Court pushing for June T.K. Hill trial

Attorneys on both sides are trying to keep things rolling so the DUI manslaughter case against Travis Kelton Hill III will go before a jury in June.

Hill, 20, appeared with defense attorney Richard Pipkin Wednesday before Judge Peter Estrada for a pretrial conference. He is charged with driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs and negligent vehicular manslaughter.

Estrada asked Pipkin whether he had received documentation from Beckman Coulter, a company that manufactures the equipment used to analyze the blood the state claims is Hill's.

Pipkin said the materials about the equipment had been received and were submitted to the defense's expert last week. He added that some records were confidential and the company would not release them without a court order.

"We may be using these records and we need a court ruling on them, but I don't anticipate that's going to be something that will delay the case," Pipkin said.

Estrada scheduled an additional pretrial conference for May 20.

Pipkin previously said he was requesting the documentation to see if there were problems with the machine or Food and Drug Administration recalls.

The case was originally set for trial Feb. 9, but was pushed back because of the defense's motion requesting the documents.

Previously, a motion to dismiss the blood alcohol evidence against Hill was denied by Estrada. At the Lake Placid hospital where Hill was taken, a blood alcohol sample registered .170. The legal limit is .08.

On Dec. 30, 2006, Hill missed a left-hand curve and lost control of his truck, causing the vehicle to flip several times, according to a Florida Highway Patrol report. Both Hill and a passenger, Kristin Marie Dessingue, 16, of Coconut Creek, were ejected.

Dessingue died as a result of the accident, while Hill suffered back and neck injuries. A third passenger, Jake R. Dressel, suffered only minor injuries.

Willis case continued to

May 20

In a separate case, the court proceedings against former Avon Park police officer Adam Wayne Willis were continued to May 20.

Willis, 31, faces counts of armed burglary of a structure or conveyance and grand theft. The charges stem from a 2008 investigation into police misconduct conducted by the Sebring field office of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Avon Park Police Department.

Willis is one of three past or present Avon Park police officers with court appearances over the next few days.

Today, Alberto Perez, 33, has a scheduled pretrial conference. He was arrested two weeks after Willis for police misconduct, specifically a charge of extortion or threats. Perez is presently on unpaid administrative leave from the department.

On Monday, Officer James Parker, 32, will be arraigned on charges that he injured his live-in girlfriend's 20-month-old daughter March 29. The infant was still listed in very critical condition, according to the Highlands County Sheriff's Office.