The Justice System Does Sometimes Work Very Well

I hope everyone will read this and then go and give their children and/or grandchildren a huge hug. Believe me I am in my mind hugging all of mine as they all live to far away to do it in person.

My week has been rather interesting to say the least. I received a letter a few weeks ago that summoned me to the Court of Common Pleas and General Sessions for Jury Duty. My first thoughts were how could I get out of going, but then I decided I should just go and do my duty. I have never been called to Jury Duty in Common Pleas Court before, only the local courts here in Goose Creek, which are usually DUI cases, and as soon as they find out I'm a nurse the defense lawyer disqualifies me or the people involved settle out of court. I figured this is what would happen when I went to Moncks Corner to the Berkeley County Court House. Boy, was I wrong!!!!

On MOnday February 22, 2010 I reported to the Berkeley County Court House along with about 80 other people. We were each assigned a Juror Number, then went into the Court Room to be accepted or rejected by the lawyers. First they asked if anyone had reason to believe they should be disqualified and several people stood up. Each one spoke to the judge, Kristie Harrington, to explain why they felt they should not have to serve. Some were excused, some were not, some were scheduled for a later session. Then names were randomly called and we had to give our numbers and tell were we were employed, in what capacity we were employed, where our spouses were employed and in what capacity they were employed. Each lawyer had a certain number of "strikes" which allowed them to not seat someone for the jury. I was totally shocked when both the state and the defense lawyer accepted me for duty.

Next we were told the case we would be the jurt for was The State vs. Justin Hillerby: Homicide by Child Abuse. Apparently 18 months ago when this happened it was a fairly high profile case, but I did not remember when it happened. The judge told us a little about the case and read a list of possible witnesses and asked if any of us knew or did business with any of these people. No one did, and finally after all the legalities were taken care of the trial started. I'm not going to break this down by days for the most part, I'm just going to give a running narrative of what happened.

On September 14, 2008 Justin Hillerby and Jennifer Sporel, who were boyfriend/girlfriend, took Jennifer's two children, Serena, 8 years old, and Blaise, 22 months old, to the pool. They had some friends that went with them, and everyone was drinking. No one was paying attention to the children, and Blaise fell into the pool several times. One of the times he fell in a 16-year-old boy pulled the baby out of the pool. Several witnesses heard Justin tell the rescuer, "You should have just left him in there." Justin was also heard to tell Blaise, "Suck it up", "No one cares about you" and also called this child a "pussy".

They were at the pool for several hours, and when they got home Justin got a call from one of his friends inviting him out for the evening. Jennifer intercepted the call and said it was not Justin's turn to go out as he had gone out the night before. Jennifer was going out that evening. There were also two roommates that lived in the house--they rented a room. Jennifer left her children in the care of Justin Hillerby and went out partying for the evening.

Justin warmed up some pizza for Blaise and siad he put the baby in his highchair to eat. After he ate he apparently took the child out of the highchair. He then fixed himself somthing to eat, and Balise came over to him and Justin gave him some of the "Corn Dog Bites" he had fixed. Justin then said Blaise spilled Justin's glass of tea, and Justin grabbed the child by the arm and sat him on the futon while he went and got something to clean up the tea. When he returned, Blaise was in the same spot--he had not moved--and his eyes were open. At some point during this evening Justin also said Blaise was running towards him and ran into Justin, who's knee hit the child and he fell back and hit his head on a carpeted floor. Justin said Blaise cried and her again grabbed the child and told him to "walk it off". He then put the child in a corner for a "time out" for spilling the tea.

When Blaise was sitting in the corner Justin noticed he could not hold his head up, could not talk, was unable to walk, and was zombie-like. He picked the child up and put him in his crib as Justin thought he was just tired form the day at the pool.

The roommates came home while Blaise was sitting in the corner crying and asked what was wrong with him. Justin said Blaise was upset becasue he was in time out for spilling the tea. The roommates went to bed. Jennifer came home at 0140. Instead of checking on her children when she came home, she unlocked the door of her roommates' room and argued with them about late rent. She then went to bed. SOmehow the next morning Serena went to school--it was not clear who got her up and got her ready. Justin and Jennifer did not get up until about 10:00 am and Jennifer opened the door of Blaise's room. Justin said to let him sleep and they would fix breakfast and Blaise would hear them and wake up. About 10:30 or so Jennifer finally went to check on Blaise and found him covered with blood and he had been dead long enough that he was stiff and cold.

