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Jury to decide if driver or car caused fatal 2000 crash
The prosecution will try to focus on Mary Hill's state of mind. Her trial begins Monday.
By Rene Stutzman | Sentinel Staff Writer
Posted February 22, 2004
SANFORD -- On the first day of school, Mary Hill picked up her daughter and two neighbor kids, loaded them into the back seat and headed for home. The sun was shining. The road was dry. Traffic was light.
The car, though, sped out of control, went into a skid and plowed into a tree. Two of the three children were killed, including Hill's 13-year-old daughter, Amy.
On Monday, 3½ years after the crash, Hill will go on trial, charged with two counts each of manslaughter and vehicular homicide.
Jurors must decide whether Hill jammed down the accelerator of her BMW, causing it to go from zero to 70 mph in less than two-tenths of a mile, or if the car sped out of control on its own.
If convicted, Hill could be sentenced to 30 years in prison.
There will be a great deal of scientific evidence from crash and automotive experts, but the most compelling evidence promises to be about what went on inside Hill's head.
Although defense attorneys will try to stop it, prosecutors want to introduce evidence that Hill, 53, of Longwood, had a long history of mental illness. She suffered from severe depression, according to court records, and was on medication that could have impaired her ability to drive.
She may have been suicidal that day or too mentally unstable to drive, Assistant State Attorney Pat Whitaker told a judge Friday.
Hill had been at a psychiatrist's office one hour before the crash, according to public records.
Defense attorney Tim Berry said he plans to call that psychiatrist, Eduard Gfeller, and show that Hill was in good spirits that day.
Berry will argue that Hill was a victim, not a killer. No one has suffered more from what happened that day, her attorneys have said. One of the dead was her daughter, they point out.
Berry blames the car. He contends its cruise control or onboard computer malfunctioned, causing the vehicle to race out of control.
He can prove the same thing has happened to other BMW owners, provided Circuit Judge O.H. Eaton Jr. lets in that evidence, something the state is fighting.
It's not clear, though, that Berry will be able to convince jurors that it happened to Hill.
Her car, a black 1996 BMW 740iL, was recalled in 1997 because of a problem with its cruise control and throttle cable. A team of BMW technicians examined the wreckage and found the recall fix -- two metal clips -- in place and intact.
They also reported they found no evidence the vehicle had malfunctioned the day of the crash.
That was Aug. 7, 2000.
Hill was driving her daughter; the girl's best friend, Carrie Brown, 14, the daughter of internationally known gymnastics coach Rita Brown; and neighbor Zak Rockwell, then 13, home from Greenwood Lakes Middle School.
Two tile installers in another vehicle told authorities they saw Hill driving erratically. One said she nearly hit their van. They and at least one other witness say she was driving fast, according to interviews and their statements to authorities.
Hill had pulled to a stop at a red light at Lake Mary Boulevard and Markham Woods Road. When the light turned green, she turned left and took off at a high rate of speed, all three witnesses said.
Within seconds, two of the children were dead.
Three experts -- a Florida Highway Patrol trooper, an accident-reconstruction consultant hired by the state and one hired by a defense attorney Hill has since fired -- all agreed: Within less than two-tenths of a mile, the car had reached 65 to 75 mph.
They also agreed that the car edged out of its lane and that Hill overreacted, pulling the wheel too hard to the right, sending it skidding broadside into the tree.
All of this happened in a 45-mph zone about a mile from the Hills' home.
Hill has hired a new crash expert, who is expected to say she was traveling at a lower rate of speed.
The only child who survived the crash, Zak, now 17, suffered permanent brain damage and was in a coma for a few days. He has since returned to a near-normal life.
Theoretically, he would be the ideal witness. However, he does not remember the crash. According to court records, the last thing he remembers is the car traveling very fast, the scenery flashing by.
Mary Hill has told friends that she, too, does not remember what happened.
She may or may not testify. Berry said last week that decision had not been made.
Hill, now in the process of divorcing her millionaire husband, has been institutionalized and undergone electroshock treatment, according to court records. She also has a history of alcohol abuse and treatment for an addiction to prescription medicines, those records show.
Blood tests the day of the crash found no alcohol in Hill's system, but they did turn up evidence of an anti-anxiety medication for which she had a prescription.
If taken in excess, according to the sworn statement of Dr. Jose M. Suarez, a psychiatrist Hill had stopped seeing the week before the crash, it could affect a person's ability to drive.
Whitaker said Friday that he doesn't think the medicine contributed to the crash, but that it is evidence of Hill's underlying mental instability.
Those same mental-health issues, in part, prompted the Florida Department of Children & Families last year to take away Hill's then-13-year-old daughter and place the girl in foster care. That child now lives with a relative.
Rita Brown, the mother of crash victim Carrie Brown, said Thursday that this will be a difficult week for her, but she plans to sit through every minute of testimony.
"I just want to get some peace and get this behind me and get some answers to some questions that I've had for the last 3½ years, which is why did it happen and how did something so terrible happen," Brown said.
