FAYETTEVILLE -- A Washington County Circuit Court jury returned sentencing verdicts, including a recommended 30 years for attempted capital murder, Wednesday morning against a Fayetteville man accused of trying to kill a confidential police informant.
Lasaba Hill, 42, is expected to be sentenced at 11 a.m. today.
Legal Lingo
Penalty Phase
The part of a trial when the judge determines the punishment for a defendant who has been found guilty. It can also refer to the part of a trial where the jury votes on what penalty or damages to recommend. This is also referred to as sentencing phase.
Source: uslegal.com
The jury Tuesday night found Hill guilty of attempted capital murder and acquitted him of battery and gun possession charges. Hill was also found guilty of intimidating a police informant, stalking and delivery of methamphetamine.
Defense attorneys welcomed a chance to review the consistency of the jury's findings.
"We appreciate having 24 hours to explore issues," Scott Parks, one of Hill's attorneys, said Wednesday. "We appreciate the opportunity for everyone to reflect prior to formal sentencing."
The jury also recommended 15 years for stalking, 10 years for intimidation of an informant and 10 years for delivery of methamphetamine. Circuit Judge William Storey will determine whether the sentences run concurrently or consecutively.
Hill was facing from 10 years to life in prison on the attempted murder charge. He has at least five prior convictions for drug crimes, theft and a sex offense dating to 1995.
The jury deliberated about six hours Tuesday before returning verdicts in the guilt phase of the trial and another hour Wednesday morning to reach sentencing recommendations.
"I'm happy with the jury's verdict," said Denis Dean, deputy prosecutor. "They obviously gave this case a lot of time and attention, to have been out so long, and returned an appropriate verdict based on the facts of the case."
Dean told the six men and six women hearing the case the informant was threatened for weeks, beaten and almost killed over selling less than one gram of methamphetamine. The informant lived in the same apartment complex as Hill, on West Holly Street, near Oak Plaza, when the controlled buy was made in October 2013. Hill was arrested in April and bonded out of jail in May.
Dean said recorded calls from Hill to others from the Washington County jail showed he was planning violent retribution even while he was still in jail and before he knew the informant's identity.
Hill learned the identity of the confidential informant in June from court documents prepared for his trial. Prosecutors said Hill then began a sustained campaign of threats, stalking and intimidation against the man to dissuade him from testifying against Hill.
Hill went to the man's apartment July 28 and attacked him on a balcony. The informant said Hill grabbed him and threw him down before telling his wife to bring a gun. The informant said Hill's wife brought a backpack and Hill took a semi-automatic handgun from it and hit the informant in the head with the gun.
The informant broke free and ran away. The gun was never found and prosecutors said they believe a family member got rid of it.
A neighbor in the apartment complex called 911 when she heard the men fighting and identified them to police. The informant was found in the Oak Plaza parking lot.
Police found and arrested Hill a short time later at the nearby Harps store on Garland Avenue. About five officers searched the grocery store and several nearby businesses as well as the tops of several buildings but never found a gun.
NW News on 12/18/2014