At first Justin denied he had done anything to the child, but as the police investigated the child's death they became more suspicious. To make a long story short, over a period of a week Justin changed his story several times, gave three statements, each giving a different account, agreed to, then refused to take a polygraph, and became more of a suspect. At first Justin said he had done nothing to the child, but eventually he admitted he "may" have hit the child, but only with his open hand. He also said he hit the child's head on the doorframe and the crib. Various witnesses told stories of Justin that did not paint him in a very good light. While the state had several witnesses, the defense had only three, one of which was Justin himself. The pathologist that performed the autopsy stated there were 23 points of impact on the child's skull, causing severe brain damage. Justin also admitted to shaking the baby, and without knowing it Justin's own words proved his guilt. When he stated Blaise could not hold his head up, was "zombie-like", could not walk or talk, had no muscle control, he was describing the symptoms someone would have who had the type of brain injury Blaise had. The cause of death for this child was blunt force trauma to the head.

Another part of the story involves Melissa Georgoulis, whi is the mother of Justin's son, and one of the three witnesses. She was extremely hostile and rude. At some point early in the investigation Melissa stated Justin was violent when he was drunk, but at the trial said he was a good father to her children (she has two others besides Justin's son). It should also be told Justin would spend the night with Jennifer, whom he lived with, then the next night spend it with Melissa. The autopsy pictures showed an obviously beaten and battered child, and the more Justin spoke the more guilty he sounded.

After both the state and the defense rested there were rebuttal witness and finally the last witness was called on Thursday Morning. The lawyers gave their summations, and Ms. Williams read a few things from the last statement Justin wrote. When asked if Blaise had blood on his face when he was put to bed, Justin said he didn't look, that he didnnt notice becasue he was drunk. The defense lawyer stated there was not one shred of evidence that Justin had done this. He said someone beat this child to death, and that there were three other people in the house that had the chance to do so. He said Justin was a young man with a long life ahead of him and he hoped we would find him not guilty. The trial broke for lunch, and after lunch we were charged with what we could and couldn't do. We had two choices--not guilty or guilty of homicide by child abuse. We were given all the evidence and sent to the jury room. We did go back into the courtroom once to re-listen to the 911 call Justin made on the morning Blaise died. In the call he told the dispatcher, "he's f---ing dead". When we first went into the deliberation room the jury forman asked if there was anyone who felt Justin was not guilty and not one jurist raised his/her hand. We discussed the evidence, lookd at the pictures, read the statements, and after about two hours came back into the courtroom to deliver our verdict. The Baliff gave it to another Baliff who gave it to the Judge. The Judge read it and gave it back to the Baliff who read the verdive--Unanamous Guilty of Homicide by Child Abuse. We were then led out of the courtroom and the judge came into the jury room and thanked us and discharged us from our duty. SHe asked if anyone wanted to stay for the sentencing and most of us said yes. We were taken back to the jury box and the state's attorney, Anne Williams, spoke to the judge asking for the maximum sentice. She said in a call for jail, which we heard, Justin said he would spend the rest of his life making this up to Jennifer. Ms. Williams asked the judge to help him do that by sentencing him to life. The grandfather to Blaise, Leonard Sporel, then spoke. He said he and his wife moved to South Carolina from New Jersey and expected to retire and spend time with their children adn grandchild. He said as he got older he intended to get younger but spending a lot of time with Blaise, and asked the judge to give Justin the maximum sentence. Next the defense attorney, Michael Bosnak, spoke and said he hoped the judge would be lenient on Justin so he could one day be reunited with his own son. Next Justin's mother, who was visiting from Guantonimo Bay where she is involved with Homeland Security, pleaded that pity be taken on Justin. She said she knew her son and knew he hadn't done this.

Next it was the judge's turn to speak. She addressed Jutin and told him she wished she had something profound to say to him. She said the evidence speaks for itself, and as a result she was sentencing Justin to prison for the rest of his natural life, without the possibility of parole. When she said this the entire jury jumped when the grandmother of Blaise, Sharon Sporel, screamed out "YES!!!". She then looked at us and mouthed the words "Thank you." The State's attorney also mouthed a thank you to us. We were then escorted out of the court house by armed police to our cars. On the way to the elevator another jurist and I being escorted by the police ran into the defense lawyer, Michael Bosnak. He shook our hands and asked us if he could speak to us for a minute, but we both declined.

The two of us went to an ante room by the front door to wait for our husbands to pick s up. We had just sat down when we looked up and there were about eight members of the Sporel Family. As each passed us on the way to an office to our right they thanked us, and they all thanked us again on the way out.

