Sentencing was continued pending a ruling by Judge Douglas Rastatter on a defense motion filed seeking acquittal or a new trial, which is opposed by the county prosecutor’s office.
Brock, an Army veteran and lifelong farmer, is known in the tight-knit South Charleston community as a kind, friendly and upstanding man who is always eager to help others. He remains active in his church. He still works his farm in his 80s, though never on Sunday, even during harvest or planting season, according to the letters.
Brock, 81 at the time, was getting ready for a day tending his fields by spreading fertilizer when he received the first of several calls with scammers in which his life and the lives of family members were threatened.
“That call triggered everything that occurred on that morning. He was terrified for his life and the lives of his family,” said one letter-writer who described herself as a close friend who has known Brock for more than six decades.
Brock claimed self-defense in Hall’s death after she unknowingly played a part in the sophisticated scam, which demanded he pay $12,000 in cash, when she arrived at his house as part of her Uber job, saying she was there to collect a package. The scammers reportedly told him that he and his family would die if Hall did not call to say she had the money.
An FBI investigation into the scammers is ongoing.
A dashcam video from Hall’s black Acura shows her walking backwards, yelling for help as Brock said he would shoot her leg if she did not give him her cellphone. He then shot her leg and reportedly tried to prevent her from leaving. At one point during a scuffle Hall closed the car door on Brock’s head, which led him to suffer lacerations requiring stitches to his head and ear, before he shot her further times.
Credit: Springfield News Sun
Brock called 911 after shooting Hall multiple times.
Brock is in the Clark County Jail after Rastatter revoked his bond following the jury’s guilty verdict.
Friends and family described him as a product of his generation, living simply in a rural community. He is generally not good with technology, does not use a computer and his house has no internet or cable service. He has numbers programmed into his cellphone and had not even heard of Uber before the altercation, according to the letters.
He did not initially call 911, one letter-writer said, “because he believed — incorrectly, but sincerely — that 911 was only for fire and ambulance emergencies."
Friends and family also raised concerns about Brock’s advanced age and declining health.
“Justice is not diminished by compassion. Mercy does not negate accountability,” one letter states. “I ask the Court to weigh the totality of circumstances, including Bill Brock’s age, health, history and the extraordinary fear and manipulation that led to this tragedy when imposing sentence.”
“At his age, incarceration will carry consequences far beyond punishment alone,” a letter from a community member states. “I respectfully ask you to consider leniency where possible under the law.”
Several letters expressed a belief that the verdict was unjust given the circumstances surrounding Hall’s death.
“This case raises troubling questions about how we protect our elderly population, who are especially vulnerable to scams, intimidation and exploitation,” one community member wrote. “What message does this outcome send to those who prey on the elderly? That they can terrorize them and remain unidentified while the victim bears the consequences?”
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