Jeff Ross Roast At Center Of Supreme Court Dearth Penalty Appeal

Comedian Jeff Ross and his Comedy Central show Jeff Ross Roasts Criminals: Live at Brazos County Jail will be a part of a Supreme Court hearing on the death penalty. Business Insider first reported that a convicted murderer in Texas facing the death penalty, Gabriel Hall, claims that the roast made by the comedian unfairly influenced his sentencing.

Ross interviewed Hall during the filming of the show. In the clip, Hall made light of his role in the murder of a woman in a wheelchair. At the time, Hall was awaiting trial on the 2015 murder of a Navy veteran and his wife. The footage of Hall did not make the show’s final cut but was later subpoenaed. The state then used the footage in his sentencing. Hall was given the death penalty.

Hall’s attorneys now argue that the footage was unfairly obtained. His attorneys claim the inclusion of the footage went against a “no contact” order. The state, however, claims that the footage shows Hall voluntarily talking to Ross and also points to a signed release form. In January, the appeal of his sentence will be heard by the US Supreme Court.

Hall’s lawyers, led by Robert C. Owen, claim that Hall was joking in the footage and was trying to play along with the comedian. They went on to say that the footage showed “a professional comic consciously working to provoke a response from an unwary subject — aggressively pushing [Hall] to make ‘outrageous’ statements to which Ross offered ‘wild’ or scandalous rejoinders — to maximize the video’s commercial value as entertainment.” Ross and Comedy Central could not be reached for comment and have not commented on the case.

When the comedy special originally came out in 2015, Ross went on Conan and said of the project that he was trying to “put a human face on the inmate in America.”

“Ninety percent of the people in jail right now are coming out someday,” he also said of the show. “You have to give them some hope, give them some laughs. We have to humanize criminals. We treat them like dust.”