CAMDEN — A pre-trial hearing has been scheduled for Austin Hill for 9 a.m. on Thursday, Feb. 11, in the circuit courtroom at the Ouachita County Detention Complex. However, a change of venue of the trial for the murder suspect has been granted.
Hill’s trial date has been set for March 7 - 8 at the Columbia County Courthouse. He is facing the charges of capital murder and aggravated robbery.
“If it goes to trial, it will take place in Magnolia," according to Kaye Hux of the office of Judge Robin Carroll of the 13th Judicial District - Division 4. "A change of venue was requested, so that is why it will be in Magnolia.”
Persons associated with the case told the Camden News that a change of venue was requested and granted due to the attention caused by the murder and the escape of Hill.
Hill and his accomplice, Jaquestin Anderson, were arrested in December of 2014 for their roles in the robbery and fatal shooting of Mac’s Fresh Food Market Manager Richard Anders, 63. Hill was charged with capital murder and aggravated robbery in December, but an additional charge of second-degree escape was added in September of 2015.
Hill escaped from the county jail on Sept. 9. Hill had been taken to the Ouachita County Medical Center for treatment of a broken wrist he sustained in a fight with another inmate. Upon the return to the jail, he managed to get out of restraints as he was taken through an area of the jail that is designated for the drop off and pick up of prisoners- an area called a sallyport.
When the OCSO vehicle pulled into the sallyport to let Hill out, the person in the jail’s tower did not immediately close the gate.
Hill saw this as an opportunity, and ran out of the jail area.
Several law enforcement entities joined local authorities during the five-day search for Hill as reports and sightings indicated that he was still in the Camden area.
He was on the run until his captured on Monday, Sept. 14 after stealing a vehicle and traveling to Bryant. A surveillance video near Woods Place restaurant in the Garden Oaks Shopping Center reportedly shows Hill stealing a 1962 Ford Galaxy from the restaurant’s parking lot.
The vehicle was found abandoned and out of gas near Exit 123 along Interstate 30 near Bryant.
A Bryant woman notified authorities that she saw Hill, and he was taken into custody at a gas station and returned to the Ouachita County Detention Complex.
Hill is being represented by Rickey Hicks, a public defender from Little Rock.