The prosecution will try to focus on Mary Hill's state of mind. Her trial begins Monday.
By Rene Stutzman | Sentinel Staff Writer
Posted February 22, 2004
SANFORD -- On the first day of school, Mary Hill picked up her daughter and two neighbor kids, loaded them into the back seat and headed for home. The sun was shining. The road was dry. Traffic was light.
The car, though, sped out of control, went into a skid and plowed into a tree. Two of the three children were killed, including Hill's 13-year-old daughter, Amy.
On Monday, 3½ years after the crash, Hill will go on trial, charged with two counts each of manslaughter and vehicular homicide.
Jurors must decide whether Hill jammed down the accelerator of her BMW, causing it to go from zero to 70 mph in less than two-tenths of a mile, or if the car sped out of control on its own.
If convicted, Hill could be sentenced to 30 years in prison.
There will be a great deal of scientific evidence from crash and automotive experts, but the most compelling evidence promises to be about what went on inside Hill's head.
Although defense attorneys will try to stop it, prosecutors want to introduce evidence that Hill, 53, of Longwood, had a long history of mental illness. She suffered from severe depression, according to court records, and was on medication that could have impaired her ability to drive.
She may have been suicidal that day or too mentally unstable to drive, Assistant State Attorney Pat Whitaker told a judge Friday.
Hill had been at a psychiatrist's office one hour before the crash, according to public records.
Defense attorney Tim Berry said he plans to call that psychiatrist, Eduard Gfeller, and show that Hill was in good spirits that day.
Berry will argue that Hill was a victim, not a killer. No one has suffered more from what happened that day, her attorneys have said. One of the dead was her daughter, they point out.
Berry blames the car. He contends its cruise control or onboard computer malfunctioned, causing the vehicle to race out of control.
He can prove the same thing has happened to other BMW owners, provided Circuit Judge O.H. Eaton Jr. lets in that evidence, something the state is fighting.
It's not clear, though, that Berry will be able to convince jurors that it happened to Hill.
Her car, a black 1996 BMW 740iL, was recalled in 1997 because of a problem with its cruise control and throttle cable. A team of BMW technicians examined the wreckage and found the recall fix -- two metal clips -- in place and intact.
They also reported they found no evidence the vehicle had malfunctioned the day of the crash.
That was Aug. 7, 2000.
Hill was driving her daughter; the girl's best friend, Carrie Brown, 14, the daughter of internationally known gymnastics coach Rita Brown; and neighbor Zak Rockwell, then 13, home from Greenwood Lakes Middle School.
Two tile installers in another vehicle told authorities they saw Hill driving erratically. One said she nearly hit their van. They and at least one other witness say she was driving fast, according to interviews and their statements to authorities.
Hill had pulled to a stop at a red light at Lake Mary Boulevard and Markham Woods Road. When the light turned green, she turned left and took off at a high rate of speed, all three witnesses said.
Within seconds, two of the children were dead.
Three experts -- a Florida Highway Patrol trooper, an accident-reconstruction consultant hired by the state and one hired by a defense attorney Hill has since fired -- all agreed: Within less than two-tenths of a mile, the car had reached 65 to 75 mph.
They also agreed that the car edged out of its lane and that Hill overreacted, pulling the wheel too hard to the right, sending it skidding broadside into the tree.
All of this happened in a 45-mph zone about a mile from the Hills' home.
Hill has hired a new crash expert, who is expected to say she was traveling at a lower rate of speed.
The only child who survived the crash, Zak, now 17, suffered permanent brain damage and was in a coma for a few days. He has since returned to a near-normal life.
Theoretically, he would be the ideal witness. However, he does not remember the crash. According to court records, the last thing he remembers is the car traveling very fast, the scenery flashing by.
Mary Hill has told friends that she, too, does not remember what happened.
She may or may not testify. Berry said last week that decision had not been made.
Hill, now in the process of divorcing her millionaire husband, has been institutionalized and undergone electroshock treatment, according to court records. She also has a history of alcohol abuse and treatment for an addiction to prescription medicines, those records show.
Blood tests the day of the crash found no alcohol in Hill's system, but they did turn up evidence of an anti-anxiety medication for which she had a prescription.
If taken in excess, according to the sworn statement of Dr. Jose M. Suarez, a psychiatrist Hill had stopped seeing the week before the crash, it could affect a person's ability to drive.
Whitaker said Friday that he doesn't think the medicine contributed to the crash, but that it is evidence of Hill's underlying mental instability.
Those same mental-health issues, in part, prompted the Florida Department of Children & Families last year to take away Hill's then-13-year-old daughter and place the girl in foster care. That child now lives with a relative.
Rita Brown, the mother of crash victim Carrie Brown, said Thursday that this will be a difficult week for her, but she plans to sit through every minute of testimony.
"I just want to get some peace and get this behind me and get some answers to some questions that I've had for the last 3½ years, which is why did it happen and how did something so terrible happen," Brown said.
