Erie County District Attorney John J. Flynn announces 24-year-old Bashar Hall of Buffalo has been sentenced by State Supreme Court Justice Russell P. Buscaglia to 25 years to life in prison.

On July 17, 2018, the defendant fatally injured 2 ½-year-old Xavion Hazzard, by beating him inside their home on Weaver Street in the City of Buffalo. The defendant acted in concert with his co-defendant Keona Owens, his girlfriend and the mother of the child. A 911 phone call was placed when the toddler became unresponsive, and Hazzard was taken to John R. Oishei Children’s Hospital where he was pronounced dead later that day.

The Erie County Medical Examiner’s Office determined that the toddler died from multiple blunt force trauma.

In February 2019, Owens was found guilty, as charged, on one count of Murder in the Second Degree, a Class “A” felony, and on one count of Manslaughter in the First Degree, a Class “B” felony, following a bench trial before Justice Buscaglia. She was sentenced on Friday, June 28, 2019 to 25 years to life in prison.

Hall was convicted of the same charges in a separate jury trial in May 2019.

“Xavion did not suffer one beating, but suffered a series of beatings by both defendants that occurred over a 10 to 12 hour period. This little boy had 81 bruises on his head and torso, according to the Erie County Medical Examiner’s Office, which is one of the worst cases of child abuse that has been prosecuted by my office,” said Erie County District Attorney John J. Flynn. “I hope that these defendants spend the rest of their lives behind bars.”

DA Flynn commends the Buffalo Police Department for their work in the investigation, including Det. Sgt. Carl Lundin, Detective Joy Jermain and retired Detective Brendan Kiefer.

The case was prosecuted by Colleen Curtin Gable, Chief of the DA’s Homicide Bureau, and Assistant District Attorney Bethany A. Solek of the DA’s Special Victims Bureau.