She Said She Was Attacked In Valley View Mall Parking Lot

JUDGE CLEARS WOMAN WHO LIED ABOUT OXYCONTIN THEFT

Brandy L. Hall, 28, Is Innocent Of Making A False Report Because She Did
Not Intentionally Mislead Police, A Judge Has Ruled

A Roanoke woman lied to police when she told them she was robbed of her
prescription OxyContin in a mall parking lot, a judge ruled.

But the emotionally unstable woman did not intentionally mislead police or
interfere with their work, Roanoke General District Judge William
Broadhurst said.

Missing those elements, Broadhurst found Brandy L. Hall not guilty of
making a false report.

Police charged Hall, 28, with the misdemeanor 12 days after she reported
that two men - one with a knife - approached her about 2 p.m. March 30
outside Sears at Valley View Mall. She said they stole $20 and a bottle of
OxyContin.

Hall takes the painkiller to manage the effects of fibromyalgia and an
arthritic inflammation of her joints, said her attorney, Ray Ferris.

She later told police she had lost the prescription and had made up the
story that her pills had been stolen, Roanoke police spokeswoman Shelly
Alley has said.

Ferris said his client lives in a fragile emotional state in which she
often buckles under pressure. She was frightened when a detective said he
didn't believe her story and threatened her with a polygraph test and a
felony charge if she didn't confess to the misdemeanor, he said.

Hall wanted to get out of the situation, so she made up a confession,
Ferris said.

"That seems to me to be a very convenient way to explain things," said
Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Neil Horn, who said he thinks Hall was
abusing OxyContin.

The drug's heroin-like high has made it popular among addicts and a target
for theft, especially from drugstores in Southwest Virginia.

The judge noted that Hall had not requested additional drugs for her pain.
But he said he thought she told the truth the second time she talked to police.

"I don't believe you were a victim in this," Broadhurst said. "I don't
believe you were robbed."

The best explanation for her actions, he said, is a "significant emotional
incident" the day she claimed she was robbed, the judge said.

"We think the court rendered the right decision on the dismissal," Ferris said.