2:50 p.m. update
The state has rested in the capital murder trial of Samuel Robert Hill, 27, who is accused of shooting and killing Allen Hill.
Original story
FAYETTEVILLE -- A man charged with capital murder in the shooting death of his stepfather almost two years ago in rural Washington County was suffering from a mental illness, according to his attorney.
Samuel Robert Hill, 27, is accused of killing Allen Hill, 61, at the elder Hill's house on Whitehouse Road near Elkins the night of Aug. 20, 2014. He's also charged with the attempted capital murder of his mother, Roberta Hill, who told jurors what happened in her living room that night.
Legal Lingo
Not Guilty By Reason of Mental Disease or Defect
A defense by a criminal defendant who admits the criminal act, but claims he was so mentally disturbed at the time of the crime that he lacked the mental capacity necessary to commit the crime. In this context, “not guilty” does not mean the person did not commit the criminal act for which he or she is charged. It means that when the person committed the crime, he could not tell right from wrong or could not control his behavior because of severe mental defect or illness. Such a person, the law holds, should not be held criminally responsible for his behavior.
Source: uslegal.com
"Neither Sam nor I are here to tell you Sam did not go his parents home and open fire," John Baker, an attorney for Hill told jurors in his opening statement Monday afternoon.
Baker contends Hill was having a schizophrenic episode when the shooting happened and can't remember much about it. Baker asked jurors to find his client not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect.
Baker also asked jurors to consider lesser included crimes of first-degree murder, second-degree murder or manslaughter if Circuit Judge Mark Lindsay gives them that option.
The state has waived the death penalty in the case but Hill still faces life without parole if convicted of capital murder or attempted capital murder. Baker said the lesser crimes would provide a wider range of punishments to choose from.
"I believe after you have heard the evidence, that the crime that has been committed is not capital murder but something less than that," Baker said.
But, prosecutors have a mental exam from doctors at the Arkansas State Hospital who found Hill competent to stand trial.
"I can sum this case up: Shell casings and shattered lives. That's what this defendant left in his wake," Meika Hatcher, deputy prosecutor, told jurors. "This defendant took his gun and drove to his parents house out in the county and opened fire on them. He left and returned to shoot at them again, leaving his father mortally wounded and his mother in fear for her life."
Roberta Hill, a hospice nurse, said Monday that Sam Hill lived at the home for about a year during 2012 and 2013. They had a bad relationship and Sam Hill was verbally abusive to her.
"We didn't get along very well," she said.
Roberta Hill said she was on the phone with her sister when her son arrived about 9:30 that night. There were several loud bangs on the door and it popped open.
"Sam stepped through the door and shot Allen," Roberta Hill said. "He didn't say a thing."
Allen was standing by a table in the living room directly in front of Sam. Roberta Hill said she was two to three feet away from Sam when the shots were fired.
Roberta Hill went to a bedroom to get her .38 revolver.
She recalled her husband yelled, "Honey. Honey. I'm shot. I'm dying. Call 911."
Roberta found Allen Hill on the front porch swing. Sam Hill had left the house. Roberta was pressing towels on her husband's wounds when Sam Hill returned. He jumped from his car and started shooting at them again. She helped Allen inside but the front door wouldn't shut, she said.
"I heard shots and stuff was flying around," she told jurors. "Allen told me to get out. I kept hearing gunshots, a lot of them, so I went out the window."
Allen Hill, a retired mechanic, grabbed his own gun, returned fire and hit Sam Hill in the left hip.
Roberta Hill ended up hiding under the deck until police arrived. Sam Hill fled and was arrested later in Fayetteville. He had a pistol in his car, along with an extra clip and ammunition, and a knife in his pocket.
Baker asked Roberta Hill on cross examination whether she ever told Sam Hill she was going to have him committed.
"I never saw a need to have him committed," she said.
When Washington County Sheriff's Office deputies arrived, Roberta Hill feared her son was coming back again and fired at them. She shot Cpl. Taylor Reed. The bullet hit his arm and went into his torso and he had a lengthy recovery. Roberta Hill wasn't charged for shooting Reed.
When deputies got in the house, Lt. Scott Young found lots of blood and an empty pistol on a table. Allen Hill was on the floor with multiple gunshot wounds to his chest.
Young told jurors he asked Allen Hill who shot him and he replied his son, Sam.
Allen Hill died later at Washington Regional Medical Center.
Sam Hill was treated at the hospital for his gunshot wound and has been in the Washington County jail since without bond.
Sam Hill is also charged with aggravated assault stemming from an altercation between Sam Hill and his wife, Sidney, at their home about an hour before the shooting. That charge has been severed for trial and prosecutors aren't allowed to mention it to the jury.
The case is to resume at 9:30 this morning.
NW News on 05/17/2016