Paul Jennings Hill

Paul Jennings Hill

Paul Jennings Hill (born February 6, 1954 , † September 3, 2003 in Miami , Florida , United States ) was an American Christian extremist who murdered the doctor John Britton and his bodyguard James Barrett in 1994, because Britton performed abortions . He was sentenced to death and executed.

Early life

Paul Hill was born in Miami, Florida to Oscar Jennings Hill, a pilot, and his wife Louise. Hill grew up in Coral Gables . He was quiet, reserved, and popular in high school , but had drug problems by the age of 17.

Hill became strictly religious in 1973 after being sent to military school. He enrolled at Belhaven College , where he met his future wife, Karen Demuth, with whom he had three children.

Early career

Hill graduated from Belhaven College and Reformed Theological Seminary . After his ordination in 1984, Hill became a priest in the Presbyterian Church in America and the Orthodox Presbyterian Church .

After appearing on television several times in 1993, calling himself the national spokesperson for defensive actions against abortion doctors and showing his closeness to the illegal Army of God , he was excommunicated.

Crime and Punishment

On July 29, 1994, Hill approached an abortion clinic in Pensacola, Florida called American Family Planning. When he saw the doctor John Britton and his bodyguard James Barrett, he shot the two with a rifle at close range. Both died, Barrett's wife June was wounded. After that, Hill put down his gun and waited for arrest.

During the trial, Hill stated that he had acted in defense rather than retaliation. On December 6, 1994, Hill was sentenced to death by lethal injection . Florida Governor Jeb Bush signed his death warrant nine years later.

In a statement prior to his execution, Hill stated that he felt no regrets for what he had done and that he would expect a great reward in heaven. He left a handwritten manifesto quoting the words of John Brown .

Hill's death sentence was carried out in Florida State Prison on September 3, 2003 .

aftermath

• In 2000, the American documentary Soldiers in the Army of God was made, which thematizes the ideology and deeds of the organization Hills, the terror group Army of God .
• In the documentary “ The Root of All Evil? “ (2006) the British religious critic and evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins interviewed the former lawyer of Paul Jennings Hill to learn more about the background of the crime. He told Dawkins that he believed Hill was in paradise.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Turning From 'Weapon of the Spirit' to the Shotgun Washington Post , Aug. 7, 1994
2. ↑ Who is Paul Hill?
3. ↑ Turning From 'Weapon of the Spirit' to the Shotgun by Kathy Sawyer Washington Post Sunday, August 7, 1994; Page A01
4. ↑ ^{a b} Paul Jennings Hill # 873
5. ^ "Mix My Blood with the Blood of the Unborn"
6. ↑ Mireya Navarro: Jury Recommends Death Penalty for Abortion Foe Convicted in 2 Killings in Florida . In: The New York Times , November 4, 1994, p. A20. 
7. ^ The Authorized Paul Hill Website
8. ↑ "Hill lives in the world of black and white" ( Memento of the original from September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. by Brett Norman in the Pensacola News Journal (August 24, 2003) 
9. ↑ Lone Gunners for Jesus: Letters to Paul J. Hill ( Memento of the original from February 24, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. by Presbyterian scribe Gary North (critical response to Hill) 
10. ↑ Article on the Internet movie database

Web links

• The Authorized Paul Hill website
• Inmate Release Information Detail - Inmate 459364 . Florida Department of Corrections . (Retrieved May 29, 2008.)