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Thread: George Mason III Sentenced to Life in 2014 FL Triple Murder

  1. #1
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    George Mason III Sentenced to Life in 2014 FL Triple Murder





    Brooksville man found guilty of killing girlfriend, others in 2014

    By Megan Reeves
    Tampa Bay Times

    BROOKSVILLE — A Hernando County court convicted George Mason III Wednesday of three 2014 murders that investigators called one of the most horrific shooting rampages in Brooksville history.

    Mason, 46, was found guilty by a jury of three counts of first-degree murder and one of attempted first-degree murder, court records show. He is set to appear again in court Monday, when jurors will consider the death penalty.

    On the night of Aug. 29, 2014, police said Mason shot four people at a small, cream-colored house at 820 Peach St. — home to his half-brother, Gabriel "Bo" Taylor, their mother Tracy Taylor and their 81-year-old grandmother, Jannie V. Taylor.

    Three people died: Tarasha Yata Townsend, Mason’s 37-year-old girlfriend and mother of his two daughters; his grandmother; and Ralph Peyton, another son of his mother’s. Gabriel Taylor, 33, was critically wounded.

    At the time, police said they weren’t aware of a motive. Mason was "just hellbent on a violent outrage," said Brooksville Police Chief George Turner.

    PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Three people killed in Brooksville shooting


    After the killings, investigators said, Mason chased Gabriel Taylor to the corner of Main Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, where he shot him multiple times with a 9mm handgun. Then a passing pickup hit Mason, who ended up in the hospital with several broken bones before he was charged.

    Records show Mason’s criminal history goes back to 1991. Between 1992 and 2007, he served four terms in state prison for cocaine and marijuana sales and possession, battery on a law enforcement officer, fleeing law enforcement and felon possession of a firearm, among other crimes, Florida records show.

    http://www.tampabay.com./news/courts...2014_169150145
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  2. #2
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    Brooksville man convicted of murder awaits possible death sentence

    By Megan Reeves
    Tampa Bay Times

    BROOKVILLE — Although he was convicted last week on first-degree murder charges, George Mason III will wait nearly two months to find out whether he will face death for the crimes.

    The fate of the 47-year-old Brooksville man — found guilty by a jury on June 15 of fatally shooting three people and critically injuring a fourth in 2014 — could have been decided Monday morning. But when Mason appeared before Hernando County Circuit

    Judge Stephen Toner and a jury for his penalty phase, his attorney Devon Sharkey asked that the court hold off until August.

    "After speaking with our witnesses and gathering as much information as we can ... it seems the earliest that we would be able to proceed collectively ... would be Aug. 13," he told the court.

    Toner and Assistant State Attorney Pete Magrino, the prosecutor in the case, agreed.

    Following the jury’s guilty verdict, Magrino told the Tampa Bay Times: "The Office of the State Attorney, law enforcement and the victims’ family are pleased that the jury returned the verdict as they did."

    Before dismissing jurors on Monday, Toner acknowledged the lengthy continuance and them not to indulge in conversations or read anything about Mason’s case.

    "It’s tough, I get that," he said. "Just keep in mind that it’s very, very important."

    Just before leaving the courtroom, Mason, dressed in a blue plaid button-down, raised his hand and told Toner he wants to challenge a pending charge against him — being a felon in possession of a firearm.

    "I want to fight it sir," Mason said. "I want to take the state to trial on that charge."

    The judge told him a pre-trial date would be set, likely for Aug. 13.

    Brooksville police said on the night of Aug. 29, 2014, Mason shot four people at a small, cream-colored house at 820 Peach St. — home to his half-brother, Gabriel "Bo" Taylor, their mother Tracey Taylor and their 81-year-old grandmother, Jannie V. Taylor.

    Three people died: Tarasha Yata Townsend, Mason’s 37-year-old girlfriend and mother of his two daughters; his grandmother, and Ralph Peyton, another son of his mother’s. Gabriel Taylor, 33, was critically wounded.

