Third motions hearing adjourns in Airman Hill court martial

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BOLLING AIR FORCE BASE, D.C. (AFPN) --  The third motions hearing in the court martial of Airman Calvin Hill, charged with the premeditated murder of a fellow Airman and other offenses, adjourned here Oct. 4.

Airman Hill is charged in the death of Airman 1st Class Ashley Turner in August 2005 while the two were stationed at Naval Air Station Keflavik. If convicted of premeditated murder, he faces the possibility of a death sentence.

Jury selection is tentatively scheduled to begin Nov. 14, with opening statements Nov. 28. Both dates are subject to change.

During the hearing, which began Oct. 3, the defense submitted nine new motions. Included was a motion to suppress Airman Hill's statements to the Naval Criminal Investigative Service after he was in custody. There also was a motion to dismiss the referral -- that is, the case itself -- and a motion to grant the defense five peremptory challenges. 

Presiding judge Air Force Col. William Burd denied those motions, but withheld judgment on a motion to suppress the testimony of a key witness, Vanee Youbanphot, an Iceland native, until later in the trial.

The other defense motions denied by Colonel Burd were a motion to hold the case in abeyance because the military judge does not sit for a fixed term; a motion to permit the polling of the panel following the delivery of a verdict; a motion for an instruction to the members that a guilty plea is not possible in a capital case; and a motion for a preliminary instruction on premeditation.

Colonel Burd also issued an order to potential court members to refrain from viewing or listening to any media accounts related to the case.

The last military execution to take place was that of an Army private convicted of the 1955 rape and attempted murder of an 11-year-old Austrian girl. He was hanged at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., on April 19, 1961. Currently, six former military members who have been sentence to death are confined at the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth.

Airman Turner was found in a common room in her dormitory on Aug. 14, 2005 and taken to Keflavik Naval Hospital, where she was pronounced dead. An autopsy determined the cause of death to be a stab wound and blunt-force trauma to the head.

Before the alleged homicide, Airman Hill was charged with stealing more than $500 from Airman Turner and for being absent without leave. He also faces obstruction of justice charges.

Although the convening authority in this case is the commander of U.S. Air Forces Europe, the trial was moved to Bolling because NAS Keflavik closed Sept. 30, 2006.