Hill

The upcoming murder trial of Tina Marie Hill, accused of gunning down her lover last year in the off-grid Juniper Acres subdivision, will include evidence she was violent toward Dennis Allen Stewart.

But her lawyers, who plan to argue self-defense, say Stewart was the abusive partner in the relationship.

On Thursday in Crook County Circuit Court, Judge Annette Hillman sided with the prosecution’s motion to include at trial evidence of four prior “bad acts” by Hill.

Crook County District Attorney Wade Whiting is asserting Hill planned and prepared to kill the 51-year-old Stewart.

Hill’s attorneys, David Glenn and Tim Gassner, intend to assert she had no choice but to kill Stewart, whom she describes as “controlling, abusive and manipulative.”

Hill, 54, has been held without bail at the Jefferson County Jail in Madras since her arrest last December. A trial date has not been set.

A number of pending motions are before the court. Attorneys are arguing whether to include body camera footage recorded during Hill’s initial interview with police, and whether to include color or black-and-white crime scene photos.

Juniper Acres is a 5,000-acre subdivision about 25 miles southwest of Prineville. But it’s no normal subdivision. There are no county services, and only about 1 in 5 of the approximately 500 parcels have received permits to build. Still, many jerry-built structures have popped up, and officials have struggled for decades with how to address complaints of squatting and criminal activity.

Dennis Stewart owned a 20-acre plot on the unpaved Myrtlewood Lane containing multiple campers, trailers and a small one-room cabin.

On Nov. 22, 2017, Stewart’s brother reported to police he had not heard from Stewart in five days.

Crook County sheriff’s deputies were reluctant to respond to Stewart’s property, according to court records. Officers on the night shift declined to go due to past threats against law enforcement by Stewart, according to a search warrant affidavit.

Instead, Sgt. Ryan Seaney and another officer arrived on the rainy morning of Nov. 23. The officers found Hill “among the juniper trees, breaking juniper branches.” She had two black eyes. She told them she hadn’t seen Stewart “move” in four days.

They found Stewart’s body on the floor of his cabin, under a pile of blankets and boards. Seaney reported Stewart seemed to have been dead for some time. He was wearing one shoe and clutching a knife. Near his other arm was an empty black rifle with the trigger and trigger lock broken off, court records state.

The medical examiner found one entrance wound, on Stewart’s left shoulder. The shot had come from the side, and there was no exit wound.

Hill’s statements to police were “all over the place,” according to a court document written by Seaney. She was arrested and days later charged with murder, first-degree manslaughter and unlawful use of a weapon in the death of Stewart.

At first, Hill denied shooting Stewart, but in June of this year, her lawyers filed a motion to assert a defense of self-defense.

Court records filed by the prosecution and defense describe Hill’s behavior and her toxic relationship with Stewart. The first two “bad acts” alleged by the prosecution occurred in an 11-day span. The other two are statements taken from neighbors during other calls to police.

On June 14, 2016, a domestic disturbance call was initiated by Stewart, who told deputies Hill had responded to his accusations of unfaithfulness by throwing a Mason jar full of bleach at him, getting some of it in his eye.

Stewart demanded deputies remove Hill from his property. They told Stewart they couldn’t without a court order.

According to the arrest report, when Hill learned this, she said, “I don’t give a f—,” and punched deputy Scott Durr in the stomach.

Hill was arrested for two counts of harassment. She eventually pleaded guilty to one count of misdemeanor harassment — for punching Durr — and sentenced to nine days in county jail.

Despite Hill’s admission of guilt in the case, her lawyers in her current case have told a different story about the June 14 incident. They say she asked the officers to remove Stewart from the property and they refused. She asked officers to arrest her.

“They said no one was getting arrested based upon their investigation,” they wrote in court documents. “It was at this point that defendant punched Deputy Durr in the stomach so that she could be arrested and removed from the property and the threat of Dennis Stewart.”

On June 25, 2016, Hill called 911 to report she’d fired multiple shots from a .45-caliber pistol at Stewart, according to court reords.

During her interview with responding police, Hill “remained very calm despite having just fired multiple shots at her significant other.” She reported Stewart had gone through her cell phone to find evidence of cheating and when he found a text that upset him, he confronted her and threw her phone at her, shattering a lamp and breaking the phone’s screen.

According to police, she told them she grabbed the .45 and, standing in the door of the cabin, told Stewart, “Don’t come near me anymore. I’m not doing this anymore.”

The unarmed Stewart walked toward her.

She fired the first shot, missing Stewart. At this, he ran away and took cover.

She fired three more rounds from 30 to 35 feet away, missing Stewart with each shot but hitting his dog once and seriously injuring it, according to court records.

She was charged with attempted murder and first-degree assault.

But Hill’s murder defense team has presented facts that give a different perspective of the June 25 incident. Her attorneys write that on that day Stewart had angrily and in racist terms accused Hill of infidelity with an African-American man. They said after breaking her phone, he physically assaulted her, including spitting in her face.

The attempted murder case was ultimately dismissed two months after the incident.

— Reporter: 541-383-0325, gandrews@bendbulletin.com