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Man Convicted In Skier's Death Avoids Parole Violation

Parole Violation Complaint Against Nathan Hall is Dismissed

POSTED: 8:52 am MDT April 12, 2004
UPDATED: 11:50 am MDT April 12, 2004

Charges of violation of parole were dismissed Monday against the first skier in the country convicted of homicide in a deadly collision on the slopes.

Nathan Hall

Nathan Hall, 25 (pictured, right), was due in District Court in Summit County Monday to answer charges that he hadn't paid the full amount of court-ordered restitution to Alan Cobb's family and hasn't fulfilled his community service. However, attorney Brett Heckman said the parole complaint against Hall was dismissed once Hall made the final payment.

Hall was convicted in 2000 of criminally negligent homicide in the 33-year-old Cobb's death at the Vail ski resort. Cobb, from Denver, died of head injuries in the 1997 crash.

Witnesses said Hall, a Vail ski-lift operator at the time, was skiing extremely fast in poor conditions when he became airborne and collided with Cobb, a Denver woodworker on the last day of the ski season. Hall had just ended his shift as a lift operator.

Court records indicated Hall was an expert skier who had previously raced on his California high school team.

Hall, who spent three months in jail, still owes $4,890 of the $18,000 court-ordered restitution, hasn't documented his community-service hours at the local Humane Society and didn't file monthly probation reports for nine months last year, according to the complaint filed by probation officer Connie Cooper.

Hall, who has been living in California, was ordered to appear before District Judge David Lass Monday. He faced as many as one to three years in prison if he had been found guilty of violating his parole..

Lower-court judges initially dismissed the case against Hall in Cobb's death, but former district attorney Mike Goodbee successfully appealed to the state Supreme Court for its reinstatement under the Colorado Skier Responsibility Act.

Originally charged with reckless manslaughter, an Eagle County jury convicted Hall of the lesser charge of criminally negligent homicide, a felony that could have resulted in one to three years in prison.

He also was convicted of consumption of alcohol by a minor and possession of marijuana after a film canister of marijuana was found in Hall's bag after the collision.

Vail had earlier settled a lawsuit by Cobb's family for about $300,000.


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