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, on the night of Aug. 20, 2014, at the elder Hill's house on Whitehouse Road near Elkins. He's also charged with the attempted capital murder of his mother, Roberta Hill, who on Monday told jurors what happened in her living room that night.
"Neither Sam nor I are here to tell you Sam did not go to his parents' home and open fire," John Baker, an attorney for Hill, told jurors in his opening statement.
Baker said Hill was having a schizophrenic episode when the shooting happened and can't remember much about it. Baker asked jurors to find his client innocent by reason of mental disease or defect.
Baker also asked jurors to consider lesser charges 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, but Hill still faces life without parole if convicted of capital murder or attempted capital murder.
Prosecutors have a mental exam from doctors at the 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 prosecuting attorney, 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, testified 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.
Roberta Hill said she was on the phone with her sister when her son arrived about 9:30 p.m. 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."
Roberta Hill went to a bedroom to get her .38-caliber 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 back inside but the front door would not 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 hid under the deck until police arrived. Sam Hill fled and was arrested later in Fayetteville. He had a pistol and ammunition in his car and a knife in his pocket, police said.
Baker asked Roberta Hill whether she ever told Sam Hill she was going to have him committed for a mental exam.
"I never saw a need to have him committed," she said.
When deputies entered the house, Lt. Scott Young found lots of blood and an empty pistol on a table, he said. Allen Hill was on the floor with multiple gunshot wounds in his chest.
Young told jurors Allen Hill told him his son, Sam, shot him.
Allen Hill died later at Washington Regional Medical Center in Fayetteville.
Sam Hill was treated at the hospital for his gunshot wound. After treatment he has been held in the Washington County jail without bond.
Sam Hill is also charged with aggravated assault stemming from an altercation with his wife, Sidney, at their home about an hour before the shooting. That charge is not part of the current trial and prosecutors aren't allowed to mention it to the jury.
The trial resumes at 9:30 a.m.
State Desk on 05/17/2016