On March 7,1994, Spencer Guerry, the 37-year-old Deputy Police Chief of Georgetown on the South Carolina coast, was shot after he stopped the car David Hill was driving.

The car pulled over in the parking lot of a car wash. Hill was driving a silver Honda Prelude with expired Colorado license plates. Hill did not have a valid driver's license and had marijuana in the car.

Officer Guerry took Hill's Colorado identification card and car registration and called the information in to the dispatcher. As he was walking back to Hill's car, he was shot once through the cheek. Despite being shot in the face, the officer managed to radio for help.

A tape recording of his call revealed that he muttered a few words only, including "...shot me''. Spencer Guerry died two days later, becoming the first police officer to die in the line of duty in Georgetown for almost a century.

After the shooting, Hill drove to his house, picked up his girlfriend and some of his belongings, and then drove to his mother's mobile home. He told his mother he was in trouble and asked if they could borrow her car. His mother refused but offered to drive.

Hill's mother and girlfriend followed him down a dirt road where Hill drove his car into a ditch. They then returned to his mother's mobile home and Hill asked his girlfriend to report his car stolen. She refused. Hill left the mobile home for a while.

During his absence, the police arrived searching for him. Later, Hill returned to his mother's mobile home. He took a shower, washed his clothes, and poured Clorox on his hands. He then called the police and was arrested.

Hill's defense at trial was that someone had been hiding in his backseat and shot Officer Guerry. At trial, several witnesses testified that Hill was the only person in the Honda.

Major Guerry was a fifteen-year police veteran and the father of two young boys and the husband of an elementary school teacher. Deputy Chief Guerry grew up in the Jamestown section of Berkeley County, graduated from Macedonia High School in 1974, was hired as a city policeman in 1979 at age twenty, and was promoted through the ranks thereafter. C. Spencer Guerry's name has been engraved at the National Law Enforcement Memorial in Washington, DC. His name can be located on panel 44, E -19. A plaque bearing C. Spencer Guerry's name is displayed at the South Carolina Criminal Justice Hall of Fame in Columbia.

While attending an appellate hearing for Hill, Spencer Guerry's widow Sally said because she had never attended a post-conviction relief hearing before, she had no idea what to expect. "The waiting is the hardest thing for Hill's family and for me," the 1st-grade teacher said. She said her sons, Ryan, 11, and James, 14, opted not to attend the hearing so they could qualify to play soccer after school. "Their father would want them at that soccer game," she said.

UPDATE: A federal judge has stopped the March 19 execution of a man convicted of killing a Georgetown police officer, but the state attorney general's office says it will appeal the order. Lawyers for David Clayton Hill had sued, saying lethal injection is cruel and unusual punishment.

They also had problems with how South Carolina carries out executions. Federal District Judge David Norton agreed, saying in his ruling Thursday that Hill has legitimate points about the state's lack of methods to ensure the doses of three drugs used in the procedure are calculated properly.

Norton's ruling also mentioned the state uses a smaller amount of one of the drugs than the federal government and other states, and prison officials don't require a medical professional to oversee the execution. "It would indeed be odd to deny a temporary injunction to an inmate who will suffer loss of life under possibly cruel and unusual circumstances on the ground that the state is entitled to finality," Norton wrote.

The judge said the execution should be halted until the U.S. Supreme Court considers an Alabama case where a condemned man says lethal injection is cruel and unusual for him because he has a vascular condition and authorities might have to cut through his tissues to start the injection.

Hill had exhausted all his other appeals in state and federal court. Lawyers for the attorney general's office will appeal the ruling early next week. If the stay is lifted, the execution could go on. In a series of lethal injection complaints across the country in the last few months, the U.S. Supreme Court has denied stays even when they were granted by lower federal courts. In only one case, from Virginia, the high court allowed the stay of execution because the prisoner also has a similar problem with his veins.

In papers filed Monday, prosecutors include a sworn statement from a doctor who visited Hill on death row last week. After looking at Hill's arms, Dr. Ryan Hutchinson said he doesn't think there will be a problem finding a vein at Hill's execution. The news of Hill's reprieve stunned Guerry's wife. "When I heard about the stay, the wind went out of me," Sally Guerry said.

UPDATE: The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a stay of execution Wednesday for convicted killer David Clayton Hill. Hill, 39, who was sentenced to death for killing Georgetown police Maj. Spencer Guerry at a traffic stop in 1994, is arguing that lethal injection is cruel and unusual punishment. Attorney General Henry McMaster said his office would immediately file an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. Hill was scheduled to be put to death Friday, but a federal judge granted a stay March 4.

