Aggravated Assault Louisiana - WACO, TX (Reuters) - A fugitive from Louisiana who was injured in December 2019 after a shootout with McLennan County sheriff's deputies on his way to jail.
Douglas Eric Hill, 31, pleaded guilty Wednesday to charges of aggravated assault and possession of methamphetamine with intent to enter a plea agreement with prosecutors that called for sentences of 20 and 25 years respectively.
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Hill has been charged with aggravated assault on a peace officer, a first degree crime that carries a life sentence. However, the prosecutor dropped the peace officer's claim, and reduced the charges to second-degree felony.
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Judge Thomas West of Waco's 19th District Court accepted the plea agreement and ruled that Hill used a lethal weapon in a shootout with deputies, meaning he should be given credit for having served at least half of his — or 10 years — previous prison sentence. He can ask for parole.
McLennan County Sheriff Parnell McNamara, an outspoken critic of District Attorney Barry Johnson, was outraged by the plea agreement. McNamara said Hill knew he shot the deputies and should be prosecuted accordingly and take full responsibility for his actions.
"He tried to kill a police officer and he should be found guilty, plain and simple," McNamara said.
When asked what message he sent for the plea agreement to deal with drug charges more severely than assaulting officers, McNamara said, "That tells you something right there. That's all I'm going to say."
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Hill filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against Sheriff's Deputies Cody Blossman, Chris Evans, and Jason Sandell in May, alleging that officers failed to properly identify themselves and used excessive force in their custody.
U.S. District Judge Alan Albright, of Waco, has ordered that all civil proceedings be suspended until the Hill State criminal case is resolved.
The deputies, members of the Sheriff's Office who arrested the fugitive, acted on a tip that Hill, who was shot four times in the crash, had been seen near the apartment complex on Lake Air Drive. Officials said Hill was wanted under multiple arrest warrants by the Caddo Parish sheriff's office in Shreveport, Louisiana.
Hill claimed in his lawsuit that he "acquired a few enemies" during his brief stay in Waco, and he believed that the deputies, who approached in unmarked secret vans equipped with flashing lights, was someone he intended to rob or kill.
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"As the car swerved across the street as if it were going to hit me, I turned left and started running back across Lake Air Doctor from where I had come from," Hill claims in the lawsuit. "I started hearing gunshots, and then it got dark."
A McLennan County grand jury, which reviewed the shooting, acquitted the three officers of felony in February 2020. They were not injured in the shooting.
McNamara said the officers flashed red and blue flashing lights as they approached Hill, with no doubt they were law enforcement.
"He knew exactly who shot him," McNamara said. "He knew they were police officers, that was obvious."
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Deputies found about 80 grams of methamphetamine in Hill's backpack, according to arrest records. Officers also found 2.9 grams of cocaine on Hill, along with a .25 caliber pistol and two 9mm pistols, according to the arrest affidavit.
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