Overview
- Reginald Lively, 68, was sentenced by Circuit Judge Sylvester B. Cox Jr. to life without parole after a jury convicted him of first-degree murder in the death of John Hall III.
- Investigators said surveillance footage showed Lively carrying a plastic bag with a weighted, reddish-stained object, and DNA analysis confirmed his presence in Hall’s apartment.
- Hall, 68, was found on May 28, 2021, with at least 17 blunt-force injuries and 88 sharp-force injuries, and no large sums of money were recovered despite his winning about $1,000 at a casino the night before.
- Lively previously pleaded guilty to second-degree murders in 1986 and 2000, serving roughly eight and twelve years of those sentences before parole, a history prosecutors cited in criticizing earlier release decisions.
- Officials said the State’s Attorney’s Cold Case Unit, led by Chief Kurt Bjorklund, reopened the file, pursued additional forensic testing, and has now closed three cases as it reviews about 50 unsolved homicides.