HARRISBURG, PA — Attorney General Michelle Henry announced that a Philadelphia man was sentenced Friday to 26 to 52 years in a state correctional facility for the 2021 murder of 21-year-old Dominic Billa, and the attempted murder of another man, at the Philadelphia Mills Mall.
Earlier this year, a Philadelphia jury convicted 23-year-old Gregory Smith of third-degree murder, attempted murder, and possession of an instrument of crime.
Smith was sentenced Friday in a Philadelphia County Court by Judge Barbara A. McDermott. He was also ordered to pay $15,000 in restitution to the family of Dominic Billa.
“Gregory Smith showed a complete disregard for the safety of everyone in the area when he shot and killed Dominic Billa in a crowded shopping mall. Nothing can bring Dominic back to his family and loved ones, but the defendant has now been held accountable for this senseless act of violence,” Attorney General Henry said. “Thanks to the hard work of our prosecutors and law enforcement partners, Mr. Smith will no longer be able to cause chaos and destruction in Philadelphia.”
Trial testimony indicated that Smith was at Philadelphia Mills Mall on March 29, 2021, when a fight broke out in the food court. Smith fatally shot Billa, then shot at another man who tried to help Billa. The second man was not wounded.
At the time of the murder, Smith was on bail awaiting trial on several cases in Philadelphia, Bucks and Montgomery counties for offenses including drug and firearms possession firearms offenses, retail theft, and resisting arrest.
The case was prosecuted by Deputy Attorney General Katherine McDermott and Senior Deputy Attorney General Christopher Phillips.
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