A Minneapolis man has been sentenced to more than 33 years in prison after pleading guilty to killing a 24-year-old man last fall.
Prosecutors said 39-year-old Jason Jerrell Herron entered a guilty plea Thursday to one count of second-degree intentional murder.
Herron, who also goes by William Howard Sanders IV, was immediately sentenced to 400 months in prison. He will receive credit for 380 days already served in custody. Prosecutors had previously indicted him on a first-degree murder charge that carried the possibility of life in prison, but that charge was dismissed as part of the plea agreement.
Police were called around 7 p.m. Sept. 3, 2024, to the area of 1st Avenue South and East 19th Street, where they found De’Jaun Hall suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. Despite lifesaving efforts, he died at the scene.
Investigators reviewed surveillance video showing Herron arguing with Hall before pulling a gun from a fanny pack. Hall ran, but Herron chased him around a parked car and shot him in the back. After Hall fell, Herron walked up to him as he lay on the ground with his empty hands raised, pointed a firearm at his head and fired two more shots before walking away.
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Police arrested Herron two days later at a hotel. A search of a vehicle linked to him turned up the same fanny pack and a 9-millimeter handgun inside. The medical examiner’s report confirmed Hall had three gunshot wounds, including two to the head.
In an interview with police, Herron admitted to the shooting. He first claimed he had been smoking PCP and didn’t remember what was going on in his mind. He later said he acted in self-defense, though he acknowledged he never saw Hall or anyone else with a firearm. He told investigators he became suspicious because Hall was wearing a hooded sweatshirt on a warm day.
“This was a terrible act of violence. Mr. Sanders needlessly escalated an argument by drawing and using a firearm to kill De’Jaun Hall,” Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said in a statement after the plea. “My thoughts are with De’Jaun’s family as this case is resolved. We can do nothing to return the person they lost but Mr. Sanders will be held accountable, and our community is safe from further harm at his hands.”
“This was a terrible act of violence. Mr. Sanders needlessly escalated an argument by drawing and using a firearm to kill De’Jaun Hall,” Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said in a statement after the plea. “My thoughts are with De’Jaun’s family as this case is resolved. We can do nothing to return the person they lost but Mr. Sanders will be held accountable, and our community is safe from further harm at his hands.”
Herron is expected to be transferred from the Hennepin County Jail to a state correctional facility in the coming days.
