Hill v. State
| Citation | 114 Nev. 169,953 P.2d 1077 |
| Decision Date | 26 February 1998 |
| Docket Number | No. 28498,28498 |
| Parties | James Earl HILL, Appellant, v. The STATE of Nevada, Respondent. |
| Court | Supreme Court of Nevada |
On March 8, 1983, appellant James Earl Hill and his co-defendant, Brian Marshall, broke into the apartment occupied by Leroy and Altonia Matthews. Hill committed a heinous act of sexual assault on Altonia by forcibly inserting a stick into her rectum. Meanwhile, Marshall struggled with Leroy in the living room/kitchen area of the apartment. Two days later, Altonia died from her injuries.
After their arrest on March 13, 1983, Marshall and Hill made voluntary statements to the police, each blaming the other for the sexual assault and murder of Altonia. Eventually, Marshall pleaded guilty to various charges, including first degree murder, and received, inter alia, a sentence of life with the possibility of parole. Hill proceeded to trial, was found guilty, and was sentenced to death by a three-judge panel after the jury deadlocked in the penalty phase. This court affirmed Hill's conviction on direct appeal. Hill v. State, 102 Nev. 377, 724 P.2d 734 (1986), cert. denied, 479 U.S. 1101, 107 S.Ct. 1330, 94 L.Ed.2d 181 (1987). Subsequently, Hill filed a petition for post-conviction relief in the district court. The district court denied the petition, and this appeal followed.
On March 8, 1983, at 11:00 p.m., Hill and Marshall kicked in the front door to an apartment occupied by the Matthews. The couple was in bed, and Altonia had already fallen asleep. She was fifty-six years old and confined to a wheelchair due to paralysis on her left side resulting from a stroke.
After hearing the crash of the front door, Leroy ran to the bedroom doorway and saw two young men coming into the apartment toward the bedroom. Leroy slammed the bedroom door closed and pushed a dresser against it, attempting to barricade himself and his wife inside. When Leroy discovered that he could not keep the intruders out, he went to the bedroom window, removed a stick used to lock the window shut ("window stick"), and placed the window stick on the bed. He opened the window and put his head outside when he encountered Marshall, who had come around the building to meet Leroy at the window. Marshall was carrying a sawed-off pool cue stick ("cue stick"); however, Leroy mistook it for a gun. Marshall threatened to "blow [Leroy's] head off" if he went out the window. Therefore, Leroy retreated back into his bedroom. Marshall apparently went back inside to assist Hill in pushing the bedroom door open and overpowering Leroy's barricade.
Once Hill and Marshall were inside the bedroom, Altonia awoke to the commotion. She asked what was happening, and Hill hit her hard on her forehead with his fist, exclaiming, "Shut up, Bitch!" At this time, Marshall demanded the television, jewelry, and money. Leroy responded that he and his wife did not have any of those items.
Marshall then coaxed Leroy out of the bedroom and into the living room. Once Leroy followed Marshall, he realized the item in Marshall's hand was not a gun as he had thought; rather, it was the cue stick. Therefore, Leroy attempted to grab the cue stick from Marshall, and the two struggled and fought over the cue stick until they eventually reached the kitchen, located near the front door. Leroy would not let go of the cue stick, and Marshall hit him with a fist. Leroy then tripped and fell on the floor. Marshall climbed on top of Leroy and started choking him with the cue stick across his neck. Leroy later testified that Marshall never left his presence throughout the entire ordeal. He further testified that he was positive Marshall was the man with whom he struggled, not Hill. This is supported by the fact that Leroy recognized Marshall and Hill from the neighborhood prior to March 8, 1983. Also, at trial, other testimony was presented that Hill and Marshall looked nothing alike and could not easily be mistaken for each other. Hill has a much darker complexion than Marshall and is about five or six inches shorter than Marshall.
In the meantime, Hill was left in the bedroom with Altonia. Leroy heard his wife screaming in great pain and yelling, Later it was discovered that Hill had beat her up and sexually assaulted her by deeply and repeatedly thrusting a stick, presumably the window stick, inside her anal opening with great force. Eventually, Marshall yelled to Hill to leave the premises. Before leaving, Marshall threatened Leroy that if he told the police, he was as good as dead. Marshall and Hill then left the apartment.
