Gary Michael Hilton Pleads Guilty
Posted by Slobokan @ 2:12 pm · 188 words · print
In a rare event we seldom see in high profile cases, a known killer has actually plead guilty to the crime.
Wearing shackles, a bullet-proof vest, and an orange jail uniform, Georgia drifter Gary Hilton, 61, has just entered a guilty plea to the murder of UGA graduate Meredith Emerson.
The guilty plea came just three hours after a 23-member grand jury in Dawson County handed down a true bill indictment of murder against Hilton.
During a hearing that got underway just after 1 a.m., District Attorney Lee Darragh read the murder indictment and said Hilton had signed a plea of guilty in exchange for avoiding the death penalty. Investigators told Hilton that he could make such a deal if he were to lead them to Emerson’s body, which he did earlier this month.
It’s too bad deals like this have to be made just to learn the truth about what happened to someone. Hopefully the investigators in the other cases they suspect him in can get convictions there as well so those families can have some closure.
Posted In: Local Yokel
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Posted by Sheila Johnson
April 1, 2008 @ 2:35 pm
You’re right, it’s too bad that Hilton got to make a deal, but that looks like the only way he’d have given up any information. A similar deal was made with the Green River Killer, who claimed 71 victims. Hopefully, Hilton will get the death penalty for one of the other cases. I’m working on a book about him (my fourth True Crime for Pinnacle) and I’d love to end it with him getting sent to Death Row. He richly deserves it. My last book, BLOOD LUST, was about Jeremy Bryan Jones, who you’re probably familiar with in connection with the Patrice Endres case. Even though I’ll always believe the husband was responsible for that one, it’s ironic that Jones and Hilton have both been looked at in relation to her murder.
Posted by sahmima
April 18, 2008 @ 9:57 pm
Does anyone know if Hilton spent time in Columbia, SC in the early 1990’s?