Man gets life for murder outside barbershop
A 30-year-old Dedham man was sentenced yesterday to life in prison without parole for murdering a father outside the Mattapan barbershop where his young son had just gotten a haircut.
William Shakespeare was convicted Friday of firearm charges and the first-degree murder of Marcus Hall, 31, under the theories of deliberate premeditation and extreme atrocity or cruelty. Jurors also convicted Shakespeare of unlawfully carrying the firearm he used to kill Hall, 31, on June 14, 2016, outside the Hair It Is barbershop on Blue Hill Avenue.
“My brother Marcus Hall was someone who wanted to make a change in this city. ... He was our shining star,” Tanja Badgett said at Shakespeare’s Suffolk Superior Court sentencing. “I would like you to know the violence in the city that made Marcus want to make a change is the same senseless act that was brought upon him. Marcus could have taught this defendant to be a better dad, husband, friend, only if he would have taken the time to use his mouth instead of a gun.”
During a week of testimony, Assistant District Attorney Catherine Ham of the Suffolk District Attorney’s Homicide Unit proved that Shakespeare was inside the barbershop when Hall and his then-4-year-old son came in just before 12:20 p.m. The two men had a tense verbal exchange, followed by an argument in the parking lot.
Shakespeare then left the scene, the evidence showed, but returned shortly afterward, making his way through backyards and wooded areas to the shop’s back door.
Hall pushed his son behind him, went outside, lunged at Shakespeare as if to try to grab the gun from him and was shot to death.
“Marcus Hall faced an armed gunman alone, rather than put his son in danger by fleeing inside,” District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said. “His last act on this earth was to protect the child he loved.” Hall’s family called Shakespeare a “coward” and praised Boston police for arresting him in New York early last year and returning him to the Hub to stand trial.
“Even though he was found guilty for this vicious murder of my son, there are still no winners,” Hall’s mother, Francine Tymes, said. “His wife and children are hurting, just like our family is . ... Not once has he thought about what he has done to his family.”