CALIMESA MURDER ALLEGED: Retrial of Former Police Detective in Wife's Death Resumes

The retrial of a former San Bernardino police detective accused of first-degree murder in the death of his 47-year-old wife in Calimesa resumed Monday in Riverside.

Cristi Lynne Hall died of drowning in June 2007 at 1209 Belle Road in Calimesa, according to court records. She also had head lacerations and bruises on her body, a pathologist determined.

Blair Christopher Hall, 52, faces 25 years to life in prison if convicted, according to court officials. His first trial on suspicion of murder ended with a hung jury a year ago, when a third of the 12-member jury voted for acquittal.

Blair Hall remains free on $350,000 bail.

Prosecutors contend that Blair Hall killed his wife "to reap the money paid by her life insurance policies," according to court records.

The following is from a prosecutors' court brief:

At 6:38 a.m. June 7, 2007, paramedics were dispatched to 1209 Belle Road in Calimesa in Riverside County. A neighbor, Lindsay Patterson, called 9-1-1 and reported seeing Blair Hall holding a woman under the water of a small hot tub in the backyard of the home, according to prosecutors.

Blair Hall's daughter also called 9-1-1 from 1209 Belle Road.

When paramedics and deputies arrived, they found Blair Hall performing CPR on his 47-year-old wife, Cristi Hall. She was in full arrest and never showed any signs of life, according to prosecutors. She was pronounced dead a short time later at San Gorgonio Memorial Hospital in Banning.

A pathologist determined the cause of Cristi Hall's death was drowning. She also had a laceration on the top of her head and a laceration on the back of her head. She had five rib fractures, and bruises and other injuries on her back, hands, arms, elbow, torso and face, according to prosecutors.

Blair Hall had several scratches on his body, and DNA under his wife's fingernails "definitively matched" Blair Hall's DNA, according to prosecutors.

Blair Hall's attorneys contended during trial last year that Cristi Hall slipped, hit her head and drowned.

Blair Hall has maintained he is innocent, and his perspective is backed by his and Cristi Hall's three daughters, and members of Cristi Hall's family. Blair and Cristi Hall were married nearly 30 years.

Blair Hall worked for the San Bernardino Police Department from 1982 to 1994, and he took medical retirement after being shot in one leg. He then worked briefly as police chief in two Idaho towns.

In February 2000, Blair Hall was convicted in Idaho for misuse of public monies by a law enforcement officer.

Prosecutors alleged he embezzled about $19,000 from a police fund and he was sentenced to seven years in prison, according to Riverside County court records. The sentence was suspended, probation was granted, and Blair Hall served one year in jail. He completed probation in 2005, according to prosecutors.

Blair Hall was working as a private investigator in Yucaipa at the time of his wife's death.

Jury selection in the retrial was expected to begin Monday or Tuesday. Opening statements were expected on Thursday.