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Thread: Gary Michael Hilton - Florida Death Row

  1. #31
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    Hilton's appeal process begins

    In what could be the start of a decade-plus legal slog, the first appeal by convicted serial killer Gary Michael Hilton of his 2011 death sentence for the murder of Cheryl Dunlap will be heard this morning by the Florida Supreme Court.

    Oral arguments in Hilton’s automatic direct appeal to the state’s high court are expected to begin at about 10:30 a.m.

    Public Defender Nancy Daniels, whose office is representing the 65-year-old Hilton, said the average time for such a capital appeal case to wend its way through the legal system can be about 10 to 12 years.

    “Some people think that’s too long, but this is the ultimate penalty, so you want to make sure due process is exhausted,” she said.

    A Leon County jury unanimously recommended the death penalty for Hilton’s brutal kidnapping and killing of Dunlap, a Crawfordville nurse he abducted from Leon Sinks Geological Area Dec. 1, 2007. He kept her captive in the nearby woods for up to two days, evidence showed, finally strangling, shooting or bludgeoning her to death. In an effort to conceal his crimes, Hilton sawed off her head and hands, burned them in his campsite fire pit and dumped her dismembered body in the woods, where it was found two weeks later by a hunter.

    Weeks after killing Dunlap, Hilton went on to kidnap and kill Meredith Emerson, a 24-year-old college graduate, while hiking on Blood Mountain, Ga. Hilton was arrested and confessed to beating Emerson to death and decapitating her in exchange for a life prison sentence.

    In March, Hilton pled guilty in U.S. District Court in Asheville, N.C., for the murders of John and Irene Bryant, an elderly hiker couple he killed about two months prior to Dunlap. He is currently being held pending sentencing in the federal case in Asheville’s Buncombe County Jail.

    In his appeal in the Dunlap case, Hilton’s attorneys cited six reasons why his conviction and death sentence should be overturned, including the contention that inadmissible information about his other crimes was wrongly presented as evidence at trial.

    State Attorney Willie Meggs, however, said he knew of no errors in the trial or with the sentence and that the state and federal appeal process for Hilton could be concluded more swiftly than is common for some other death penalty cases.

    Meggs added that he has talked to federal officials and is confident Hilton will be returned to Florida once he is sentenced in the Bryant case.

    “We are going to get him back,” Meggs said. “He is going to be on Florida Death Row.”

    http://www.tallahassee.com/article/2...process-begins
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  2. #32
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    GARY MICHAEL HILTON v THE STATE OF FLORIDA

    In today's opinions, the Florida Supreme Court AFFIRMED Hilton's conviction and sentence of death.
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  3. #33
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    Drifter gets 4 life sentences, killed NC hikers

    A drifter previously convicted of killing and beheading hikers in Florida and Georgia will serve four additional life sentences for murdering a North Carolina couple in a national forest.

    Gary Michael Hilton was sentenced Thursday in Asheville for kidnapping and killing John and Irene Bryant in 2007. Hilton camped out for victims before he ambushed the elderly Hendersonville couple as they hiked in the Pisgah National Forest in Transylvania County.

    Hilton pleaded guilty to the crimes in March 2012. He also pleaded guilty to robbery and firearms offenses.

    Hilton was on Florida's death row for killing 46-year-old Cheryl Dunlap, who was found dead in the Apalachicola National Forest where Hilton had camped. He faces a fifth life sentence for murdering 24-year-old hiker Meredith Emerson in northern Georgia in 2008.

    http://www.wsav.com/story/22081371/d...lled-nc-hikers
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  4. #34
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    On December 2, 2013, the US Supreme Court DENIED Hilton's certiorari petition.

    http://www.supremecourt.gov/Search.a...es/13-6416.htm

  5. #35
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    Gary Hilton Could Testify at Upcoming Hearing

    A convicted serial killer on Florida's death row could take the stand and testify in his upcoming appeal.

    Gary Michael Hilton was sentenced to death for kidnapping and murdering Cheryl Dunlap in December 2007.

    A hearing in his latest appeal was set for today, but it was cancelled at the last minute after Hilton's attorney said he needed more time to prepare.

    "Typically they're pretty protracted proceedings because the courts need to make sure they review the case thoroughly," Hilton's attorney Alex Morris said. "Obviously it's the ultimate penalty and the courts take a pretty keen look at things."

