She was fatally shot around 11:20 a.m. March 25, 2024, in the driveway of Brock’s house in the 7000 block of South Charleston-Clifton Road in Madison Twp. She was flown to Kettering Health Main Campus, where she died in surgery.
During opening arguments Monday in Judge Douglas Rastatter’s courtroom, Assistant Clark County Prosecutor Kadawni Scott told jurors that Brock prevented her from leaving and fired six rounds at Hall, who “presented no harm or immediate danger to him.”
“Objectively, a reasonable person would not shoot a defenseless woman multiple times to protect themselves from words of a scammer,” Scott said. “The act doesn’t justify the act of taking a life of another, because words scared him?”
Defense attorney Jon Paul Rion told jurors during his opening statements that Brock was the victim of a sophisticated, possibly international “organized crime ring” under investigation by the FBI in which his and his family’s lives were threatened.
The morning of March 25, Brock received a call from a person claiming to be a lawyer for the grandson of a friend who needed $12,000 cash for bail after he was involved in a crash with his truck that killed a pregnant woman, Rion said.
Brock believed the story and got the cash he was supposed to give to a woman they identified as Hall in a black sedan at the courthouse, Rion said. In further calls, Brock also spoke with someone claiming to be a judge. During a call in which Brock talked to the person claiming to be the grandson, he asked for his last name and type of truck he drives. The man on the line provided close, but not accurate answers.
“This is where it really changed,” Rion said. “At that point, the phone gets handed to somebody else. And this person starts screaming at Bill, threatening to kill him, threatening to kill everyone in his family, and saying the black car is now in your driveway, we have drones above your property, watching.”
The person on the line told Brock that he would send someone to kill him if he didn’t receive a call from Hall that she had the money, he said.
When Hall got out of the black Acura sedan, walked through a breezeway marked “no trespassing” to the back porch and through a storm door that was slightly ajar into an office space and told Brock, “I’m here for the package,” Rion said this was confirmation for Brock that she was part of the scam.
“She well may be a very innocent victim,” he said.
“But there are some facts that don’t make sense,” he added, including that the scammer seemed to have her information before contacting Brock and that she was coming from the Columbus area.
Brock approached Hall with a .22 caliber pistol and demanded she give him her cellphone, which Rion said was to buy him some time to prevent her from making that call.
A dashcam video from Hall’s car shows her walking backward, yelling for help as Brock said he would shoot her leg if she did not give him her phone. He then shot her leg and reportedly tried to prevent her from leaving. At one point during a scuffle she closed the car door on his head, which led Brock to suffer lacerations requiring stitches to his head and ear before he shot her further times.
Brock called 911 after shooting Hall multiple times.
In the call played for the jury, Brock admitted he was the shooter. As he was talking to a dispatcher about the shooting and scam, Hall could be heard in the background saying, “help me,” “help me, please.”
Clark County Sheriff’s Sgt. Denise Jones testified that she responded to the shooting to assist investigators. She took photos of Hall that showed at least four gunshot wounds, including those to her leg, sternum and midsection.
She also testified that she had to convince Brock to get his injuries treated. At the hospital, Rion said a CT scan revealed brain atrophy and a condition that affects the ability to process information that can happen as a person ages.
The scammers called 20 times following the shooting, Rion said, apparently wanting to know what was going on. A detective who answered at one point reportedly was bullied into giving information and told the scammer that Brock was speaking to law enforcement officers. In addition, Rion said the threat is ongoing. On Dec. 16, 2024, an email was sent to his office, purportedly from the scammer, saying that he would be glad to take his life if he wins this case.
Brock remains free on $200,000 bond.
Credit: Springfield News Sun
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