An Oktibbeha County jury will today deliberate the fate of a West Point man charged with robbery, sexual battery and kidnapping in Starkville’s Cotton District in 2016.
Closing arguments are expected to begin this morning in the case against Terry Hill, 44, who is accused of attacking two Mississippi State University students in a Cotton District residence in May 2016, raping one, taking an iPhone from another and holding them both against their will in the residence’s bathroom. If convicted, he faces up to life in prison.
The state rested Wednesday afternoon, with the defense following suit after Hill decided not to testify.
The last witness to testify was Kathryn Rodgers, a forensic DNA analyst with Scales Biological Laboratory in Brandon, who tested DNA from the victim’s rape kit against a cheek swab from Hill shortly taken shortly after his arrest. Rodgers told the jury that after comparing the DNA samples, she determined Hill could not be excluded as the individual who contributed DNA to the rape kit — forensic jargon for a positive match, as she said 99.99 percent of the world’s population would have been excluded.
Rodgers’ testimony concluded two days of state’s witnesses, from eye witness accounts placing Hill at the scene of the crime to police officers who found Hill after tracking the iPhone stolen from one of the victims. The sexual battery victim also testified, pointing at Hill from the stand and sobbed that he had raped her.
Multiple objections
Judge Lee Coleman, who is presiding over the trial, sent out the jury multiple times Wednesday to hear objections from either District Attorney Scott Colom or Hill’s attorney, Stephanie Mallette of Starkville.
At one point, Colom claimed Mallette was attempting to incriminate her own client to get a mistrial. A little while later, Mallette objected to the inclusion of the rape kit into evidence on grounds the chain of custody had not been established.
Mallette had already moved to withdraw from the case Tuesday after Hill made an outburst in court but outside the presence of the jury. She claimed she was afraid for her life when in Hill’s presence and said she didn’t want to represent him. She asked if the trial did go forward for a police officer to be put between her and her client. Coleman ordered a non-uniformed, unarmed law enforcement officer to sit between Mallette and Hill for the duration of the trial.
Hill is one of two suspects facing charged in the case. His co-defendant, Jerry Talley, Jr., of McCool, has been charged with robbery, kidnapping and aggravated assault. His case was initially scheduled to go to trial this week but was postponed after his attorney, Benjamin Lang of Starkville, withdrew.
Donna Smith of Columbus is Talley’s new attorney.
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