Witnesses Link Hill to Abortion Clinic Killings as Trial Opens

Acting as his own lawyer, a former minister made no opening statement and asked no questions Monday during his trial in the shotgun slayings of an abortion doctor and his bodyguard.

Paul Hill, 40, could get the electric chair if convicted in the July 29 deaths.

After a prosecutor made his opening statement, four witnesses testified that they saw Hill fire the fatal shots or standing near the body after the shootings.

Dorothy Disney, a financial aid representative at a college, said she heard a “pop-pop” and saw Hill standing by one of the victims.

“He was just standing there and he had a weapon in his hand. And he was looking at the body, staring at the body,” she said.

On Oct. 5, Hill became the first person convicted under the new federal law against using violence or intimidation to prevent people from entering abortion clinics. He could get up to life in prison when he is sentenced Dec. 9.

At the federal trial, Hill also acted as his own lawyer and offered no defense, calling no witnesses and cross-examining none of his accusers.

Hill’s murder trial in state court began amid tight security. Police set up crowd-control barricades around the courthouse and put sharpshooters on the roof.

Killed in the shootings were Dr. John Bayard Britton, 69, and his volunteer bodyguard James H. Barrett, 74. Barrett’s wife, June, 68, was wounded.

Fire Capt. Earl Jackson was driving by the clinic in a pickup truck and saw Hill pull a gun from some bushes, take a couple of steps and fire. Jackson said he then saw Barrett’s body laying next to the truck. Jackson said he got a good look at Hill.

Jackson and Disney also testified at Hill’s federal trial.

Assistant State Atty. James Murray said Hill had been carrying signs and protesting in front of the abortion clinic for six months.

“One of these signs was prophetic,” Murray said in his opening statement. “You are going to see photographs of the defendant carrying a sign saying ‘Execute abortionists and accessories.’ ”

Circuit Judge Frank Bell rejected Hill’s last-minute request for help from two lawyers who support his contention that the killings were justifiable homicide.