A Montgomery County man was sentenced to state prison for raping a woman in a public park

A West Norriton man was sentenced Wednesday to 13 to 32 years in state prison for raping a woman at gunpoint as she was out jogging along a trail in a public park.

Prosecutors had asked Montgomery County Judge Thomas Branca to impose the maximum sentence for Mason Hall, 22, on charges including rape, reckless endangerment, and unlawful restraint, which would have put Hall behind bars for up to 44 years.

But Branca, in imposing the shorter sentence, said he had to carefully weigh the seriousness of Hall’s actions against his ability to be rehabilitated.

“The treatment of this defendant may be difficult and it may not succeed. ... That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t consider it,” Branca said. “I do not believe that I need to or should warehouse this individual for the maximum sentence, but, that said, there are many aggravating factors in this case.”

On a warm morning in August 2017, Hall walked about a mile from his home to the Norristown Farm Park. There, wearing a ski mask and brandishing a black gun, he waited in seclusion until the victim — a 19-year-old about to start her sophomore year at Temple University — jogged by him.

Hall approached the woman, held the gun to her head and forced her to walk into a nearby wooded area. There, he raped her and fled. After years of investigation, detectives identified Hall as a suspect through DNA found at the crime scene, which was traced to him by using publicly available genealogy databases. He pleaded guilty to the charges in June.

The victim addressed Hall for the first time Wednesday, describing the sheer terror, panic, and paranoia she has felt in the four years since the attack. She had trouble sleeping for many months after the attack, she said, and was afraid to walk around Temple’s campus.

“When I should’ve been worried about school, I was thinking about him,” the woman said. “Living in fear isn’t normal. Being worried about a criminal on the loose isn’t normal.”

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Her father, mother, and brother took turns during the hearing asking Branca to punish Hall and separate him from the community, calling him a “dangerous human who does not respect basic human rights.”

Hall, in addressing both the victim and the judge, apologized for his actions that day.

“Words can’t describe how much regret, how much shame, how many emotions I feel because of this horrible act I committed,” he said. “I am taking full responsibility for this.”

Despite the shorter sentence imposed, District Attorney Kevin Steele said he was pleased with the outcome of the case.

“This was an important sentence because it terrorized the community,” Steele said. “And 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.”