Paul Jennings Hill

Paul Jennings Hill (February 6, 1954 - September 3, 2003) was the first person in the U.S. to be executed for killing an abortion provider.

Earlier career
Hill graduated from Belhaven College and Reformed Theological Seminary. He became a minister affiliated with both the Presbyterian Church in America and the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, but he was later excommunicated.

Hill was an anti-abortion activist and was connected to the Army of God.

Crime and punishment
On July 29, 1994, he approached a Pensacola, Florida abortion clinic that he was familiar with. When he spotted physician John Britton and his clinic escort, James Barrett, outside, he shot them both dead with a shotgun. In addition to the two murders, Hill seriously wounded Barrett's wife. He was arrested that same day.

On December 6, 1994, Hill was sentenced to the death penalty under Florida law.

In a statement before his execution, Hill said that he felt no remorse for his actions, and that he expected "a great reward in Heaven." During his trial, the judge did not allow Hill to use an affirmative defense of justification. Hill said he viewed them as defensive rather than retributive acts. Hill left behind a manuscript manifesto which his backers promised him they would publish. That manifesto and his address to the jury that convicted him echoed the words of John Brown, who had attempted to incite a violent insurrection to end slavery in the United States. Hill was not apologetic for the killings, and in his last words he encouraged others who believe abortion is an illegitimate use of lethal force to "do what you have to do to stop it."

Hill died by lethal injection on September 3, 2003.