It had been more than 50 years since Montgomery County Deputy Sheriff Capt. James Tappen Hall was shot and killed in Rockville and on Jan. 17, the trial of a suspect ended not with a resolution, but a mistrial.
Montgomery County Police and the county State’s Attorney’s Office reopened the cold case in 2021, 50 years after the 1971 shooting death of Hall. They found evidence that pointed to Larry David Smith, who was 19 years old at the time of the shooting and going by his adopted family’s last name of Becker.
In an interview with police on Sept. 1, 2022, Smith admitted to “accidentally” shooting Hall while Smith was bringing stolen property back to an awaiting getaway car, according to charging documents.
Smith’s attorney Kevin Collins argued that the recording from that interview shows that detectives coerced Smith into admitting to the crime because, at the start of questioning, he seemed to be confused and not have a great memory of what occurred, according to Washington Post reporting of the trial.
Collins and other attorneys from the law firm Covington & Burling LLP in Washington, D.C. did not respond to MoCo360’s multiple requests for comment via phone and email.
Jan. 17, neither side won since the trial ended with a hung jury. Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s Office spokesperson Lauren DeMarco said that “the State is committed to seeking justice in this case,” and they have already scheduled a retrial. Jury selection will begin on June 17 for the retrial, DeMarco said.
The incident that started it all occurred on Oct. 23, 1971. Around 10:45 p.m. that night, Montgomery County Police responded to the Manor Country Club at 14901 Carrolton Road in Rockville for an assault. Officers found Hall, lying face down in the parking lot with a gunshot wound, according to charging documents. At the time, Hall was working as a part-time security guard for the country club, according to charging documents.
Detectives said they believe Hall was trying to stop a residential burglary at a home across from the club and was fatally shot when he confronted the suspect, charging documents said. Hall was transported to an area hospital where he died of his injuries on Oct. 26, 1971, according to charging documents.
When interviewed in 1973, Smith said he witnessed the murder and knew specific details about the incident, according to charging documents. However, he was not identified as a suspect in the murder, according to police and the case remained open for decades.
That was until the 50th anniversary of Hall’s death, when the Montgomery County Police Department decided to reopen the cold case. For nearly a year, detectives investigated, reviewing case files and recordings, interviewing witnesses, and eventually identifying Smith – now in his 70s and living in Little Falls, New York.
Police allege in charging documents that around 1975 Becker switched from using the last name of the family who adopted him to his biological parents’ last name of Smith “purposefully to avoid any further investigation into his involvement in the offense.”
On Oct. 6, 2022, a Montgomery County grand jury indicted Smith for first-degree murder, according to previous MoCo360 reporting. He has been held without bond since Oct. 11, 2022, digital court records indicated.
