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Death penalty off the table in trial for quad murder suspect Alexander Hill

Posted at 6:14 PM, Sep 06, 2017
and last updated 2017-09-06 18:14:52-04

PETERSBURG, Va. — The trial for Alexander Hill Jr., the man accused of killing a family of four and avoiding police for more than a year, began Wednesday in Petersburg.

Hill is accused of killing four generations of one family on April 19, 2014 in a home on Harding Street in Petersburg.

Victims in the quadruple murder were Pauline Wilkins, her daughter Vicki Chavis Ansar, granddaughter Tanique Davis and great grandson Delvari Chavis; they were aged 67, 46, 22, and 2-year-old, respectively.

Hill’s connection to victims is that he was an ex-boyfriend of Vivian Chavis, who lived at the home, but was not there when the violence unfolded.

The capital murder trial will no longer be a death penalty case, according to prosecutors. Prosecutors declined to say why they were no longer pursuing the death penalty, citing pre-trial publicity which could influence potential jurors.

Jury selection began Wednesday. Around 400 hundred potential jurors were subpoenaed. Of those, 58 made it to Petersburg Circuit Court. From there, 12 jurors and three alternates will be seated.

Selection will continue until Thursday morning, and then opening statements will be heard in the afternoon.

The trial is expected to last 10 days and dozens of witnesses will testify.

Hill was the subject of a nationwide manhunt after the murders.

Hill was captured in a homeless shelter at a church in Buffalo, New York in April 2015.

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