NORRISTOWN, Pa. (KYW Newsradio) — The 22-year-old who held a gun to a woman's head and raped her in a Norristown park in the summer of 2017 is on his way to state prison.
Mason Hall is sentenced to between 13 and 32 years in state prison. He gets credit for more than two years he has spent in the Montgomery County Jail.
Hall was 17 when he raped a 19-year-old at gunpoint in Norristown Farm Park, as she was out for a jog in the park at about 11 a.m. on August 1, 2017.
He snuck up behind her, pointed a gun at her head, and threatened to kill her if she didn't listen. He led her into a grassy area and raped her.
It took two years for detectives to identify and arrest Hall.
The victim was about to start her sophomore year at Temple when Hall raped her. She told the judge that while she should have been worried about school, instead she feared for her life, wondering if one of the strangers around her was the man who raped her.
"This is an important sentence because it terrorized the community. Now the community can rest assured that the person that committed this stranger rape in a park is going to be behind bars for a whole lot of years," said Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele.
"She let everybody know the impact that that has on her, but she's strong and she's resilient and she's got her life ahead of her."
At his sentencing, the victim's father's voice cracked as he told the judge he couldn't be there to protect his daughter that day, but he hoped the court would protect her with a lengthy sentence, as he put it, so Hall "doesn't do this to someone else's daughter."
Hall apologized to his victim and her family. He said what he did was terrible and horrible. He told the judge he deserves to be punished, but he will be committed to taking steps to bettering himself.
"Words can't describe how much regret, how much shame, how many emotions I feel because of this horrible act I committed," he said.
Judge Thomas Branca told Hall the rape conviction will follow him for the rest of his life, including his time in state prison.
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