Kenneth Hall v. State

CourtCourt of Appeals of Georgia
DecidedMarch 27, 2026
DocketA26A0176
StatusPublished

This text of Kenneth Hall v. State (Kenneth Hall v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kenneth Hall v. State, (Ga. Ct. App. 2026).

Opinion

FOURTH DIVISION MCFADDEN, P. J., WATKINS and PADGETT, JJ.

NOTICE: Motions for reconsideration must be physically received in our clerk's office within ten days of the date of decision to be deemed timely filed. https://www.gaappeals.us/rules

MARCH 27, 2026

In the Court of Appeals of Georgia

A26A0176. HALL v. THE STATE.

PADGETT, Judge.

Kenneth Hall was found guilty of a single count of theft by conversion

following a jury trial and was sentenced by the trial court. Hall filed a timely motion

for new trial, which was denied. He appeals from that denial, alleging that the

evidence was insufficient to support the conviction, the trial court erred in allowing

the accusation to be redacted, the trial court erred in allowing certain evidence to be

presented to the jury, and that he received ineffective assistance of counsel. Finding

no reversible error, we affirm.

1 “On appeal from a criminal conviction, the evidence must be viewed in the

light most favorable to support the verdict, and the defendant no longer enjoys a

presumption of innocence.” Rodriguez v. State, 375 Ga. App. 283, 283 (916 SE2d 10)

(2025) (citation modified). Viewed in that light, the record shows that a family that

lived in the same community as Hall and his wife saw some of Hall’s home

renovation and interior design work displayed on social media and contracted with

Hall for work they wanted to have done on their home.1 Between July 2015 and

October 2015, the family issued a series of seven checks to Hall in the total amount

of $28,244.47. These checks were issued for Hall to perform renovations on the

family’s home, restore some of their furniture, and to purchase specific furniture and

decor. Following the payments being made, Hall advised the family that the work

would be completed by the fall of 2015. Hall began to perform some of the services

agreed to, but never completed the work and never delivered most of the furniture

and decor. In addition, some of the family’s furniture which Hall was to have

reupholstered and refinished was removed from the family’s home by Hall, but never

returned.

1 The Halls contracted with Appellant and his wife to have the work performed. Hall’s wife was named as a party to the crime within the accusation that charged Hall with theft by conversion. However, Hall’s wife entered a guilty plea to the charges made against her and did not proceed to trial with Hall.

2 The family contacted Hall on numerous occasions to voice their complaints

and concerns about the unfinished work and Hall assured them that he would “get

to it.” When the family became more insistent with their concerns, Hall provided a

number of excuses, including items not being shipped by the manufacturer on time,

waiting on a painter, Hall’s vehicle being inoperable, and Hall’s wife having an

injury, among other excuses. The family ultimately requested, in person and by

email, that Hall either complete the work or return their funds, but Hall did not

respond to that request. The family’s complaints and requests continued through

September 2017, when they received notice that Hall had filed for bankruptcy and

listed the family as creditors. Hall’s bankruptcy petition listed the debt owed to the

family as totaling $30,000, a sum the family agreed was owed to them.

The family ultimately contacted law enforcement and the resulting

investigation revealed that Hall never deposited the family’s checks directly into his

own account, but within days of the checks being cashed by Hall, cash deposits were

made into Hall’s bank account in the exact amount of the checks issued by the family.

Law enforcement officers were unable to identify anything other than minor

purchases made by Hall for materials or decor for the family’s home renovation, but

did find that Hall was paying his own bills using the money provided by the family.

3 Under OCGA § 24-4-404(b), evidence was offered from a former landlord of

Hall’s who testified that she had to evict the Halls from the residence she rented to

them when the rent payments became three months in arrears. The eviction

occurred in March 2015, just a few months before Hall entered into the contract with

the family.

Also under OCGA § 24-4-404(b), two other witnesses testified, who had also

contracted with Hall to have home renovation work performed. One witness testified

that she paid Hall $6,000 to have work performed on her home in 2015, but that Hall

never did the work. A second witness testified that he contracted with Hall in 2010

to perform renovations on his home. That witness testified that he paid Hall

$115,000 for the renovations, but when the house was destroyed by fire during the

renovation period, he asked Hall for an accounting and Hall never provided any

accounting. Ultimately, that witness reported the events to law enforcement and

both Hall and his wife were charged in that case, and an order was entered requiring

payment of restitution totaling $60,000.2

1. Hall alleges that the evidence presented at trial was insufficient to support

his conviction. Our Supreme Court has held that

2 We assume that Hall’s wife was ordered to pay restitution in that separate case as the parties stipulated that Hall has no prior convictions.

4 [w]hen evaluating a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence, we view all of the evidence admitted at trial in the light most favorable to the prosecution and ask whether any rational trier of fact could have found the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the crimes of which he was convicted. This evaluation essentially addresses whether the [State’s] case was so lacking that it should not have even been submitted to the jury. Our limited review leaves to the jury the resolution of conflicts in the evidence, the weight of the evidence, the credibility of witnesses, and reasonable inferences to be made from basic facts to ultimate facts.

McGruder v. State, 303 Ga. 588, 590(II) (814 SE2d 293) (2018) (citation modified).

Hall claims that the State failed to prove criminal intent and, instead, merely

established a breach of contract. We disagree.

Georgia law is clear that the theft by conversion statute, OCGA § 16-8-4, is

“intended to punish fraudulent conversion, not breach of contract, and in order to

avoid the constitutional prohibition against imprisonment for debt, the State must

prove fraudulent intent.” Scarber v. State, 211 Ga. App. 260, 260 (439 SE2d 83)

(1993) (citation omitted). Theft by conversion requires proof of criminal intent

which we define as “the knowing appropriation of funds or property belonging to

another.” Ward v. State, 376 Ga. App. 531, 536(1) (920 SE2d 151) (2025) (citation

omitted). “It is the presence of a fraudulent intent that distinguishes theft by

conversion from a simple breach of contract.” Id. (citation omitted).

5 The question of intent is peculiarly a question of fact for determination by the jury, which may infer a defendant’s intent from the evidence presented at trial. The jury may find the requisite intent upon consideration of the words, conduct, demeanor, motive, and all other circumstances connected with the act.

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Booth v. State
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McGruder v. State
814 S.E.2d 293 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 2018)
Kirby v. State
819 S.E.2d 468 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 2018)
Wilson v. State
830 S.E.2d 407 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 2019)
Roberts v. State
745 S.E.2d 850 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 2013)
McGRUDER v. State
303 Ga. 588 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 2018)
State v. Lane
838 S.E.2d 808 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 2020)
Lewis v. State
878 S.E.2d 467 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 2022)
Harris v. State
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Bluebook (online)
Kenneth Hall v. State, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kenneth-hall-v-state-gactapp-2026.