Marcus Glover’s family wasn’t happy when the man who shot and killed him was sentenced to only one year in jail.
The family will be even less happy if that man gets out after serving only three months.
Kerry O’Brien, the attorney for David Hillis, recently filed a motion requesting that Hillis’ sentence be modified to permit him to serve the remainder of his time through home incarceration or work release from the jail.
Glover’s family, who had pushed for Hillis to get serious prison time, is livid about the request and plans to bombard Richard Reinbold, the visiting judge assigned to the case, with letters asking him to reject it.
“I would be very upset if they let him go,” said Crystal Thomas, Glover’s mother. “That would be a slap in the face.”
The Summit County Prosecutor’s Office filed an objection to the request with the court.
“We strongly oppose any early release for David Hillis. He shot and killed Marcus Glover and caused Mr. Glover’s family immense pain and suffering,” Summit County Prosecutor Sherri Bevan Walsh said in an email. “Hillis has only served three months of his sentence and should remain behind bars until that sentence is complete.”
Reinbold hasn’t made a decision on the request.
Hillis, 22, pleaded guilty in August to voluntary manslaughter in the August 2015 shooting death of Glover, 25. Hillis claimed he shot Glover after Glover and Terry Tart forced their way into his Hilbish Avenue home and tried to rob him. Hillis fired shots at the fleeing men from his front porch.
A bullet struck Glover in the head about 70 yards from Hillis’ property. Tart claimed what happened was a drug deal gone bad.
Hillis faced three to 11 years in prison. Reinbold sentenced Hillis in mid-November to six years, but then suspended five years and ordered that he serve one year in the Summit County Jail.
The Glover family thinks Hillis has been given preferential treatment because of his family connections — his father is a retired Summit County sheriff’s deputy and his mother works for the court — and because he is white, while Glover was black.
O’Brien wrote in his request that Hillis has had no disciplinary problems since he began serving his time in the jail. He said Hillis has a job waiting for him when he is released. He noted that the Summit County Jail has a work-release program.
Thomas said the family was anticipating that Hillis might request an early release, but didn’t expect this to happen until after he had served at least six months in jail. More than a dozen of Glover’s family and friends have written letters that Thomas plans to deliver to the court this week, urging Reinbold to keep Hillis in jail for his full sentence.
Thomas became emotional Wednesday afternoon as she sat in the living room of her Barberton apartment and talked about her frustration with this case. She compared the experience to having a wound that begins to heal and is aggravated again.
“They make it seem like my son’s life didn’t matter,” Thomas said, crying. “That’s not right. We are the victims.”
The Glover family has been meeting with attorneys and might file a wrongful-death lawsuit against Hillis.
Stephanie Warsmith can be reached at 330-996-3705, swarsmith@thebeaconjournal.com and on Twitter: @swarsmithabj .