Police say she poisoned her boyfriend. Her lawyer says they misled a court to get warrants – The Advocate

The new attorney for a Baton Rouge woman charged in her boyfriend’s fatal 2015 poisoning — and suspected in her husband’s suspicious death nine months later — is accusing detectives of “intentionally” misleading a court commissioner in order to obtain search warrants in the case.

James Manasseh, who recently took over the defense of Meshell Hale, argues law enforcement acted with a “reckless disregard for the truth” in convincing the commissioner to sign search warrants for the homes and vehicles of Hale and her family. He’s seeking to have the warrants voided and all evidence obtained through them suppressed.

Those searches turned up evidence that prosecutors have said incriminates Hale in not only the June 2015 killing of her live-in boyfriend, Damian Skipper, in Baton Rouge but also the March 2016 death of her husband, Arthur Noflin Jr. His charred body was found inside his burned truck in New Orleans.

Hale, 54, is charged with first-degree murder in Skipper’s poisoning death. Her trial is set for June 27. She faces life in prison if convicted as charged. She has not been charged in Noflin’s death.

A Baton Rouge woman charged with first-degree murder in her live-in boyfriend’s fatal 2015 poisoning and suspected in her husband’s suspicious…

A state appeals court, however, has ruled that prosecutors can present evidence at Hale’s murder trial about the suspicious death of Noflin, even though she hasn’t been charged in his death.

Hale was married to Noflin at the time of Skipper’s death. The cause of Skipper’s death was determined to be barium poisoning after his body was exhumed following Noflin’s suspicious death.

Hale’s suppression motion centers on a 2016 Jeep Patriot that, according to authorities, was caught on a license plate reader on Interstate 10 East in LaPlace following Noflin’s truck — less than two hours before the pickup was found torched in New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward.

The Patriot, traveling two seconds behind Noflin’s truck, was rented by Nina Alexander, who was in a domestic relationship with Hale’s daughter, Dominique Hale, according to previously filed court documents.

Investigators have been looking into whether Dominique Hale and Alexander had anything to do with the possible dumping of Noflin’s body and truck, court records show.

New information revealed in Hale’s suppression motion indicates that 19th Judicial District Commissioner Nicole Robinson signed a search warrant for the Patriot in early April 2016, and that a K-9 “hit” on, or detected, an accelerant on the rear tire cover near the rear hatch back door. A sample of the cargo area carpet was collected for testing.

The Louisiana State Police Crime Lab completed its analysis on April 27, 2016, finding “no common ignitable liquid residue was detected,” the motion states.

Nearly two weeks later, on May 9, 2016, search warrant applications for the homes and vehicles of Hale and her family referenced the K-9 hit — but not include the negative test results, the motion alleges.

Manasseh contends that either New Orleans police Detective Debra Normand, East Baton Rouge Parish sheriff’s Detective Chiquita Broussard, “or both in concert, acted with a reckless disregard for the truth when applications for search warrants were submitted, citing a K-9 hit for accelerant, knowing that subsequent scientific testing had found no accelerant present.”

“Any argument that these results had been back for two weeks but neither NOPD nor EBRSO had been made aware of them strains credulity,” he claims.

Manasseh believes law enforcement made the “intentional, willful decision” to include in the May 2016 search warrants “evidence” that had already been undermined by its own investigation.

“Had the K-9 hit for accelerant not been included, these warrants would not have met the standard for probable cause to search the private homes and vehicles of Ms. Meshell Hale and her family,” he argues.

Manasseh wants to question all relevant witnesses at a hearing. A hearing is scheduled March 2.

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East Baton Rouge Parish District Attorney Hillar Moore III said Friday his office will fully respond to the defense motion as soon as time permits, and added that “we look forward to litigating the motion on March 2.”

Hale has been held without bail since June 2018, when she was arrested in Skipper’s death. Manasseh has filed a separate motion to reinstate her previously set $150,000 bond.    

He says one of the factors the state relied heavily on to push for no bail was that New Orleans police would be arresting Hale imminently on a second murder charge.

“It (is) now becoming clear that the New Orleans Police Department has no intention of arresting Ms. Hale for anything whatsoever,” Manasseh says in the motion to reinstate bond.

A Baton Rouge woman awaiting trial in the fatal 2015 poisoning of her live-in boyfriend lost another round Wednesday in her bid to prevent jur…

The cause and manner of Noflin’s death remain unclassified. An autopsy showed no signs of trauma and determined he did not inhale any smoke, indicating Noflin was dead before his body was burned.

East Baton Rouge prosecutors have claimed in court documents that they have compelling evidence that Hale fatally poisoned Noflin.

Normand testified at a hearing in 2020 that Hale bought barium acetate twice in 2015 before Skipper died, and once in 2016 before Noflin’s death.

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Prosecutors have said Hale researched barium acetate on her computer. The week prior to his death, Noflin was hospitalized twice with the same symptoms Skipper had, according to prosecutors.

Skipper, 41, died after being treated for extreme abdominal pain and related symptoms the week prior to his death. It was believed he died of a heart attack, and he was buried without an autopsy.

Noflin, 42, was found dead in his truck on the floorboard behind the first row of seats.

Prosecutor Dana Cummings has alleged that the motive for “each of the murders” was financial gain.

A lawsuit that aims to determine who is entitled to Noflin’s $750,000 life insurance policy remains on hold until criminal proceedings against Hale have run their course, a judge decided last year.

Hale renounced her claim in September to those proceeds. But her granddaughter, Joy Hale, claims she is the rightful beneficiary to Noflin’s insurance money.

Cummings has said in court that recorded jail phone calls indicate Joy Hale planned to use the money to pay for Meshell Hale’s criminal defense. The prosecutor called that arrangement “unjust and offensive.”

A lawsuit that aims to determine who is entitled to a deceased Baton Rouge man’s $750,000 life insurance policy will remain on hold until crim…

After Skipper died, Meshell Hale claimed she and Skipper were married and she ultimately collected $10,000 in life insurance proceeds, prosecutors have said. Three weeks after Skipper’s death, Noflin made Meshell Hale sole primary beneficiary of his $750,000 life insurance policy. The document also made Joy Hale the sole successor beneficiary.