Former NFL Player De’von Hall found not guilty of killing his mother by Reason of Insanity

Former NFL player, De’von Hall, who was on trial for the murder of his mother, has been found not guilty by reason of insanity three years after her death. 

According to the Los Angeles Times, Judge Lauren Weis Bernstein made the ruling in Los Angeles County Superior Court Hall after considering mental health observations from doctors commissioned by both the defense and prosecution. 

In April 2017, Alecia Benson, 48, was found battered at a home in L.A.’s Windsor Hills area and succumbed to her injuries four days later in the hospital, the L.A. Times reported at the time. 

Her only child Hall, 32, was apprehended by police and arrested for allegedly attacking and killing her.

“Alecia Benson was a wonderful mother who tragically died,” a public defender for Hall said in a statement, per the L.A. Times. “Mr. Hall will now go to a state hospital to get the type of mental health treatment that Ms. Benson always wanted for her son.”

According to a 911 call, as reported by the L.A. Times, a witness said Hall attacked his mom.

“He hit her. He stomped her out,” the witness told a dispatcher when reporting the incident. “They got in a tussling match and next thing you know she was on the ground and he was stomping her out.”

After retiring from professional football, Hall dealt with mental health issues and struggled with homelessness, until his mom tried to help by taking him in, according to KCAL. The former Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Indianapolis Colts star lived with his mom for two months before her death.