    "He murdered Cheri within probably a couple of days or less. So she didn't get to have any appeals or any pleadings for a long time," Cheryl Dunlap's cousin Gloria Tucker said afterward. "So when they speak of justice ... there just is no justice when someone can murder someone and live for 10, 20, 30 years."

    The judge set a new court date for September. The defense lawyer says "Hilton is likely to testify" at that hearing.

    http://www.wctv.tv/news/floridanews/...297721081.html
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  6. #36
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    Gary Hilton Claims Mental Illness Should Bar His Execution

    Convicted serial killer Gary Michael Hilton will have a chance to argue he's exempt from execution due to mental illness.

    Hilton is on death row for kidnapping and killing Crawfordville Sunday School teacher and FSU nurse Cheryl Dunlap in 2007.

    His latest appeal is set to be heard in January.

    Today a judge threw out Hilton's claims that Florida's death penalty is cruel and unusual punishment because it only requires a majority vote. Prosecutors pointed out the jury in Hilton's case unanimously recommended a death sentence.

    The judge did say he will hold another hearing to consider Hilton's mental illness claims and whether they should bar the state from executing him.

    (Source: WCTV News)
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  7. #37
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    On November 6, 2015, Hilton filed a habeas petition in Federal District Court.

    https://dockets.justia.com/docket/fl...5cv00542/83770

  8. #38
    Senior Member CnCP Legend CharlesMartel's Avatar
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    10 years later, friends, officials reflect on tragic loss of Meredith Emerson

    Hiker slain by serial killer in 2008

    By Nick Watson
    The Gainesville Times

    In the years since Meredith Emerson’s death, Brent Seyler will go back to Blood Mountain and sometimes leave flowers. He thinks about “her spunk” and how she was someone to “live each day to its fullest.”

    “She just had a strength about her, and that’s the one thing I’ve always remembered about Meredith,” Seyler said.

    Seyler and Julia Karrenbauer are the respective vice president and president of Right to Hike, a group created in Emerson’s honor raising awareness on issues including hiking safety.

    Emerson, 24, was kidnapped Jan. 1, 2008, from the Byron Herbert Reece Memorial Trailhead in Union County and later bludgeoned to death by Gary Michael Hilton, now 71.

    Hilton was identified and captured a few days after Emerson’s disappearance. He was sentenced later that month to life in prison, with parole eligibility 30 years after the initial sentencing.

    Hilton is now being held in a Florida prison awaiting the death penalty in a separate case.

    Seyler said he and Karrenbauer look at each other in amazement at how the group has expanded. The group held its 10th annual Ella’s Run in October, named for Emerson’s black lab.

    Seyler said the group decided to make this the last run as a way to go out on top, seeing people continually come out to remember Emerson.

    “Her story just touched so, so many individuals nationally certainly as well as locally,” Seyler said.

    In exchange for divulging the location of Emerson’s body, Union County District Attorney Stan Gunter made a deal with Hilton to take the death penalty option off of the table.

    “I have seen many, many tragic homicides. This certainly is at the top of that list, not only because of who she was and the great loss it was to her family and to the community … but also because of the egregiousness and the evil nature of Gary Hilton,” said Northeastern Judicial Circuit District Attorney Lee Darragh, who was prosecuting the case at the time.

    Darragh told The Times in 2008 he believed Hilton deserved the death penalty, and he said Wednesday he still holds that same view.

    “It was regrettable that because of the deal that had been made by the District Attorney of the Enotah Circuit at that time that we could not seek the death penalty. But on the other hand, it did lead to the discovery of Ms. Emerson’s body in her tragic death,” Darragh said.

    Gunter did not return a request for comment Wednesday by The Times. Attempts to reach public defender Robert McNeill on Wednesday for comment were unsuccessful.

    Hilton pleaded guilty Jan. 31, 2008, to one count of murder.

    “It got closed out quicker than any murder case I’ve ever seen,” said Hall County Public Defender’s Office investigator Stephen Gurr, who covered the case for The Times.

    Emerson’s mother, Susan Emerson, said following sentencing she was not sorry that the death penalty was taken off of the table.

    “That would have been an easy out for this menace. Let him stay alive and slowly rot,” Susan Emerson told the court in 2008.

    Timeline

    October 2007: John and Irene Bryant were killed on a trail in the Pisgah National Forest in North Carolina.

