Jury won't know facts of case

One expert says new panel may harbor prejudice despite lack of knowledge about DSS shootings

Web posted October 17, 1999

By Greg Rickabaugh
South Carolina Bureau

AIKEN -- A jury from outside Aiken County might guarantee David Mark Hill a panel with no knowledge of the case. But one death penalty expert says bringing in a jury to hold trial may be prejudicial to the defendant.

A ``hostage jury'' could become hostile toward Mr. Hill, blaming him for taking them away from their homes and families for days or weeks, Columbia lawyer John Blume said.

``From their perspective, they're sitting there thinking, `Something big happened, and we're the only people that don't know about it.' It can't be too good for the guy on trial,'' said Mr. Blume, who has been involved in 40 death penalty trials in South Carolina and seven other states.

He is affiliated with the Center for Capital Litigation, a death penalty resource center, in Columbia and is a professor at Cornell Law School in New York.

``In my opinion, I think it's prejudicial to the defendant to do that,'' he said. ``I think it would be better just to move the trial to another county.''

That's what judges used to do. But several years ago, the South Carolina General Assembly changed the law to allow a judge to select a jury and transport it to the county where the crime occurred.

Now the law reads, ``The court shall consider all the logistical and expense elements and, consistent with the demands of justice, choose the method that results in the least expense and greatest convenience for all parties involved in the case.''

In the Hill case, Circuit Judge Marc Westbrook stopped the trial Thursday, saying Aiken County residents had been saturated with details about the 1996 shootings at the North Augusta Department of Social Services. That made picking a fair and impartial jury nearly impossible, he said.

``My job is to find a place where the people don't have as much media attention about the case,'' Judge Westbrook said.

But the judge assured victims' relatives that he would keep the trial in Aiken County. He told family members that he had their interest at heart in his decision.

In ruling that the jury had too much knowledge of the case, the judge said portions of news reports about the case would not be allowed as evidence in the trial.

Among them is information about Mr. Hill's previous conviction in Arizona for abusing one of his children and information about four suicide attempts in 1996.

According to Mr. Blume, another concern judges have in finding an impartial jury is considering that a high-profile case might have led to a great deal of misinformation. People who live near where a crime occurred tend to talk about it, and they don't always have accurate facts.

``The verdict's supposed to be based on what they hear in the court,'' Mr. Blume said.

In choosing to move a trial to another county for jury selection, state law charges all costs to the county in which the defendant was indicted -- Aiken County, in this case. That will include the costs of putting sequestered jurors in a local hotel during the trial.

The decision on where to move the Hill trial will take a few weeks as Judge Westbrook consults a state statistician to find a county with similar demographics. He has suggested several counties as possibilities: Anderson, Beaufort, Berkeley, Dorchester, Florence, Georgetown, Horry, Spartanburg and York.

``We're looking at education level, income, racial percentages, voter registration levels -- things you get from the Census Bureau,'' Judge Westbrook said. ``And it would need to be out of the coverage area (of Aiken County).''

Caseworkers Jimmy Riddle, Josie Curry and Michael Gregory were shot to death in North Augusta's DSS office in 1996. Prosecutors say Mr. Hill killed the caseworkers because he was upset when his children were put into foster care.

Mr. Hill has been charged with three counts of murder, assault and battery with intent to kill, kidnapping and burglary.

REACH Greg Rickabaugh at (803) 279-6895 or scbureau@augustachronicle.com.