was the youngest child. the real mother has been trying to get them back in her life for quite some time, Jeff refused to let her see the kids. and the courts kept telling her there was nothing they could do.

Jeff has been "scum" since the first day I met him, he always seem to be screaming at the boys real mother, and even at Joseph if he started crying when his parents were arguing.

if you had not guessed I do know the family.

[funnyface500]

11:49 AM on 10/03/2011

"Megan Hall, the Neo-Nazi leader's sister, said her brother wasn't always violent, but in recent years had beaten both Joseph and his wife "on random occasions." -

I guess he was very, very angry that not only he but also his mother was being so terribly beaten by the father that he would do what he can only think of - to kill the violent father. He felt it's no point to just try fighting with the father, he knows he is too big for his size. That it would only make the father become more violent, more beatings. Maybe he had made up his mind - rather kill the father and end up in jail than getting beaten up forever.

[cdnman]

08:00 AM on 10/03/2011

This kid desreves a medal.

[jasonj2000]

08:59 PM on 10/02/2011

Simple Karma. What goes around comes around. The same seeds of rhetoric he plant and instilled in his son/family eventually lead to his death. The irony of it all is that his kids are gonna wind up on welfare and in the system while his son is in prison getting raped.

[pinkeyelemonade]

04:30 AM on 10/02/2011

This is really sad. My heart feels like it's been stomped when I read these stories....Which, tragically, are commonplace.

I am shamelessly opposed to capital punishment, but I can't say these instances are entirely a shock....The father was evil....Politically and behind closed doors. Sooner or later, a child raised by such a person is going to crack, and lash out against the person. I don't think this little boy deserves jail time at all. Naturally, the best thing he could have done was file a report, but it's understandable that he was too emotionally damaged and afraid of his father to do so, and so he sought a quicker, more permanent solution. This wasn't ''murder.'' It was self-defense.

If anyone should go to jail, it's the aunt or whoever in the family is so ready to admit she/he knew this was coming. I hope they're consumed with agonizing guilt on the inside, after so much negligence.

[scoobanchi]

01:56 PM on 10/01/2011

My heart goes out to this young man. So brave but so misguided. I hope that in time he can find peace and learn to trust and love without fear. Be good to your children.

[cdnman]

08:03 AM on 10/03/2011

scoobanchi..love your mini bio, yes I would, deep dish strawberry, apple would be nice, I'll bring the ice cream lol Anyway I agree with you f and f

[jsaiditfirst]

12:49 PM on 10/01/2011

Maybe the boy knew well enough to "kill it"...........before it breeds again!

[toliva87]

06:22 PM on 09/30/2011

hopefully they can find this kid a new family that will help him get back on the right track, his dad is a horrible person and deserved no less than what he got, do not keep this kid in jail that will just mess him up more, get him in a good loving family

[Eddgar Mann]

02:16 PM on 11/03/2011

he has a family, the women that the father was married to was not his real mother, his real mother loves him dearly and is fighting to get him back

[Asmodean1]

11:03 AM on 09/30/2011

All in the name of *hate*.

[Lucas Israel]

08:29 PM on 09/29/2011

Good riddance

[Annette Hammond]

09:30 PM on 09/28/2011

Children learn what they live.

[Mafdet]

05:19 PM on 09/28/2011

It wasn't his politics it was his parenting? Huh? Politics is about how we get along with others, no? He hangs out with people whose preferred way of dealing with people who oppose them is to stomp them with jack boots so... mightn't that be a fair indication he's going to apply a version of that belief system to his family life? Everyone who was supposed to help this little boy was standing around wringing her hands. The sister and mother ought to be charged with homicide if anyone should. The boy has probably never had a kindness extended to him by anyone.

[bad spelling grammar]

04:28 PM on 09/28/2011

Riverside is full of scum

[ramonaflowers]

01:39 PM on 10/09/2011

You're ignorant. This is entire world is full of scum, not just Riverside.

If you knew anything about Riverside, you would realize that like any large city, it has good neighborhoods and bad ones.

If you really knew anything about this story, you would know that the neighborhood that this happened in is a relatively quiet, low-crime neighborhood, filled with middle/upper-middle class families who live in very nice houses with manicured lawns. In fact, that is what made it all the more shocking-- that it *did* happen in a nice, low-crime neighborhood.

[rsttho557949]

03:22 PM on 09/28/2011

I'm wondering if there was divorce with the guy. Sounds like the father might have been a "control freak" and might be responsible for his marriage breaking up. Just guess that if the kid was angry from a divorce and constantly humiliation by the father, anger might be the motivation behind the assassination. If that is so, this kid’s anger might be related to that episode. Did the kid know right from wrong when he pulled the trigger? He sure did!

[Mafdet]

05:21 PM on 09/28/2011

It seems as simple to me as the child was raised like a pit bull is trained.

[UnitedDemHP]

11:54 AM on 09/28/2011

illegal germans

send them home