Leroy went into the bedroom to discover his wife beaten up and bloody, lying on the floor. He also saw the window stick lying on the bed. Leroy placed the window stick back in the window. Leroy put Altonia in her wheelchair and moved her into the living room where he carried her to the couch. He got cold towels and attempted to attend to her wounds. Leroy then moved Altonia to the floor because she was in such pain; thereafter, she again requested to be placed on the couch. Leroy testified that he did not realize how injured she was until she told him that she thought she was dying. Because the couple did not own a phone, Leroy was forced to leave his injured wife and run several blocks to his sister-in-law's house to call an ambulance. Additionally, because Marshall lived nearby and Leroy feared another confrontation, Leroy had to proceed a few blocks out of his way to get to the phone. 1 Afterward, the ambulance and the police arrived at the Matthews residence, and Altonia was transported to the hospital.
On March 10, 1983, Altonia died from her injuries. Dr. James Clarke, the medical examiner, performed an autopsy. He later testified at trial that Altonia's external injuries included deep lacerations on her forehead penetrating all the way to the bone. She had severe bruising, including a black eye, and several broken teeth. Altonia additionally suffered from deep cuts to her perineum (the area between her vaginal and anal openings) so severe that there existed only one common opening. Dr. Clarke testified that this injury resulted from a sharp-ended stick, such as the window stick, being thrust inside her with great force at least four or five times.
Dr. Clarke further testified as to Altonia's internal injuries. Before she died, Altonia underwent surgery to repair her abdomen and remove her sigmoid colon (the part of the large intestine that connects the colon with the rectum) because they were perforated by the same object that tore her perineum. There was damage to her kidney and hemorrhaging in the kidney area. Dr. Clarke informed the jury that the object used to assault Altonia was thrust into her at least fourteen inches deep in order to reach the kidney from her anal opening.
Dr. Clarke testified that the cause of Altonia's death was peritonitis (inflammation of the abdominal surfaces) and atelectasis (combination of the injuries and shock causing the lungs to collapse) due to someone thrusting a long sharp object, likely the window stick, into her rectum.
On March 13, 1983, after police investigations led to Marshall and Hill as suspects, Marshall was arrested. He made two voluntary statements to the police, apparently blaming Hill for the sexual assault, while admitting his involvement in the other crimes committed on the Matthews. Later that day, Hill was also arrested, and he, too, made voluntary statements to the police admitting his involvement, but insisting that Marshall committed the sexual assault on Altonia.
After a preliminary hearing, on April 27, 1983, an information was filed against both defendants, charging them with various crimes arising from the March 8, 1983 incident. These charges included: (1) one count of burglary with intent to commit a felony, (2) two counts of attempted robbery with a deadly weapon, (3) two counts of battery with a deadly weapon, one each on Altonia and Leroy, (4) one count of sexual assault with a deadly weapon, and (5) one count of murder with a deadly weapon.
On April 28, 1983, the state filed a notice to seek the death penalty based on the following aggravating circumstances: (1) the murder was committed during the commission of a burglary, (2) the murder was committed during the commission of a robbery, (3) the murder was committed during the commission of a sexual assault, and (4) the murder involved torture. NRS 200.033(4), (8).
On May 27, 1983, Marshall pleaded guilty to burglary, two counts of attempted robbery with a deadly weapon, battery with a deadly weapon committed on Leroy, and first degree murder with a deadly weapon. Marshall received several prison sentences for these convictions, including two life terms with the possibility of parole for first degree murder with a deadly weapon.
The jury trial for Hill commenced on June 28, 1983. On July 6, 1983, a jury found Hill guilty of burglary, attempted robbery with a deadly weapon, attempted robbery, battery with a deadly weapon upon Altonia, sexual assault with a deadly weapon, and first degree murder with a deadly weapon. It further found him not guilty of battery with a deadly weapon upon Leroy.
On August 22, 1983, after the jury was unable to reach a verdict at the penalty phase, a three-judge panel sentenced Hill to death for the first degree murder conviction. Hill was additionally sentenced as follows: (1) ten years in prison for burglary, (2) seven and one-half years in prison for...
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