Lawyers for murder suspect David Hill have filed notice that he likely will argue insanity.

Trial date set in DSS shootings

Suspect in killings of three social workers to appear in court Sept. 13, three years after deaths

Web posted July 2, 1999

By Greg Rickabaugh
South Carolina Bureau

AIKEN -- David Mark Hill, the man charged with killing three social workers in North Augusta, will face a capital murder trial around the third anniversary of the shooting rampage.

Circuit Judge Marc Westbrook set Sept. 13 as the trial date and heard several preliminary motions during a hearing Thursday morning in Aiken County. The shootings took place Sept. 16, 1996.

The trial should last two or three weeks, possibly more, including weekends with a jury that will be sequestered, the judge said.

Jury selection is expected to take the first week of trial as prosecutors and two defense attorneys question potential jurors from a pool of 350 people.

Second Circuit Solicitor Barbara Morgan is seeking the death penalty.

Police will be allowed to examine the arrest record of each potential juror to help both sides prepare, Judge Westbrook ruled Thursday.

During the two-hour hearing Thursday, Mr. Hill sat beside his attorneys, shackled with leg irons and dressed in a white shirt and tie. About a dozen family members of the victims were in the courtroom during the hearing.

Mr. Hill, 39, was brought to the General Sessions Court from Lee Correctional Institute in Bishopville, where he is being held.

He will become a temporary resident of Aiken County Detention Center this week as the trial nears and meetings with his lawyers become more necessary.

Also decided Thursday:

-- A hearing will be held in three or four weeks to determine Mr. Hill's competence to stand trial. The judge has not yet examined the results of a mental evaluation on the defendant.

Mr. Hill has pleaded not guilty to the slayings, and his attorneys have given notice of an insanity defense.

-- A gag order was amended to allow witnesses to talk to the defense attorneys if they wish.

-- Department of Social Service officials will try to find a surveillance videotape defense attorneys are requesting to see.

-- Defense attorneys Robert J. Harte and Regina Poteat will get their first look at a DSS file that holds information on Mr. Hill's children.

Mr. Hill is accused of walking into the North Augusta office of the Department of Social Services on Sept. 16, 1996, looking for the caseworker involved in placing his children in foster care. He is charged in the shootings of that caseworker, Jimmy Riddle, 52, and two others, Josie Curry, 35, and Michael Gregory, 30.

Police said they believe Mr. Hill was upset about his paraplegic daughter, then 4, being placed in foster care. They said he walked into the social services office with a semi-automatic handgun and demanded to see his family's caseworker.

Mr. Hill was arrested on the morning of Sept. 17 when police officers found him lying near the railroad tracks near the DSS office. He had shot himself in the mouth, police said.

Mr. Hill has a history of mental problems, including four suicide attempts and clinical treatment, police said.

He is charged with three counts of murder, kidnapping, assault and battery with intent to kill and possession of a pistol while committing a violent crime.

Greg Rickabaugh covers crime for The Augusta Chronicle. He can be reached at (803) 279-6895 or scbureau@augustachronicle.com.