It came as no surprise to learn that the man shot by a Richmond County deputy in the line of duty has a rap sheet longer than a CVS receipt.
In 2011, Brandon Pierre Hill, was charged with armed robbery and weapon possession, which resulted in a robbery conviction and an eight-year prison sentence, which included time for burglary and theft cases that took place while he was awaiting trial.
Hill had more outstanding warrants when he was confronted and later shot by Deputy David Hopkins not far from Glenn Hills Middle School.
The Augusta Press reported in 2022, that Hill was charged with murder while in prison; however, it appears the only witness to the crime was himself later murdered, and so the murder charges against Hill went nowhere.
Looking back over his criminal career, the record shows that Hill has been shown leniency over and over. Even though he continued to commit crime while awaiting trial, the judge still saw fit to give him a paltry eight years.
Despite all of the programs designed to reform offenders while they are incarcerated, we, as a society, need to come to the understanding that some people cannot be rehabilitated.
This whole notion that has pervaded our justice system, that criminals commit crimes because they are victims themselves, needs to be taken out with last week’s trash. When a person reaches a point that they begin to see other human beings as prey, the only answer is to lock them up away from society until they are too old and feeble to run the streets looking for trouble.
While it is good news that Augusta has a new judge on the Superior Court bench, having more judges will not make a difference if those judges do not have the intestinal fortitude to hand down tough sentences, even on first offenders.
The public needs to demand that judges set the amount of time that fits the crime.