    At the time, police said they weren’t aware of a motive. Mason, whose criminal history dates back to 1991, records show, was "just hellbent on violent outrage," said then-Brooksville Police Chief George Turner.

    http://www.tampabay.com/news/courts/...ence_169259136
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  3. #3
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Jury recommends life sentence in 2014 Brooksville triple murder

    By Jack Evans
    Tampa Bay Times

    BROOKSVILLE — A Brooksville man convicted of killing his girlfriend and two others in a 2014 shooting rampage likely will spend the rest of his life in prison after a jury declined to sentence him to death.

    George Mason III was convicted of the murders in June, but various delays pushed the penalty phase of his trial to this week. A jury handed down the recommendation Tuesday evening after deliberating for about an hour.

    It came at the end of more than a week of testimony and arguments over whether Mason would get life or death. A judge will hand down Mason’s final sentence on Nov. 11.

    In his opening argument and questioning of a medical examiner, Assistant State Attorney Pete Magrino reestablished the narrative of the crime:

    On Aug. 29, 2014, in a small house on Peach Street in Brooksville, Mason shot and killed his mother’s son Ralph Peyton. He walked into 81-year-old Jannie Taylor’s bedroom, said "you didn’t see that," and shot her in the face.

    Outside, he confronted his 37-year-old girlfriend, Tarasha Townsend — with whom he had two daughters. He fired a shot that the medical examiner testified would have paralyzed the woman and left her to die in the street. And he chased Gabriel Taylor to a nearby street corner, where he shot him before a Dodge pickup truck struck Mason and ended the violence. Gabriel Taylor survived.

    "These murders were cold, calculated and premeditated," Magrino told the jury.

    The defense tried to stave off a death sentence by convincing the jury that Mason suffered from a brain disease that stripped him of his ability to control his impulses. One expert testified that he believed Mason had multiple sclerosis and compared his brain to a block of Swiss cheese.

    "You could say in this case that it doesn’t matter what the actual label for the disease is," said Dr. Geoffrey Colino, a neurologist who frequently appears in court as an expert witness. "It is present. It is wreaking havoc."

    Mason and Gabriel Taylor were half-brothers, and as the Tampa Bay Times reported in 2014, Jannie Taylor treated Mason as one of her grandsons. The shooting unfolded in the home where Jannie Taylor lived with her daughter, Tracy Taylor, and Tracy’s sons, Gabriel and Ralph Peyton.

    Last week, on the first day of the penalty phase, loved ones of the victims — and, in the case of Gabriel Taylor, the victim himself — read statements about how Mason’s crimes had upended their lives.

    Ralph Peyton could not be viewed at his funeral because the shooting "rearranged his face," his mother Tracy Taylor said. She added that, for a time, she’d had to stay out of her own home, where the shooting took place.

    The shooting left Gabriel Taylor with post-traumatic stress disorder, he said. He missed his grandmother’s cooking, missed playing video games with his younger brother. He wished he’d been able to tell them goodbye.

    Townsend’s cousin, Angela Williams, spoke directly to Mason.

    "I want you, George Mason III, to know that Tarasha’s death is a life sentence for her five children and family," she said.

    https://www.tampabay.com/news/public...rder_171968092
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  4. #4
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Who ever is so impatient I know what I am doing and can finish updating my threads.
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  5. #5
    Senior Member CnCP Addict one_two_bomb's Avatar
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    Once again the shameful state of Florida wastes time, resources and taxpayer dollars seeking the death penalty against another mass murderer and the citizens decline to impose it. I don't see what the point is of Florida even keeping the death penalty on the books. They are worse than Ohio.

  6. #6
    Moderator Ryan's Avatar
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    Mason III sentenced to Life on 12/16/18.

    http://www.dc.state.fl.us/offenderSe...&TypeSearch=AI
    "How do you get drunk on death row?" - Werner Herzog

    "When we get fruit, we get the juice and water. I ferment for a week! It tastes like chalk, it's nasty" - Blaine Keith Milam #999558 Texas Death Row

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