A man who served time behind bars for a 2014 fatal shooting thenkilled again nearly two years ago may serve up to life in prison.
Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Chris Wagner sentenced Dathan Hall on Aug. 31 to 48 years to life in prison. A jury convicted Hall, now 33, of more than half a dozen counts, including aggravated murder, during a trial that ended earlier in August.
Prosecutors say that Hall waited in a rented car for more than 45 minutes outside a Green Township nightclub in November 2024 and followed 33-year-old Jason Stewart before killing the man in a targeted drive-by shooting.
"This was a calculated, avoidable killing, not some momentary loss of control," Hamilton County Assistant Prosecutor Elyse Deters said in court.
Prosecutors
sought a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole, noting that it's not the first time Hall has been sent to prison for killing someone.
In 2014, Hall fatally shot Jariell Dean, who was sitting in a vehicle in the parking lot of the Richie's restaurant in West End. Hall was charged with murder but pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and was sentenced to six years in prison.
"Dathan Hall will kill again," Deters said.
Authorities relied on cellphone and vehicle rental records, as well as surveillance footage from the nightclub and other locations, to connect Hall to the most recent killing.
Prosecutors detail vendetta over text to child's mother
Hall located Stewart at the nightclub, stalked the man's movements, tailed Stewart to a traffic light in College Hill and fired seven rounds into Stewart's vehicle, according to prosecutors.
Stewart dialed 911 after being struck twice by gunfire. He later died of his injuries at the hospital.
Deters said that Hall waited to ambush Stewart in an area without witnesses. She added that Hall then changed his phone number just hours later and exchanged the rental car he was driving.
"He covered his tracks," Deters told the judge.
At trial, prosecutors argued the evidence showed Hall's vendetta against Stewart and another man at the club that night stemmed from a text message sent to his child’s mother.
The disagreement began after the woman received a text from her ex-boyfriend, who was also Stewart's close friend, about going to the Cincinnati Music Festival. Prosecutors said the dispute devolved into a “fight over respect” and eventually became a full-fledged vendetta.
They added that Hall went after Stewart as the next best target, if he couldn't get to the woman's ex-boyfriend.
Man convicted of second killing says 'It wasn't me'
Hall told the judge that he's innocent of the killing. He also accused the prosecutors of manipulating evidence presented in his trial.
"I feel like it was an unfair trial," Hall said. "I came into this trial blindfolded."
He denied having any vendetta against Stewart or the ex-boyfriend of his child's mother. He also denied even knowing Stewart.
"It wasn't me," Hall said. At trial, his attorney pointed to testimony that Hall was at the home of another woman in bed at the time of the shooting.
A relative who spoke in court said that Hall is innocent of the 2014 killing as well, but took a guilty plea to avoid a lengthier prison term.
Carl Lewis, Hall's attorney, indicated that his client plans to appeal the most recent convictions and sentence.
Investigator was called to both homicide scenes a decade apart
Detective Todd Greene, with the Cincinnati police homicide unit, was a patrol officer in 2014 when he was called to the scene of the killing in West End that Hall was convicted of. More than a decade later, Greene was the lead detective investigating Stewart's fatal shooting.
He described Hall's repeated involvement in deadly violence as a "troubling pattern of violent behavior."
"Having seen the consequences of these cases firsthand," Greene said in court. "I believe Mr. Hall has demonstrated a continued disregard for the value of human life and has shown that he poses a serious danger to the community."
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Man sentenced for second killing has 'troubling pattern' of violence, detective says
