Elgin man gets 8 years on weapons charges

An Elgin man was sentenced to eight years in prison Monday for being an armed habitual criminal and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Judge Timothy Q. Sheldon said Maurice D. Hill, has “a very substantial criminal history,” rattling off a string of charges and convictions including trespass, burglary, domestic battery, a firearms conviction as a juvenile, possession of cannabis with intent to deliver, armed robbery and aggravated battery. “It's a bit of a history of guns and drugs,” Sheldon said.

Since Hill had been sentenced in one case to seven years in prison, Sheldon felt that “going less than that would not be appropriate.”

The armed habitual criminal conviction carried a possible sentence of not less than six but no more than 30 years in prison because it is a Class X felony. Hill, 29, will not be eligible for probation.

An armed habitual criminal is one who possesses a firearm after having been convicted of two or more forcible felonies, and/or violations of the Illinois Controlled Substances Act or Illinois Cannabis Control Act.

The weapons were a Ruger Mini 14 rifle, a Hi-Point 995 9 mm rifle, an AK-47 assault rifle and an AK 7.62 mm assault rifle with a defaced serial number.

Sheldon also denied a defense motion to overturn Hill's conviction.

Hill was convicted in a bench trial Aug. 23.

Hill was in the Elgin jail April 7, 2009, on an unrelated charge. Defense attorney Liam Dixon said Monday that Hill arranged with Elgin officers to get some guns off the street “to help himself out” in that case. During trial, one Elgin officer said there had been such a conversation, but another said there was not, according to Dixon.

Dixon said his client never had “actual or constructive possession” of the weapons. Hill's father dropped the weapons off at the police department, Dixon said.

Assistant state's attorney David Belshan argued, however, that a videotape of Hill's talks with Elgin police showed that Hill named the exact type of weapons, and that he had the power and the intent to have them brought to the station.

“He volunteered himself into this charge,” Sheldon said.

During the sentencing portion, Dixon said the case “spoke volumes about the Elgin Police Department. They were angry and they thought he got away with something,” he said.

That “something” was a belief that Hill shot three people in 2004 during an argument outside of Anthony's Jazz Club in downtown Elgin. Elgin Police Detective Brian Gorcowski testified Monday that Hill said he was at the disturbance, where a man threw a beer bottle at the window of a car Hill was in. A surveillance video showed Hill then getting out of a car and raising his arm in front of him, said Gorcowski, who testified no charges have been brought in the case.