Selma Hill Murder Trial: Defense Lawyer Says 91-Year-Old Woman's Slaying Not Planned

Bay City News —  killed her husband's 91-year-old grandmother two and a half years ago but did so in the heat of passion, not as part of an elaborate plan to kidnap the couple's daughter, her attorney told jurors Monday at the Rene C. Davidson courthouse in Oakland.

In her closing argument in the trial of Rosa Hill, 36, and her mother, 57-year-old Mei Li, of Antioch, Hill's lawyer, Bonnie Narby, said Hill went to the home of Selma Hill in the 7700 block of Peppertree Lane in Dublin on Jan. 7, 2009, to check on her daughter, who was 2 years old at the time, and "had no plan to kill anyone."

Narby said Hill was concerned about her daughter because she thought her husband, Eric Hill, was molesting the young girl and that he suffered from psychological problems.

Narby said Hill also was frustrated that the family court system had ignored her suspicions, instead awarding her husband sole legal custody and 85 percent physical custody of their daughter.

Eric Hill, who was wounded in the Jan. 7, 2009, incident in which his grandmother was killed, survived and testified in the two-month-long trial. He has denied molesting his daughter. He and his daughter lived with his grandmother.

Prosecutor that Hill and Li planned for nine months to kill Eric Hill and Selma Hill and kidnap the 2-year-old girl.

Bates said notes recovered later by police showed that Hill and Li called their plan "Operation Custody" and purchased a cache of weapons worthy of a small army, including guns, stun guns, a sword, a hammer tool, a crossbow, a throat cutter, a knife and a baton.

In addition, Bates said that when police investigated a computer that Hill and her mother used, they discovered that the two women had conducted Internet searches on how to get away with murder and how to strangle someone, as well as on using deadly substances such as arsenic, cyanide, strychnine, mustard gas and ammonia.

He urged jurors to convict Hill and Li of murder for the death of Selma Hill and attempted murder for the attack on Eric Hill.

But Narby said Monday that if Hill really had a carefully constructed plan to kill Selma Hill and Eric Hill that she would not have left any evidence behind.

Narby asked, "If this was a planned murder, why would they leave a mountain of evidence to let them be easily prosecuted?"

Narby said the fact that Selma Hill suffered 23 wounds, including injuries inflicted by a Taser, indicates that Hill killed the 91-year-old woman "in a sudden quarrel and the heat of passion," not as part of a calculated plan.

Narby said Hill "snapped and lost all control" when she tried to talk to Selma Hill about her concerns that day and was told by the elderly woman that she would try to stop her from seeing her daughter.

The defense lawyer said Hill should be convicted only of voluntary manslaughter for the death of Selma Hill and should be acquitted or  convicted only of attempted involuntary manslaughter for the attack on Eric Hill.

Li's attorney, Barbara Thomas, admitted that Li came to Selma Hill's house on Jan. 7, 2009, but said there was no plan to kill anyone. She said that Li went to the house because her daughter asked for help, and that Selma Hill was dead by the time she arrived.

Thomas told jurors that Li should be found not guilty of all charges against her.

"She's suffered a lot already, so send her home." 

On Tuesday, Bates will give his rebuttal closing argument and then Alameda County Superior Court Judge Kenneth Burr will give legal instructions to the jury.

It is expected that jurors will begin deliberating Wednesday. Hill faces a term of 44 years to life in state prison if she is convicted of all the charges against her, and Li faces 38 years to life.