10 years for a trash can

For $20 in damage to a trash receptacle, Curtis J. Hill received a mandatory minimum penalty of 10 years for two counts of “attempting to destroy by fire.” Hill’s sentence came after a final attempt to withdraw a guilty plea was denied by Judge Norman K. Moon on October 18 at the U.S. District Court.
    On March 9, 2005, Hill entered a UVA Hospital bathroom and tossed a lit match into a plastic trash container that had been removed from a metal wall fixture and placed in the center of the room. The plastic container was damaged by slight melting. The next day, Hill repeated the act, this time leaving the plastic container in its metal receptacle when he dropped a match inside. Hill was arrested by UVA Police following the latter incident.
    Though Hill entered a guilty plea June 9, his attorneys fought to retract that admission during the sentencing. In the motion to withdraw the plea, Hill’s attorney John Maus wrote that the 19 months his client had served as of sentencing “should more than make up for the minor damage that was caused by Hill’s actions.” Maus also asked to retract the guilty plea for reasons of jurisdiction. Hill was charged under a federal interstate commerce statute, but Maus maintained that the hospital’s connection to interstate commerce was “tenuous at best.”
    U.S. Attorney William Gould claimed that Hill’s attempt to withdraw his plea was “the response of someone that is unhappy with his sentence.” Gould also called upon witness Jonathan Hohman, director of the UVA Medical Center’s purchasing group. Hohman said that the Medical Center procured services from more than 2,500 out-of-state companies, which Gould said validated the District Court’s jurisdiction.
    Judge Moon agreed that the hospital has a tangible position in interstate commerce, remarking that he “[didn’t] think there was any question” about the hospital’s role, and that the District Court had proper jurisdiction over Hill. Moon also agreed with Gould’s statement about the potential for greater violence in such locations as hospitals where the residents are limited in their capacity to move. Moon immediately followed his rejection of a plea withdrawal with the minimum mandatory sentence.