Amariyona Hall and her sister
Magnolia, MS — 14-year old Amariyona Hall and her 12-year old sister, who were arrested in connection with the shooting and stabbing of their mother Erika Hall in January, say they are not guilty of the crime.
Last weekend, Amariyona was released from Pike County Jail after posting $10,000 bail. Her sister was also released from the Pike County Juvenile Detention Center in Magnolia, Mississippi.
The two girls claim they are not responsible for their mother’s death, saying they were at their aunt’s house at that time. They instead said there was abuse in the house where they were living with their mother, although there were no reports of abuse to Pike County Sheriff’s Department.
They are now in the custody of their father, Eddie Isaac, who still has questions about what really happened on the day Erika died.
“It feels good to have them out. A lot of people don’t think they should be, but they are kids. It was a lot. We didn’t come to the bottom of it. There was a lot of stuff we didn’t know. But it’s coming out,” he told KCRA.
In Mississippi, children 13 and older can be tried for murder as adults, but the judge has the power to transfer the case to juvenile court. Despite that, District Attorney Dee Bates said he would not agree to transfer this particular case.
Erika’s sister, Ebony Hall, said one of the girls tried to run over her mother days before she was killed. They also reportedly admitted to the investigator that they have been planning the killing in advance, faking a knock at the front door to lure their mother from her bedroom.
Amariyona has yet to face another court trial but her lawyer Greg Malta said that she and her sister are “both going to be defended on a theory of self-defense.”