‘Cold blooded’: Jeremy Hall sentenced to 17 years in 2006 Billy Mason homicide
The book may have closed on one of Hamilton's darkest homicide cases and most protracted trials, as self-described career criminal Jeremy Hall has been sentenced to 17 years in prison for the second-degree murder of William (Billy) Mason nearly 16 years ago.
Superior Court Justice Andrew Goodman called Mason's murder senseless and cold-blooded," as he read from a 21-page reason for sentence" document in John Sopinka Courthouse on Friday.
Mason was 27 years old on Feb. 24, 2006, when Hall killed him with a sawed-off shotgun in a desolate field south of Hamilton.
At the time, Mason was living in an apartment on Main Street East near Gage Park, when Hall dropped in and took him away in a pickup truck.
The Crown's theory is Hall sought revenge on Mason for having set him up to rip off a drug dealer, that resulted in members of Hells Angels riddling the exterior of Hall's east Hamilton home with bullets.
Goodman recounted how after he shot Mason, Hall set fire to the truck, and later retrieved the victim's body and burned it to bone and ash," an act the judge called shocking in its callousness."
He added that since the remains were never found, Hall has forever deprived loved ones of a final resting place" for Mason.
The Crown had argued for a sentence of 23 years before Hall would be eligible for parole, while the defence sought as few as 10 years, if the judge granted Hall extra credit" for time served in segregation and during the pandemic.
In the end, Goodman said we would otherwise have sentenced Hall to 20 years, but reduced it by three years given the prolonged and unacceptable period of segregation" Hall has endured since he was first incarcerated in 2010.
Given that Hall, 46, has already been in custody for the Mason homicide 11 years, he will be eligible to apply for parole six years from now, in 2027.
This is the second time Hall has been convicted for murdering Mason: he was convicted by a jury in 2013 for first-degree murder.
Hall won his appeal of that verdict, and a new trial was ordered, that has been held intermittently over the past 20 months, in part due to COVID-19 delays. He was convicted in January.
Hall appeared in court wearing track pants, long-sleeved shirt, glasses, and skullcap on his bald head.
Mason's mother, Donna Dixon, was in court along with her family and friends.
In the hallway after court, Dixon hugged each of the assistant Crown attorneys who prosecuted the case, Steve O'Brien and Mark Dean.
Dean told The Spectator that it's been a long and hard-fought case and we're glad it's over."
Dixon told the Spectator she wanted to thank the community for supporting her over the years, and especially Hamilton police homicide detectives Mike Maloney and Peter Thom.
Dixon said that while she feels Hall should be spending the rest of his days in jail for taking the life of her son, she was pleased with the 17-year sentence.
No amount of time will ever bring Billy back," she said. But he deserves to be punished."
Hall could still appeal this latest conviction.
When he was led away from the prisoner's dock by court security officers Friday afternoon, someone in the gallery told him to have a nice life," and Hall responded by twirling his index finger in circles, and then held up three fingers, suggesting he is counting on a third trial.
Jon Wells is a Hamilton-based reporter and feature writer for The Spectator. Reach him via email: jwells@thespec.com