McMaster said he hopes the high court will rule in his favor by midnight Friday. In a two-paragraph order, the appellate court said it would stay the execution while the U.S. Supreme Court considers an Alabama case. A condemned man there has said lethal injection is cruel and unusual for him because he has a vascular condition and authorities might have to cut through his tissue to start the injection. "But this defendant makes no allegation like that," McMaster said. "There's an affidavit where the doctor says his arm and veins are perfectly suitable. ... This is an abuse of the process." The state's has included a sworn statement from a doctor who has visited Hill on death row. After looking at Hill's arms, Dr. Ryan Hutchinson said he doesn't think there will be a problem finding a vein at Hill's execution.

The state also argued that other executions have been allowed to continue despite the unresolved Alabama case. Attorneys for Hill have said the state has not administered enough sedative in some lethal injections since 1995, when South Carolina began using the execution method. Citing toxicology reports from executed inmates, Hill's attorneys said some may have been conscious when the lethal dose was administered. "Mr. Hill was pleased," said his attorney Jerome Nickerson, who wants an investigation into how the state conducts its lethal injections.

Nickerson said Hill's lethal injection case is different "because Hill is the only individual in the United States that's presenting blood and toxicology evidence in support of his argument. ... Nobody else has done it before." McMaster's office has filed an affidavit from the state toxicologist that says a correlation between sedative levels after death and before death "cannot be made with a reasonable degree of scientific certainty."

South Carolina uses three drugs to kill condemned inmates. The first drug is a sedative, the second is a drug that paralyzes muscles and can stop breathing and the third is potassium chloride, which stops the heart. Hill's sister, Debbie Nesbitt, told The (Charleston) Post and Courier she was too upset to talk about the case. Sally Guerry, the slain officer's wife, received a round of calls from group members when news of the stay came out Tuesday. "You're in limbo," Guerry told the newspaper. "You don't know what to do."

UPDATE: Smiles and hugs of support were passed around during the dedication of the C. Spencer Guerry Law Enforcement Center on Tuesday afternoon. Former co-workers from the Georgetown Police Department, as well as Guerry's widow, Sally Guerry, shared stories about the slain officer and how he would be pleased with the modern facility that opened in September on Highmarket Street. The Georgetown Law Enforcement and Municipal Court complex, built several blocks from where Guerry was shot, contains a 911 center, a police center and a municipal court. The Police Department, located in one wing of the building, was named for Guerry. Guerry's picture, taken during FBI training at Quantico, Va., hangs in the lobby.

"We're here to celebrate the life of a wonderful man," Sally Guerry said. "Few people see their dreams realized after their death." Tuesday was the 10-year anniversary of Guerry's death. He was killed by David Hill during a traffic stop at the Georgetown Car Wash, also on Highmarket Street. Hill was convicted of Guerry's death in 1995.

He was scheduled to receive a lethal injection March 19, but he received a stay of execution this week. Guerry's friend Ken Arthur attended the ceremony. Arthur, now a retired police officer, wept as he talked about Guerry. "Spencer was just the best person I've ever met," he said. The ceremony drew officers from Charleston, Georgetown and Horry counties. Troopers from the S.C. Highway Patrol also attended the dedication.

Guerry's mother, Jean Guerry, and his two sons, Ryan and James Guerry, listened as tributes were read in Guerry's honor. James Guerry, 18, is studying criminal justice at the University of South Carolina and wants to join the FBI.

Ryan Guerry, 20, is taking business courses at Horry-Georgetown Technical College and will transfer to the University of South Carolina next year. "Spencer was the person who interviewed me and hired me," said Georgetown City Police Chief Dan Furr. "I was not impressed with the [the former Police Department building], but I was impressed by a young police captain named Spencer Guerry." The dedication was planned to coincide with the 10-year anniversary of Guerry's death, Furr said. Guerry often talked about a bigger Police Department building.

The C. Spencer Guerry Law Enforcement Center has about 17,000 square feet. Officers moved from the 8,000-square-foot building on Fraser Street in September.

UPDATE: The final appeal for convicted killer David Clayton Hill ended Friday as the U.S. Supreme Court voted 5-4 to allow his execution to continue. The announcement came a few hours before Hill was scheduled to be put to death by lethal injection and erases the reprieve he received 2 weeks ago.

Hill, 39, was convicted of killing Georgetown Police Maj. Spencer Guerry, who was shot in the head during a traffic stop 10 years ago. Hill's identification card and registration were found in Guerry's shirt pocket. A federal judge issued a stay two weeks ago while Hill's lawyers argued that the way South Carolina performs lethal injections is cruel and unusual punishment.

A federal appeals court upheld the delay this week, but the state attorney general's office appealed the stay to the U.S. Supreme Court. Justices John Paul Stevens, David H. Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer objected to the high court's decision to lift the stay.

Attorneys for Hill also had filed an emergency appeal with the state Supreme Court, which was denied Friday. Gov. Mark Sanford also had not issued a reprieve by Friday afternoon. "It's over," said defense lawyer Margaret Webster. Lead attorney Jerome Nickerson had no immediate comment.

Hill was moved to Broad River Correctional Institution on Friday morning in preparation for the execution, Webster said. Justice finally is being served, said state Attorney General Henry McMaster. "The only cruel and unusual punishment in this whole thing is the wait the Guerry family has had to endure over all these years," McMaster said.

In his most recent appeals, Hill's lawyers made the same argument that the chemicals South Carolina uses to put inmates to death cause an extreme amount of anguish and are cruel and unusual punishment. Similar appeals have failed. At least 6 times in January, inmates who claimed lethal injection was unconstitutionally cruel have been sent to the death chamber by 5-4 votes of the U.S. Supreme Court.

UPDATE: David Clayton Hill neither apologized nor confessed before he was put to death at 6:17 p.m. Friday for the 1994 murder of Georgetown police Maj. Spencer Guerry. Hill, 39, glanced briefly at the witnesses, including Sally Guerry, Spencer Guerry's widow, and smiled. "He just smiled; I don't know who he was smiling at," Sally Guerry said.

Last-ditch appeals to the state Supreme Court, U.S. Supreme Court and Gov. Mark Sanford on grounds that the state's lethal injection methods could be cruel and unusual punishment all failed Friday, and the execution was carried out as scheduled.

At a press conference following the execution, Mrs. Guerry, who had wrestled for weeks about whether to be a witness to the sentence, said she made her decision after she arrived at the capital punishment facility. "When I walked in the witness room door is when I decided. I did it for Spencer," she said. "I know I made the right decision, I do," she said. She had to watch on behalf of her husband, she said. Her sons, Ryan, who will be 21 next week, and James, 18, chose not to attend and were in Columbia with friends.

Sally Guerry said she thought about her husband while watching the lethal chemicals being pumped into Hill's veins. "I thought about my husband, I really did. I looked at the medication going into him, and I thought about how peaceful it was for him and how violent it was for Spencer," she said.

They had been together 19 years, half their lifetimes, when he died, she said, and her sons have grown up without a father. Asked whether Hill's execution gave her final comfort, she said no. When asked, Mrs. Guerry said she was not surprised Hill offered no apology or showed no remorse. "I didn't expect one," she said. Mrs. Guerry said she expected Hill to look different once the curtain opened. "I may be a little naive, because I thought when I first saw him, I expected him to look different because he took my husband and son's father away. He looks like you or I. That was very emotional," she said.

15th Circuit Solicitor Greg Hembree also witnessed the execution. He commended former Solicitor Ralph Wilson, who prosecuted the case. "This was clearly a case that warranted the death penalty," Hembree said. He also said he was not surprised Hill did not use his last words to apologize. "It would be appropriate to express some form of remorse," Hembree said. "He chose not to do that, and I think that is a comment on his nature."

Hembree also said Hill's case should send a clear message to anyone who ever thinks of harming a law enforcement officer. "This was clearly a case that warranted the death penalty. Anyone who chooses to kill a police officer in the line of duty will face the possibility of the death penalty. If the jury does hand down a death penalty, we will work with the attorney general's office to see that sentence is carried out," he said.

Former Solicitor Ralph Wilson, who prosecuted the case against Hill, told the Post and Courier last week he agrees with Hembree. "If we're going to put police officers on the street to protect us, and not have the most serious penalties when you kill a police officer, we're fighting a losing battle," he said. "You'd have open season on law enforcement."

Georgetown Police Chief Dan Furr, who was a captain on the force when Guerry was killed, said justice had been done. Both Mrs. Guerry and Furr said after they saw the lethal injection method of execution 1st-hand, they don't understand how it can be called "cruel" as it has been by many defense attorneys across America. "I was struck today by the very humane action in which Mr. Hill died," Furr said. "I was on the scene when Spencer was killed, it was very different." Guerry hired him, and they were close, Furr said. "I miss him tremendously today. I think of him often," he said.

Hill, who worked in restaurants up and down the beach for years and knew good food and wine, asked only for a bottle of Dom Perignon, an expensive champagne, as his last meal. The state denied that request, said prisons spokesman John Barkley. So Hill's last meal was whatever prisoners had for supper, he said.

Hill's witnesses were his brother, Jeff Scott, and a minister, identified only as Father Andrew. Both left without speaking to reporters. Sally Guerry, a devout Catholic whose denomination generally opposes the death penalty, wrestled with the issue. In the end, she took the approach that "it's not me versus David Hill." It was the state of South Carolina that found him guilty and sentenced him, she said.