
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, July 31, 1994                   TAG: 9408020048
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: PENSACOLA, FLA.                                LENGTH: Short

SLAYING SUSPECT CALM

A former minister seemed relaxed - almost nonchalant - as he asked for the judge's advice Saturday about finding a lawyer to defend him in the killings of a doctor and the doctor's bodyguard outside an abortion clinic Friday.

Escambia County Judge James Roark III asked Paul Hill if he wanted a public defender or planned to use a private lawyer.

``I haven't decided as of yet, sir,'' Hill said. ``I don't know how the system works here.''

Then Hill, 40, asked the judge, ``What would be the wisest thing to do?''

Roark advised him to take a public defender with the understanding that he could change to a private attorney later. ``OK, I'll try that,'' Hill said.

The slayings of Dr. John Bayard Britton and James Herman Barrett came nearly 17 months after Dr. David Gunn was shot to death at another Pensacola clinic.

Hill's demeanor angered some at the proceedings.

``He had no apparent distress in what he has been charged with doing,'' said Caroline Tesche, a lawyer for the Feminist Majority, an abortion-rights group. She urged federal, state and local authorities to investigate possible connections in acts of anti-abortion violence.

The U.S. Marshals Service said Saturday that it would provide 24-hour protection to abortion clinics that have been targeted by protesters, according to Peggy Jarman, spokeswoman for Dr. George Tiller of Wichita, Kan. Tiller was shot by a protester last August.

by CNB