What Did Each Verdict Establish in the Auburn Rideshare Trial?

What the 2022 verdicts were

WTVM reported that the jury found Halls guilty in the 2022 case on three counts: sodomy, sexual abuse, and a lesser sexual-abuse offense.

Prosecutors alleged a pickup at SkyBar in Auburn. WTVM’s trial story said investigators told the jury the woman remembered leaving a bathroom at the bar and then waking up in jail. Prosecutors alleged Halls drove her to a place the station called the Tuskegee National Forrest, raped her, and took her home around 3 a.m. The station said she went to a neighbor and asked for a 911 call.

WTVM reported that jurors saw dashcam video from both women. The station said officials reported that Halls told Auburn police the video had been deleted, and that investigators later recovered it. Halls testified that both women consented. They disputed that account.

The May 16 report lists those three guilty findings. It does not print a verdict form. It does not list a rape conviction in the 2022 case. Silence on that count is not an acquittal. The report simply does not say.

What the 2020 acquittal was

WTVM reported that the jury found Halls not guilty on all charges in the 2020 case.

As the station described it, that result means the jury did not convict him of the 2020 charges before it. It does not establish that the encounter was lawful. It does not decide a civil claim. The reports do not cite an Alabama statute for either point.

WTVM reported in April 2022 that Auburn police charged Halls with first-degree rape and first-degree sexual abuse over a December 2020 incident. The station said both women met him through a rideshare service the authorities did not name. The 2025 trial stories still do not name the company.

WTVM reported that the woman from the 2020 case testified about a similar experience. The jury still returned not-guilty verdicts on the 2020 charges.

What the sentence was

WTVM’s June 17, 2025 report says District Attorney Ventiere described these terms:

• First-degree sodomy: 35 years
• First-degree sexual abuse: 10 years, split to serve 2 years, with 2 years in jail and 8 years on probation
• First-degree sexual abuse: the same split sentence again

Ventiere told WTVM the sentences run one after another. Each term finishes before the next one starts.

The labels do not match the May 16 list. That list said the third guilty finding was a lesser sexual-abuse offense. The sentencing report describes two first-degree sexual-abuse sentences. Both accounts are from WTVM. A judgment would be the record that settles the label. That judgment is not in the articles.

What is still unverified

The split is the point of the story. The jury, as WTVM reported it, convicted on the 2022 counts it named and acquitted on the 2020 charges. One result does not erase the other.

As of November 10, 2026, the WTVM articles do not include a Lee County judgment or a prosecutor’s own charging document. The conviction, the acquittal, and the 35-year term are dated to those articles. They are not confirmed against a judgment.

Sources

• WTVM, “Rideshare driver accused of sexually assaulting another passenger in Auburn,” by Leonard Hall, April 27, 2022
• WTVM, “Investigators testify in trial of Auburn rideshare driver accused of rape, sodomy,” by Justin Brown, May 14, 2025
• WTVM, “Jury renders split decision in Auburn rideshare assault trial,” by Justin Brown and WTVM News Staff, May 16, 2025
• WTVM, “Former Auburn rideshare driver sentenced in sexual abuse, sodomy case,” June 17, 2025

RideClaim.co is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice.