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Jeffrey
D.
HILL
Classification: Murderer
Characteristics:
Parricide
- Crack cocaine addict
Number of victims: 1
Date of murder:
March 23,
1991
Date of arrest: 3 days after (surrenders)
Date of birth:
April 7,
1964
Victim profile: Emma
Hill,
61 (his mother)
Method of murder: Stabbing
with knife
Location: Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
Status: Sentenced to death on June 19, 1992. Commuted to life
in prison in 2009
On
3/23/91, Hill murdered his 61-year-old mother, Emma Hill, in her
Cincinnati apartment.
After getting into an argument with his mother over the frequency of his
visits, he stabbed her 10 times in the chest and back. He then stole $20
and left in her car.
After spending the money on crack cocaine, he returned to his mother's
apartment and stole another $80 from her. Hill confessed to the police
three days later.
Remorseful killer granted mercy
Clemency means Jeffrey Hill could eventually be
paroled
By Tom Beyerlein, Laura A. Bischoff - Dayton Daily
News
Sunday, February 22, 2009
YOUNGSTOWN — Jeffrey Hill said he dropped out
of school after the ninth grade to take care of his mother, who
had been partially paralyzed by a stroke.
Two years ago, he fulfilled a promise to her by
getting his GED.
Hill said he loved his mother, Emma Dee Hill, very
much. He stabbed her to death one Saturday morning in 1991.
Hill, 44, narrowly avoided a March 3 date with the
executioner when Gov. Ted Strickland, following an 8-0 recommendation of
the Ohio Parole Board, granted him clemency on Feb. 12. Strickland
reduced the death sentence to 25 years to life, meaning Hill could
eventually be paroled.
A crack cocaine addict at the time, Hill stabbed his
mother 10 times after an argument, then stole $20 and left to buy drugs.
He later returned to the bloody scene, smoked crack in the bathroom and
stole another $80.
Hill was born in 1964 and grew up in Cincinnati with
his mother and brother. His father deserted the family when Hill was a
small child. His grandfather, who acted as a surrogate father, died when
Hill was about 10.
"I ended up running with the wrong crowd," he said in
a death row interview with the Dayton Daily News on Jan. 27. His first
of many brushes with the law came at age 14, when he was charged with
juvenile delinquency by reason of aggravated robbery. He also had a
juvenile assault offense.
He had a few minor theft and marijuana cases through
the years, but his relatives said he was usually employed and leading a
responsible life. He reconnected with his father and he and his
girlfriend started a family, two daughters and a stepdaughter.
Hill's stability crumbled when his father died of
cancer in 1990 and he turned to crack cocaine. "I thought that I always
could control it," he said, but his addiction "got worse and worse."
Later that year, he got probation for drug abuse and
carrying a concealed weapon, a nine-inch switchblade.
On Saturday, March 26, 1991, Hill visited his 61-year-old
mother's apartment, high on crack. He later told police she complained
that he didn't visit her often enough. They argued and "the next thing I
know, she's laying on the floor." He had stabbed her repeatedly with a
kitchen knife.
As a dying Emma Hill asked, "Why? Why did you do it?,"
Hill rummaged through her things, looking for money to buy more crack.
He was arrested hours later in her car.
Hill's subsequent conviction and death sentence stood
up to multiple appeals through the years. But the parole board was
swayed by his remorse, the poor defense he received before sentencing
and a campaign by his relatives — who are also the kin of his victim —
to spare his life.
"If it's going to bring my sister back, go ahead and
take his life," said Hill's uncle and Emma Hill's brother, Eddie Sanders
of Cincinnati. "But it's not going to bring my sister back. What's done
is done. There's always time to stop the killing."
Hill's public defenders told the board about a
similar homicide in 1992, also in Hamilton County, in which the
defendant was charged with a lesser offense, served his sentence and is
already free from prison.
Hill, interviewed before the clemency was granted,
said he didn't want to be executed because, "I don't want to cause my
family any more pain because of my actions. It all comes back to my
actions."
"I made a conscious decision to do drugs," he said. "Because
of that choice, my mother isn't here today, my kids don't have a
grandmother. I can't make any excuses for that."
Death Row inmate Jeffrey Hill
should get clemency, Ohio Parole Board votes
The Plain Dealer
February 06, 2009
COLUMBUS — The Ohio Parole Board today
recommended unanimously that Gov. Ted Strickland spare a death row
inmate whose entire family -- which is also the family of his victim
-- opposes his execution.
The board voted 8-0 in favor of mercy for Jeffrey
Hill, who killed his mother in 1991 in a crack-cocaine induced rage,
according to a copy of the board recommendation obtained by the
Associated Press.
The board recommends that Strickland commute Hill's
sentence to life in prison with parole eligibility after 25 years.
Hill is scheduled to be executed March 3 for killing
Emma Hill during a robbery that netted $100. Her surviving brothers and
sisters oppose Hill's execution, as did Emma Hill's mother.
Ohio prison officials say it's the first time an
inmate facing death for killing a family member has unanimous backing
from his family as he fights execution.
The board cited the "compelling and unanimous opinion
of victim Emma Hill's family who favor clemency in this case," the
report said. "They have suffered tremendous loss, and execution would
add further to their suffering."
The board also says Hill has shown genuine remorse
for his crime and said the death sentence was not proportionate to
punishments for similar crimes where someone killed his mother or father.
"The Board does not consider this offense and
offender the 'worst of the worse' as in other death penalty cases," the
board said.
Strickland will review the case thoroughly before
making a decision, spokeswoman Amanda Wurst said Friday.
A message was left with the Hamilton County
Prosecutor's office seeking comment.
Strickland commuted the death sentence of condemned
killer John Spirko last year out of concern over evidence in the case
and the possibility he didn't commit the murder he was convicted of.
Strickland has allowed four other executions to
proceed.
The board's recommendation was the first unanimous
decision in favor of clemency since the state resumed executions in
1999.
It's also the first time the board recommended an
alternative sentence of less than life without the possibility of parole.
