A Lawrence minister, convicted in November for sex crimes, suffered from depression and sometimes talked of suicide, friends and colleagues testified Monday.
A sentencing hearing for Garland Hall, 46, Lawrence, was continued to 2 p.m. today before Douglas County District Judge Robert Fairchild.
In November, Hall pleaded no contest to attempted aggravated sodomy and aggravated sexual battery. The crimes occurred at a Lawrence residence sometime between October 2000 and February 2001. The victim was a man in his 30s, law enforcement officials said.
The Rev. Charles Kennybrew, retired pastor of Ninth Street Baptist Church, praised Hall for his work as assistant pastor at the church. He said he had never heard complaints about Hall.
The Rev. Ricky Turner, pastor at Oak Ridge Baptist Church, Kansas City, Kan., also spoke highly of Hall, who had been associate pastor at the church.
Greg Tangari, a clinical social worker in Oskaloosa, said Hall has been seeing him for help with depression that stemmed from sexual abuse as a child.
More witnesses are expected to be called by Hall's attorney, Shelley Bock, and Douglas County Assistant Dist. Atty. Dave Zabel.
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