Habersham County District Attorney Brian Rickman says his office is no longer seeking the death penalty against a suspect accused of robbing and killing 62-year-old Vietnam Veteran Michael Larry Hill of Cornelia.
Albert Buford Brown of Mt. Airy and William Douglas Downer of Clarkesville were arrested shortly after Hill’s burned body was found on Ayers Road in Mt. Airy on September 5, 2012. It was later determined that Hill was beaten to death with a baseball bat as Brown and Downer were trying to burglarize his home.
Both suspects were charged with malice murder, felony murder, armed robbery, aggravated assault and burglary. Brown pled guilty last year and got life in prison. DA Rickman was seeking the death penalty against Downer until recently, “We agreed to waive our attempt to seek the death penalty if Mr. Downer, the remaining defendant, waived his right to a jury trial and agreed to a bench trial where Judge (Rusty) Smith would decide guilt or innocence.”
Rickman says they did not take the ultimate penalty off the table without first talking to Hill’s surviving family. “We came to this decision after consultation with the family of the deceased, and based on our belief that it could be two more years before we ever got to trial at the rate motions were being filed and heard.”
Since Downer has agreed to the terms, the bench trial could happen as early as this summer.
