Jurors returned a guilty verdict in the retrial of Dion Thompson for the murder of DC Metropolitan Police Department Sgt. Tony Mason Jr. The verdict was rendered July 30 before Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Cynthia H. Jones.
In last March’s original trial, the jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict. While a motive was never established, the murder resulted from a case of mistaken identity.
Thompson, 27, was charged in connection to the Nov. 4, 2017 fatal shooting of Mason, 40, and wounding of his girlfriend on the 2800 block of Elgin Avenue. According to charging documents and witness testimony, Mason was sitting in a vehicle with his girlfriend when multiple shots were fired at the victims.
Thompson’s former cellmate also testified, stating that the defendant confessed to the shooting and that Mason had appeared to him as a “ghost.”
Nine years after the incident, Thompson was convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy to murder of Mason, and attempted second-degree murder of Mason’s girlfriend. However, he was acquitted of conspiracy and attempted first-degree murder of the girlfriend, as well as the use of a firearm in a violent crime.
The retrial serves as the inaugural case in the State Attorney’s Office’s Cold Case Homicide Unit. In a Thursday evening press release, State’s Attorney Ivan J. Bates thanked BPD for their work on the case, hoping that the guilty verdict “provides some measure of peace for everyone who continues to feel the weight of his loss.”
Sentencing is scheduled for August 5 before Judge Cynthia H. Jones.
