Jurors weigh in on Hilton trial

LYNN – Jurors in the emotionally charged case of Lynn grandmother Kathleen Hilton described a fragile woman with a haunted past, whose childlike demeanor raised doubts about her role in a 1999 fire that killed five people.After spending 10 years in jail, Hilton, 62, left Lawrence Superior Court on Feb. 18 a free woman acquitted of five counts of second degree murder, arson and injury to a firefighter at the deadly blaze at 42-46 High Rock St. in Lynn, which was the home of her son’s estranged girlfriend Krystina Sutherland and their two children.One of the 12 jurors, Margo Palmer of Salem, described the lengthy trial as an emotionally draining one that delved deep into Hilton’s disturbing life.”Kathy is in one word, a bizarre person,” she said. “We got the impression that she wasn’t paying attention to the trial until her son took the stand. It was clear she hadn’t seen him in a while because she was mouthing I love you and how are you to him. And he would just look at her and smirk.”Palmer said Hilton’s childlike tendencies were made aware to the jurors early on as they watched her playfully twirl her hair, fidget in her seat and shrug her shoulders when spoken to.”She only had a 70 IQ, so we believed it was possible that she could have been lead one way or another,” she said. “But in the end, we had reasonable doubt. We had to set aside our gut feelings and look at the evidence.”Prosecutors alleged that Hilton sought to damage the home badly enough that Sutherland would be forced to move back in with her son, Charles Loayza.Sutherland had previously placed a restraining order against Loayza, preventing him from seeing his children.Plans backfired, however, and cost the lives of five unrelated individuals living on the third floor of the triple decker.Heriberto Feliciano, 34, and his wife, Sonia Hernandez, 32; their daughters, Sonia, 12, and Maria, 13, and their niece, Glorimar Santiago, 11, who was sleeping over, died from smoke inhalation.”There was so much tragedy, it was just horrific and disturbing,” Palmer said. “It was very emotionally charged for all of us (jurors) and it was just heartbreaking for the victims’ families that were there everyday.”Hilton was arrested days after the incident and confessed to Lynn and State Police that she had used a concoction of oils and a lit cigarette to ignite the second floor landing, just outside of Sutherland’s apartment door.Her case was tried and then appealed twice, once in 2005 and later going all the way to the state Supreme Judicial Court in 2007, before landing in Lawrence before Judge Howard Whitehead on Jan. 12.Despite her confession, Palmer said she and other jurors changed their minds from guilty to innocent after viewing seven hours of tape from psychologist’s interviews with Hilton.”We got a pretty big taste of what she was like,” she said. “She had a pretty awful life, multiple marriages and a difficult childhood. And she firmly believed that she has a group of Native American people called the tribal council of elders with her at all times that said she would be OK and that she would get to go home. I don’t think she’ll sue for having been in jail, I think she’s just happy to be back with her family. She had really good lawyers (Michael Natola, Gary Zerola) as well.”So after five weeks, 80 testimonies and 187 exhibits later, the jurors deliberated the case and decided Hilton was innocent.Juror Jericho Kent of Georgetown said in the end, however, he realized that there wasn’t going to be a good resolution to the trial one way or another.”I never thought she was guilty because there really was no evidence other than one confession,” he said. “Her (Hilton) mind is a fairytale and she makes up stories everyday. Whether she did it or not, I don’t know, and that’s what sucks about this case because five people died.”