Two Charged in Slaying

Prosecutors have charged two men arrested for killing a man near PCC with first degree murder and a hate crime.

Detectives arrested Patrick Mason, 42 and Steven Sumner, 45, in connection with the murder of James Hall, 41, Wednesday.

Hall was stabbed Monday about 8 p.m. on Colorado Boulevard .

“They got into an altercation at the 99 Cent store just east of PCC on Colorado Boulevard,” said Lt. John Dewar. “At some point the victim challenged him outside, the suspect came outside and chose not to confront him and got a friend who was on parole and found the victim and attacked him and stabbed him.”

The incident was not related to PCC. The campus is currently closed for spring break and none of the suspects entered the campus during the confrontation.

“It should be made clear that the incident had nothing to do with PCC or activities at PCC,” said police spokesperson Janet Pope Givens on Wednesday.  “We want to insure that students and teachers understand that this is an isolated incident that simply occurred in the vicinity.”

Dewar said one of the men was an avowed skinhead recently paroled after serving 13 years in state prison for assault with a deadly weapon charges. He was paroled in Nov. 2008.

Hall is an African-American. If the men are convicted the hate crime stipulation could add another one to four years to their convictions.

After the incident Hall managed to make it to the south Hill Avenue which is about a quarter mile away from the incident, and flagged down a passerby who called 911. Paramedics responded to the call, but Hall died of his wounds at Huntington Hospital about an hour later.