As I sat in on this trial I thought of my own children and grandchildren. I can not imagine how I would act if someone beat one of them the way this child was beaten. This child had 23 point of impact where he was beaten. Around his eye were four marks that would correspond to knuckles on a hand. The mother of this child is also facing 10 years in jail for neglect of a child. How can either Jennifer or Melissa stand by this man and trust him? As I said, the justice system does sometimes work very well.

Blaise Preston Sporel

Justin Ryan Hillerby

The following is the article written in the Post and Courier, including the above pictures, on the day after the trial:

SUMMERVILLE MAN GETS LIFE SENTENCE FOR HOMICIDE BY CHILD ABUSE

A summerville man will spend the rest of his life in prison after a jury found him guilty of beating to death a 22-month-old boy in September 2008.

It took a jury a little over two hours Thursday afternoon to return a guilty verdict against Justin Hillerby, on trial for homicide by child abuse in connection with the death of Blaise Preston Spoerl, the son of Hillerby's live in girlfriend at the

However, at first Hillerby told officers the boy was fallingtime, Jennifer Spoerl.

Despite requests from Hillerby's attorney and his mother, Circuit Court Judge Kristi Harrington handed down the maximum sentence, life without parole.

A gasp and a heartfelt shout of "yes!" from a family member of Blaise Spoerl greeted the sentence, despite the judge's warning not to show outbursts of emoton.

The incident occured in September 2008 when Summerville Police responded to a call at hime on Dovetail Circle in Summerville. There they found 22-month-old Blaise Preston Spoerl lying dead in his crib. According to a report, the boy's body was still, cold , and covered in blood.

According to an arresting affidavit, Hillerby Hillerby told investigators he had accidentilly bumped into the child, striking him with his knee hard enough to knock him to the floor. Hillerby said that after striking him, he told the child to get up and "walk it off," the affidavit says.

The child wobbled to a set, looking like a "zombie," Hillerby told police.

However, at first Hillerby told officers the boy was falling asleep in his highchair so Hillerby put him to bed, an incident report shows.

According to the affidavit, after being placed in his highchair, the boy's head "began to sway back and forth as if he had no muscle control."

Hillerby told police he took the child from the highchair and carried him into his bedroom, accidentally hitting the boy's head aganist the doorframe and against the crib, according to the affidavit.

Later, about 1 a. m., the boy's mother came home, intixicated. She did not check on the child but did get into an argument with roommated about late rent. Then everyone went to bed.

The next morning, Jennifer Spoerl found her son in his crib, lying on his back with a pool of blood near his body, the incident report says.

A pathologist at the Medical University of South Carolina in CHarleston performed an autopsy and determined the cause of the child's death was blunt trauma to the head and the manner of death as homicide, the affidavit says.

During the defense's cross examination Thursday, Hillerby admitted to the jury he had changed his story several times becasue he was led by police detectives to believe that if he modified his statements, his story would match forensic evidence.

"They said it was an accident and people don't get in trouble for accidents, " he said.

He also admitted to having a number of run-ins with the law, but never for any violent offenses. Finally, while he maintained throughout the entire 18-month ordeal that he does not know what happened that night, he also said he was not intoxicated that evening and he never, ever hit Blaise.

His attorney, Michael Bosnak, characterized the case as a series of false confessions, with no physical evidence of any type pointing to Hillerby as the one responsibile for the child's death. Two roommated home that evening testified that they did not see anything unusual or out of the ordinary either with Hillerby or the child. One asked why the child was craying and sitting in the corner and HIllerby told them he had put the child in "time out" because he had spilled a drink.

"I wouldn't have hurt him--why would I,' Hillerby said. "If I had wanted to, I could have just left."

Melissa Georgoulis, the mother of Hillerby's own son, testified that she uses corporal punishment when her children misbehave, but that Hillerby never would.

"Justin was a good father to my children--never laid a hand on any of them," she said.

However she admitted that Hillerby had "popped" his son on the bottom at least once.

"I wouldn't call it a hit, " she said

Assistant Solicitor Anne Williams said that Hillerby's story changed as time went on. When he found out the child had died from blunt force trauma, he gave a little more information.

"He wanted to put his story in the best possible light," she said.

Williams also noted that Hillerby's own words show he is responsible. FOr example, in a telephone call between Jennifer Spoerl and Hillerby, Hillerby is heard saying, "Maybe I smacked him. When his head hit the floor is when I guess ot all started. I didn't notice. I was drunk.

The prosecution pointed out that the horrific nature of the child's injuries clearly showed that his death was no accident. According to a pathologist, the boy died of blunt force trauma, with some 23 different injuries inflicted around his head and face. The pathologist said thse injuries could not have been inflicted by either open-handed blows or a fall to a carpeted floor.