Hills v. State
306 Ga. 800
Ga.2019Background
- Defendant Roman Eugene Hills was convicted of malice murder for the 2014 killing of his live-in girlfriend, Beverly Jones; jury trial June 30–July 1, 2016, sentenced to life without parole. Post-trial motions denied; appeal followed.
- Victim found in bedroom with extensive blunt, sharp, and strangulation injuries (122 external, 23 internal); medical examiner ruled cause of death strangulation with beating and stabbing contributing; injuries inconsistent with a fall.
- Crime-scene and forensic evidence: extensive blood throughout bedroom; victim’s blood on scissors and knife blades; mixture of Hills’ and victim’s blood on one weapon; victim’s blood on Hills’ clothes and hands. Entry points to house showed no signs of forced entry; investigators testified windows/doors appeared secure on the morning of the homicide.
- Hills gave varying statements: initially told first responders the victim “fell,” later stated he “pushed her off me,” admitted pushing her away while she asked for help, and told a relative and to police that he might have done it while asleep or not consciously.
- Defense proffered neighbor testimony that the victim’s older son had entered the house on other occasions (possibly via a key or a second‑story window) and thus might have had access; the trial court excluded that testimony as not directly connecting the son to the corpus delicti and as likely to create mere suspicion.
- On appeal Hills raised: (1) trial court error in excluding the neighbor’s testimony (as impeachment of officers’ testimony that the house was secure), and (2) two ineffective-assistance claims—failure to request an involuntary‑intoxication jury charge and failure to object to/seek a curative instruction for testimony by the Children’s Advocacy Center director implying a child witness was an accurate reporter.
Issues
| Issue | Plaintiff's Argument (Hills) | Defendant's Argument (State) | Held |
|---|---|---|---|
| Exclusion of neighbor testimony that victim’s son accessed the house previously | Testimony would impeach police testimony that the house was secure and suggest another possible perpetrator | Testimony did not contradict officers about security on the day of the crime and would only create conjecture about another suspect | Court affirmed exclusion: proffer did not disprove officers’ testimony or connect son to corpus delicti; exclusion not an abuse of discretion |
| Ineffective assistance — failure to request involuntary‑intoxication instruction | Counsel unreasonably failed to request instruction given statements suggesting Hills may have been drugged or ‘‘asleep’’ when he acted | No persuasive evidence of involuntary intoxication; counsel made a reasonable tactical choice to pursue a denial defense rather than an involuntary‑intoxication theory | No deficient performance or prejudice: lack of evidence of incapacity and counsel’s strategic choice was reasonable |
| Ineffective assistance — failure to object to CAC director’s credibility statements about a child reporter | Counsel should have objected when director called the child an "accurate reporter" and asked for jury curative instruction; failing to do so prejudiced Hills | Statements were about past events and the child’s general reporting; overwhelming evidence of guilt made any error non-prejudicial | Even if performance deficient, Hills failed to show prejudice given strong evidence and that statements concerned past events, not the murder night |
Key Cases Cited
- Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307 (standard for sufficiency of the evidence)
- Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (ineffective assistance two‑prong test: performance and prejudice)
- Roberts v. State, 305 Ga. 257 (Georgia rule on admitting evidence pointing to another perpetrator and need to connect other person to corpus delicti)
- White v. State, 263 Ga. 94 (involuntary intoxication charge requires evidence defendant lacked capacity to distinguish right from wrong)
- Hendrix v. State, 298 Ga. 60 (strategic choice of defense; courts defer to reasonable trial strategy)
- Childress v. State, 266 Ga. 425 (permitting impeachment where offered testimony disproves facts testified to by another witness)