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If you’ve tuned into the various roasts Comedy Central has hosted over the years, you’re likely familiar with the stylings of Jeff Ross. While he’s no stranger to some backlash thanks to the many bawdy jokes he’s told over the course of his career, his approach has spawned a fairly bizarre controversy thanks to the court case he recently found himself involved in.
The case in question centers around Gabriel Hall, a Texas man who was sentenced to death in 2015 after being convicted of a murder he committed in College Station in 2011. Prior to the conclusion of that trial, he was being held at the correctional facility the man known as the “Roastmaster General” visited to film the special dubbed Jeff Ross Roasts Criminals: Live At Brazos County Jail.
According to TMZ, Hall’s legal team recently asked the United States Supreme Court to intervene in the case in a petition where it accused law enforcement of improperly allowing Ross to film himself speaking with the killer while visiting the jail.
The filing claims the Brazos County Sheriff’s Department violated a “no contact” order designed to stop the then-suspect from speaking with anyone without the permission of his attorneys. However, Hall spent more than 15 minutes talking and joking around with Ross before prosecutors used portions of that footage during the trial in an attempt to highlight his lack of remorse while successfully lobbying for the death penalty.
A Texas jail volunteered to let Comedy Central comedian Jeff Ross roast its inmates. It encouraged inmates to participate. Texas then used the footage to sentence my client, Gabriel Hall, to death.
We’re asking #SCOTUS to review the constitutionality of Mr. Hall’s sentence. pic.twitter.com/JFNFskKHDw
— March Mackness (@mckeds) December 28, 2022
It’s worth stressing Ross isn’t facing any legal repercussions for his involvement, as the blame has been primarily placed on officials at the jail who are accused of actively encouraging Hall and other inmates to participate in the special. However, that doesn’t do much to minimize the odd nature of this particular development.