    December 2007: Cheryl Dunlap, a 46-year-old nurse, was killed. Her body was found in the Apalachicola National Forest in north Florida.

    Jan. 1, 2008: Meredith Emerson, 24, went hiking with her dog near Union County’s Vogel State Park.

    Jan. 1, 2008: Gary Michael Hilton tried to use a bank card belonging to Emerson at a Bank of America ATM in Gainesville around 9:30 p.m.

    Jan. 4, 2008: Meredith Emerson was bludgeoned to death and then decapitated.

    Jan. 5, 2008: A warrant was signed for the arrest of Gary Michael Hilton on kidnapping charges.

    Jan. 7, 2008: Hilton led authorities to Emerson’s body in the Dawson Forest Wildlife Management Area.

    Jan. 20, 2008: A memorial was held for Emerson in Athens.

    Jan. 19, 2008: More than 100 gathered to hike in Blairsville to honor Emerson.

    Jan. 31, 2008: Hilton pleaded guilty to Emerson’s murder and received a life sentence.

    Oct. 25, 2008: The first “Ella’s Run” 5K and one-mile fun run was held.

    April 2011: Hilton sentenced to death in Dunlap’s murder

    June 2011: Hilton charged with killing Bryants.

    April 2013: Hilton received life sentence in the murder of the Bryants.

    https://www.gainesvilletimes.com/new...edith-emerson/

  9. #39
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    Serial killer Gary Hilton goes to Florida Supreme Court in attempt to get off Death Row

    A lawyer for convicted serial killer Gary Hilton, found guilty of kidnapping and beheading a Crawfordville nurse, went before the Florida Supreme Court Wednesday to ask that Hilton’s death sentence be overturned.

    Tallahassee attorney Robert A. Morris told the court Hilton was denied a right to effective counsel during the penalty phase of his 2011 trial because of a defense team beset with high turnover and an inability of his lawyers to communicate with each other.

    The justices can either uphold Hilton's death sentence or reverse it and send it back to a Leon County trial court for a new sentence.

    A Leon jury had returned a unanimous vote for a death sentence after they convicted Hilton of the 2007 kidnapping and murder of 46-year-old Cheryl Dunlap.

    Prosecutors had told jurors that after abducting Dunlap while she was reading a book at the Leon Sinks Geological Area, Hilton held her captive for two days, withdrew money from her bank account, stole her white Toyota Camry, and then “when he was through with her,” in the words of prosecutor Georgia Cappleman, beheaded and incinerated her head and hands at his camp in the Apalachicola National Forest.

    Hilton — an Army veteran, woodsman and survivalist — has been convicted of murdering six people in three different national forests. While sitting on Florida's Death Row, he also is serving life sentences from North Carolina and Georgia.

    Morris outlined a litany of failures by the defense team in his Florida trial when it decided not to use eyewitness accounts of a “perfect storm” of abuse and mental illness to argue mitigating factors for jurors to consider in recommending a death sentence.

    And, he added, the courts have not given enough weight to Hilton’s claim he is ineligible for a death sentence because of severe mental illness — schizophrenia — which led to an honorable discharge from the Army.

    “There is a reasonable probability that, but for counsel’s unprofessional errors, the result of the proceedings would have been different,” Morris said.

    Assistant Attorney General Michael Kennett countered that Hilton told his lawyers to focus on getting a life sentence.

    He told the justices it was a strategic decision to rely on expert testimony instead of witnesses with first-hand accounts of the abuse and poverty Hilton experienced as a child.

    Justice Jorge Labarga asked Morris if he thought that was a “reasonable” strategy for counsel to pursue during the penalty phase.

    “There wasn’t a strategy,” Morris said about the failure to construct a defense rooted in Hilton’s life circumstances. “These people couldn’t even talk with each other. The defense team was so dysfunctional."

    Nonetheless, Kennett previously argued that Hilton actively participated in developing his defense team’s courtroom strategy.

    “I want to take this to trial and I want to waste the state’s money if they’re going to put me to death,” Hilton reportedly told his counsel, in a brief that Kennett submitted.

    https://www.tallahassee.com/story/ne...ow/5756274002/
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

    "Y'all be makin shit up" ~ Markeith Loyd

  10. #40
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    Petition for writ of habeas corpus denied by the Florida Supreme Court

    https://law.justia.com/cases/florida.../sc19-373.html
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