PROVO — "Please help me," begged Stacy Mason in a Nov. 29, 2001, emergency call to police dispatchers in Payson. Mason repeated the plea several times during the 10-minute 911 call that ended with her 11-year-old daughter's sobs as she told the dispatcher, "My dad just shot my mom."
The replaying of the tape left those in the courtroom choked with emotion and near tears as Boyd Mason was sentenced to consecutive prison terms of up to life on convictions for murder and domestic violence in the slaying of his ex-wife. A sentence of one to 15 years for obstruction of justice will run concurrent to the other sentences.
Fourth District Judge Anthony Schofield said the aggravating circumstances of the murder far outweighed any mitigating circumstances as he pronounced the sentences. Under Utah's sentencing matrix, Mason will likely serve at least 22 years before becoming eligible for parole.
Emotions ran high during the sentencing hearing as prosecutors replayed the 911 tape, which spoke volumes to the horror of the crime and the legacy of hurt it has left behind for the couple's two children.
During the hearing, Darlene Terranova — Stacy Mason's mother — told the court of finding a bullet-damaged Book of Mormon as she cleaned the house following the murder. A shotgun pellet pierced the book's spine, coming to rest next to a passage dealing with man's free will and his ability to choose to do the will of god or to follow evil.
"I said (to myself), 'That's Boyd Mason right there,' " Terranova said.
The impact of the tape left attorneys for the prosecution and defense struggling to fight back tears.
Utah County public defense attorney Christine Johnson said Mason was a man who had a lot of "hurt and anger" over his divorce. That hurt was compounded by an alcohol problem. Johnson noted that family members offered Mason help in finding treatment, but Mason refused it, believing he could handle it on his own.
Mason told the court he was "deeply sorry and ashamed," for what he did.
A tearful deputy Utah County attorney Curtis Larson said mental evaluations indicate Mason continues to be self-centered. "I think he feels more sorry for himself than he feels for anybody else," Larson said.
"This matter is one of the saddest matters that we've had in the court in a long time," Judge Schofield said. Citing the 22-year minimum prison time that Mason faces, Schofield noted Mason's children will be adults by the time he is released and can then make the decision whether to talk to him or not. Schofield ordered that Mason have no contact with his children until they turn 18.
Darlene and Richard Terranova, said they believe justice was served for their daughter. They told the judge how the murder has affected their grandchildren, causing one to sleep with the lights on and the other to keep a knife under his pillow fearing that his father will return.
"But for alcohol, none of this would have happened," Schofield said, "But that's not an excuse."
Schofield said he was most troubled over the 11-year-old girl having to watch an ultimate act of domestic violence.
Stacy Mason had been living at her parents' home with her two children following a rocky divorce from her husband. Police testified at trial that an intoxicated Boyd Mason drove to the home after hearing reports that his ex-wife was seeing another man. The 11-year-old daughter testified of watching from a neighbor's house as Boyd Mason retrieved a shotgun from his truck, fired one round through the door and entered the house where several other shots were fired.
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