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Execution of Paul Hill: No Remorse
Aired September 03, 2003 - 03:02 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Up first this hour on CNN: Paul Hill. He is a former minister. He is unapologetic, and he is scheduled to die just seven hours from now.
Hill's execution for two 1994 murders would be the first in the U.S., the first for anti-abortion violence.
Our Brian Cabell is scheduled to witness the execution himself. He joins us from the prison in Starke, Florida, this morning.
Brian hello.
BRIAN CABELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn.
As you say, it's just seven hours now until the scheduled execution of Paul Hill. No sign yet of any demonstrators as far as we can see. They'll be setting up probably about 100 yards from us a little bit later today, and mostly supporters of Paul Hill, we would expect. Very high security around the prison, as you might expect as well.
Hill right now we believe is talking to his wife and his son. That was the schedule. This will be their last visit with him.
For the last two months, he has been spending time in a solitary cell just adjacent to the death chamber. And it's in the death chamber itself where he will get a final opportunity at 6:00 tonight to speak to assembled witnesses.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CABELL (voice-over): One day before his scheduled execution, Paul Hill, calmly and with a smile, claims he has no regrets for the double murder he committed in 1994.
PAUL HILL, CONVICTED MURDERER: Now, I can honestly say that if I had not acted when I did in the way I did that I could not look at myself in the mirror.
CABELL: Nine years ago, Hill, a Presbyterian minister and father of three, opened fire on Dr. John Britton, who performed abortions, and his two escorts, as they drove into a Pensacola clinic. Hill then took time to reload.
HILL: And Dr. Britton was still alive, was moving around, and I fired five more rounds until all movement stopped.
CABELL: Britton was killed. So was escort James Barrett. His wife, June, was wounded but survived.
Hill has never denied shooting them, nor has he appealed the case, with the exception of one mandatory appeal before the Florida Supreme Court. He long ago dismissed his attorneys.
And now, as his execution by lethal injection nears, some clinics providing abortions are on alert for possible violence.
VICTORIA SAPORTA, NATIONAL ABORTION FEDERATION: We know that events can trigger acts of violence, and we know that those in the extreme wing of the anti-choice movement are predicting a backlash, and we need to take these people seriously.
CABELL: But most mainstream anti-abortion groups have distances themselves from Hill.
REV. FLIP BENHAM, OPERATION RESCUE: One is not to overcome murder by murdering people, and Paul became the very thing that he hated.
CABELL: In addition, some state officials have received threatening letters, including the judge who sentenced Hill to death. And Paul Hill himself, if you believe him, he has no fear.
HILL: I believe that the moment that I'm executed that my soul will be made perfect in holiness and that I'll enter into the immediate presence of the Lord and I'll be forever with him. And so, I'm certainly looking forward to that.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Aired September 3, 2003 - 03:02 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Up first this hour on CNN: Paul Hill. He is a former minister. He is unapologetic, and he is scheduled to die just seven hours from now.
Hill's execution for two 1994 murders would be the first in the U.S., the first for anti-abortion violence.
Our Brian Cabell is scheduled to witness the execution himself. He joins us from the prison in Starke, Florida, this morning.
Brian hello.
BRIAN CABELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn.
As you say, it's just seven hours now until the scheduled execution of Paul Hill. No sign yet of any demonstrators as far as we can see. They'll be setting up probably about 100 yards from us a little bit later today, and mostly supporters of Paul Hill, we would expect. Very high security around the prison, as you might expect as well.
Hill right now we believe is talking to his wife and his son. That was the schedule. This will be their last visit with him.
For the last two months, he has been spending time in a solitary cell just adjacent to the death chamber. And it's in the death chamber itself where he will get a final opportunity at 6:00 tonight to speak to assembled witnesses.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CABELL (voice-over): One day before his scheduled execution, Paul Hill, calmly and with a smile, claims he has no regrets for the double murder he committed in 1994.
PAUL HILL, CONVICTED MURDERER: Now, I can honestly say that if I had not acted when I did in the way I did that I could not look at myself in the mirror.
CABELL: Nine years ago, Hill, a Presbyterian minister and father of three, opened fire on Dr. John Britton, who performed abortions, and his two escorts, as they drove into a Pensacola clinic. Hill then took time to reload.
HILL: And Dr. Britton was still alive, was moving around, and I fired five more rounds until all movement stopped.
CABELL: Britton was killed. So was escort James Barrett. His wife, June, was wounded but survived.
Hill has never denied shooting them, nor has he appealed the case, with the exception of one mandatory appeal before the Florida Supreme Court. He long ago dismissed his attorneys.
And now, as his execution by lethal injection nears, some clinics providing abortions are on alert for possible violence.
VICTORIA SAPORTA, NATIONAL ABORTION FEDERATION: We know that events can trigger acts of violence, and we know that those in the extreme wing of the anti-choice movement are predicting a backlash, and we need to take these people seriously.
CABELL: But most mainstream anti-abortion groups have distances themselves from Hill.
REV. FLIP BENHAM, OPERATION RESCUE: One is not to overcome murder by murdering people, and Paul became the very thing that he hated.
CABELL: In addition, some state officials have received threatening letters, including the judge who sentenced Hill to death. And Paul Hill himself, if you believe him, he has no fear.
HILL: I believe that the moment that I'm executed that my soul will be made perfect in holiness and that I'll enter into the immediate presence of the Lord and I'll be forever with him. And so, I'm certainly looking forward to that.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
