SAN MARCOS — A Superior Court judge granted a continuance July 16 in the sentencing of William M. Hall II, a former Palomar College student convicted of calling in multiple bomb threats to the campus last fall.

“In light of the seriousness of the case, I’ll grant the motion … but it will not be continued after that,” Judge Joel Pressman said.

A Sept. 10 hearing date was set, at which time a new trial could be scheduled or the sentencing will take place.

Hall has hired a private attorney to review his case to determine if there’s sufficient evidence to file a motion for a retrial.

If he’s sentenced in September, Hall could receive up to nine months in prison.

In May, a panel of nine women and three men unanimously agreed that Hall phoned in six bomb threats on three separate occasions last fall — Sept. 13, Sept. 19 and Oct. 18 — which resulted in the evacuation and closure of portions of the San Marcos college, including the children’s day care center.

Three dispatchers who fielded the phony phone calls identified Hall as the caller after authorities played a clip of his voice, according to testimony by Sgt. Lee Martin with the Palomar Police Department.

Further, Martin testified that records from Hall’s cell phone revealed that calls had been placed to the campus within minutes of the purported bomb threats.

Hall was working in food services at the campus cafeteria when the threats were placed, the sergeant said.

Throughout the trial, defense attorney John Lee urged jurors to evaluate all the evidence, including “suggestibility” by law enforcement to get the three identifications of Hall’s voice, as well as information that investigators ignored evidence that other individuals may have had access to Hall’s phone at the time.