Minneapolis man sentenced in Redwood County Court for seven counts of sex trafficking and drug offenses

A Minneapolis man, Morries Lester Hall, age 45, has been found guilty in Redwood County Court of seven counts of sex trafficking and drug offenses in Oct. 2019 for an incident in which he transported a woman to Redwood County for purposes of sex. Hall will be sentenced on April 8 at the Redwood County Courthouse.

According to court records and testimony, on Oct. 16, 2019, Hall and two companions, a man and a woman, were found in a car in the parking lot of an area convenience store. The vehicle, a black Crown Victoria, and its occupants remained inside the vehicle while the driver, later identified as Hall, occasionally exited the vehicle and walked around it. After about an hour of observation, Lower Sioux Tribal police officers approached the vehicle to verify everything was okay. Hall indicated they were fine, but were fixing a flat tire. Officers did not observe a flat tire at the time.

Officers located the vehicle several hours later in a different parking lot. The female gave officers a false name and date of birth. After getting consent to search the vehicle, which belonged to Hall, officers found a variety of illegal drugs, including methamphetamine, cocaine, heroin, and fentanyl, with accompanying paraphernalia.

All three individuals were taken into custody and transported to the Redwood County Jail. During a search of Hall, officers also located $2,295 in cash. Hall was read his Miranda Warning and agreed to speak with officers. He admitted he had located the female passenger on Lake Street in Minneapolis the day before, and approached her for the purpose of arranging sexual intercourse between her and the other male in the vehicle.

Redwood County Attorney Jenna M. Peterson told the jury in her closing argument, “This trial is about Hall and what he did…. It does not matter if she’s done this before. It does not matter why she does it. It does not matter that no sex actually occurred. It does not matter that she consented to the offer by Hall. Consent is not a defense for Hall’s actions.”

On Feb. 23 a Redwood County jury found Morries Lester Hall guilty of one count of Solicitation of an Individual for Prostitution, one count of Sex Trafficking in the Second Degree, one count of Promotion of an Individual for Prostitution, three counts of Possession of Controlled Substances in the Fifth Degree, and one count of Possession of Drug Paraphernalia.