SOUTH CHARLESTON, Ohio (Court TV) — Days after an elderly man was convicted of murdering an Uber driver sent to his house by scam artists, letters have begun pouring into the courthouse begging a judge to show him leniency at sentencing.
William Brock listens as the verdict is read. (Court TV)
William Brock was convicted of multiple charges, including felony murder and kidnapping, for fatally shooting Lo-Letha Hall outside his home on March 25, 2024.
Brock admitted to killing Hall, but said he did so believing that she had been sent to his home by people trying to steal from him. Brock had been targeted by scammers who called his home multiple times that morning, threatening to kill him and his family if he didn’t pay $12,000. Investigators say the same scammers sent Hall, who was working as an Uber driver, to collect the money. There is no evidence that Hall knew she was part of a scam.
More than 80 letters were submitted to Judge Douglas Rastatter ahead of Brock’s sentencing, pleading for mercy on the defendant’s behalf. “Neither Bill Brock or Miss Hall deserved what happened to them that day,” Brock’s girlfriend, Becky Boysel, wrote in a letter. “It was a tragedy.”
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One letter was written by the grandson whom the scammers claimed to have kidnapped. Matt Toops wrote that he feels “a profound sense of emotional guilt. Looking back, the scammers that called Bill that morning used my name as leverage for their crime. He called me once and I wasn’t able to call back in time. If only I had been able to speak to Bill that morning, would things have been different today? I’ll always wonder. I know I’m not responsible for someone’s actions, I carry the weight of wishing I had recognized the seriousness of the situation sooner.”
Other letters were written by Brock’s extended family, school classmates from the 1960s, neighbors, his pastor and even his plumber.
“The individuals who orchestrated the deception and threats that set these events in motion remain free and, tragically, beyond accountability,” Brock’s nephew, Evan Brock, wrote in his letter.
Brock’s attorney, Jon Paul Rion, filed a motion ahead of sentencing asking Judge Rastatter to overturn the jury’s verdict or order a new trial. The motion argues that jury instructions in the case were “fatally flawed.” While prosecutors argued that Hall remained outside Brock’s home, Brock’s defense now argues that, because she was on the home’s attached porch, she was functionally inside “the residence,” changing the standard for self-defense. Because Hall had “no legal right” to be inside Brock’s home, the jury instructions for self-defense were incomplete.
No date has been set for sentencing or for the judge to hear the motion.
