Hill jury to begin deliberations

York County 12 face life-or-death decision in case of man found guilty of three slayings

Web posted February 14, 2000

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By Greg Rickabaugh
South Carolina Bureau

AIKEN -- After a day of reflection, an out-of-town jury will return to an Aiken County courtroom today to decide the fate of David Mark Hill.

After closing arguments, Circuit Judge Marc Westbrook will ask jurors to determine whether Mr. Hill should be sentenced to life imprisonment or death for killing three Department of Social Services workers in 1996. A decision could come by this afternoon.

The jury convicted Mr. Hill of murder in the killings Tuesday, and the sentencing phase began Thursday.

The jury foreman has indicated that the jurors are not taking the life-or-death decision lightly. After the defense wrapped up its case Saturday night, the foreman asked the judge to allow them to relax Sunday instead of finishing the trial.

``I think making a decision that we're going to have to make, we need a day to reflect back on it,'' the foreman said. ``The situation we're in is a big one.''

The jurors were chosen from York County because of pretrial publicity in Aiken County.

The trial resumes today at 9:30 a.m., when Solicitor Barbara Morgan will call a brief rebuttal witness. Then, the prosecution and defense attorneys will give closing arguments, and the judge will explain the law to the jury.

When jurors return to a back room to deliberate, they will have access to bloody crime-scene photos and three life-size clay busts of the victims. The head models are marked with red to show where bullets from Mr. Hill's pistol entered and exited the victims' skulls.

The jurors also will be able to review psychiatric evidence suggesting Mr. Hill was suffering from three major mental disorders when he barged into the North Augusta Department of Social Services office and shot three caseworkers.

Michael Gregory, 30, of Belvedere, and Josie Curry, 33, and Jimmy Riddle, 52, both of North Augusta, were all victims in the first killings of DSS workers in South Carolina. Police say Mr. Hill was upset after DSS took custody of his daughter and twin sons.

Once the trial ends, Ms. Morgan will turn her attention to the death penalty trial of Arthur Hastings Wise, another Aiken County man accused of shooting up a local business. Police say he killed four employees of R.E. Phelon Co. on Sept. 15, 1997, two months after he was fired from the plant.

Reach Greg Rickabaugh at (803) 279-6895.