Jury selection begins in Hill slaying case

Web posted February 1, 2000

 Have a thought? Go to the @ugusta Forums.

Associated Press

YORK, S.C. -- The weeklong process of selecting a jury began Monday in the death penalty trial of an Aiken County man accused of shooting three state social workers.

Jurors will be asked their opinions on the death penalty and whether they have heard of the 3-year-old case.

David Mark Hill, 39, is charged with murder in the shooting deaths of three South Carolina Department of Social Services caseworkers in North Augusta in 1996.

Circuit Judge Marc Westbrook moved jury selection to York after determining last year that news coverage in Aiken County would prevent attorneys from picking an impartial jury there.

Once it is selected, the York County jury will be taken to Aiken County and sequestered for the duration of the trial.

Police say Mr. Hill entered the North Augusta DSS office Sept. 16, 1996. Angered because the agency was trying to take his three children, police say Mr. Hill ordered Josie Curry, 33, to take him to Jimmy Riddle, 52, who was the caseworker for Mr. Hill's family.

Mr. Riddle and Mr. Curry were shot in the head with a .40-caliber pistol. Michael Gregory, 30, was shot and killed and a fourth worker was shot at. Investigators found Mr. Hill the next morning lying on nearby railroad tracks, suffering from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Judge Westbrook told jurors Monday to spend some time mulling over their opinion on the death penalty.

``The reason I tell you this now is to give you time to reflect and think about these issues,'' Judge Westbrook said.

Jurors will be asked to put themselves in one of three categories -- those who would give the death penalty in every murder case; those who are morally opposed to giving the death penalty in any case; and those who will weigh the facts and determine an appropriate sentence. Only jurors in the third category will be eligible to hear the case.

Jury selection was moved to York County in November after 96 percent of potential jurors in Aiken County said they had heard about the case.

No one raised a hand Monday in York when Judge Westbrook asked if anyone had heard of the case.