A shouting match erupted outside of a Summit County courtroom Wednesday morning as family members and friends of a defendant and the man he fatally shot clashed.
The family of 25-year-old Marcus Glover, who was shot after police say he broke into David Hillis’ home, was upset that Hillis wasn’t taken into custody after he pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter. He will remain free on bond until his sentencing in early October.
“If one of us killed one of you, we’d be in jail!” yelled one of the family members of Glover, who was black.
As Hillis’ family and friends were filing out of the courtroom, an older white male said to Glover’s family members, “Break into my house and see what happens.”
This fueled the Glover family even more. They continued shouting as Summit County sheriff’s deputies tried to separate the two groups in the small lobby and shuffle the Glovers into the elevator. Family members from both sides were crying.
Hillis, 22, pleaded guilty to one count of voluntary manslaughter, a first-degree felony. Summit County prosecutors, under a plea agreement, dismissed a firearm specification. He faces three to 11 years in prison when he is sentenced at 10 a.m. Oct. 7 by visiting Judge Richard Reinbold.
James Pollack, a spokesman for the prosecutor’s office, said prosecutors will be pushing for prison time.
Hillis, who is free on a 10 percent, $50,000 bond, was scheduled to go on trial Wednesday when he entered a plea instead.
Kerry O’Brien, Hillis’ attorney, said he opted for the plea after “a lot of research.”
Reinbold said voluntary manslaughter carries with it a “presumption of prison time,” but he will decide after reviewing a pre-sentence investigation on Hillis and a victim-impact statement.
Police said Marcus Glover and Terry Tart forced their way into Hillis’ Hilbish Avenue house at gunpoint on Aug. 7, 2015, and threatened Hillis. When Hillis showed a handgun, Glover and Tart fled. Hillis chased after them, firing several shots, with one hitting and killing Glover, who was about 70 yards away and no longer on Hillis’ property, according to prosecutors.
Tart, 38, of Doty Avenue, pleaded guilty Aug. 4 to involuntary manslaughter with a gun specification, a first-degree felony. He will be sentenced by Reinbold at 11 a.m. Sept. 7.
Emotions boil over
Prosecutors said they talked to Glover’s family members before Hillis’ plea and they were in agreement about what would happen. The family, however, thought Hillis would be taken into custody after his plea.
“Murderer! Murderer!” shouted Delonda Glover, Glover’s aunt, after the plea.
Seeing Hillis’ family starting to leave the courtroom, she yelled, “You can’t say you’re sorry for what your son did!”
During the confusion in the lobby, Crystal Thomas, Glover’s mother who is confined to a wheelchair, ran into Hillis’ mother. Thomas said she was trying to dodge a swing from a Hillis’ supporter who had also lobbed a verbal insult at her.
Hillis’ mother, who declined to give her name because she feared retaliation, said she went to the emergency room where she was treated for an abrasion and given a tetanus shot.
No one was arrested.
Deputies encouraged Glover’s family to get into the elevator, which they did. Hillis’ family members waited in the judge’s chambers for a short time before leaving.
Outside of the courthouse, Thomas Glover, Marcus’ father, said the family wanted to see Hillis leave in handcuffs.
“Everything don’t feel like it’s fair,” he said. “I feel — my personal opinion — that we all should take out guns and start killing out here.”
Glover’s family is hoping Hillis will receive the maximum possible prison term. They are concerned he might not get prison time and has received preferential treatment because his father, Michael Hillis, is a former Summit County sheriff’s deputy.
“He needs to know you can’t just take a life and not have consequences,” said Thomas, who still questions what happened leading up to the shooting. “What my son did was not right. He did not deserve to die.”
Michael Hillis, however, who wasn’t in court for the plea, doesn’t think his son has been given special treatment and hopes he will end up with probation. He said his son was in “survival mode” when he shot Glover.
“We feel he was defending himself and his girlfriend,” the elder Hillis said. “I don’t think he deserves to be in prison.”
Hillis, 53, was arrested for ignoring police warnings and struggling with officers outside of his son’s home after the shooting. He pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct and was sentenced to probation, according to court records.
Stephanie Warsmith can be reached at 330-996-3705, swarsmith@thebeaconjournal.com and on Twitter: @swarsmithabj.