Smiling Joliet Killer Draws Very Long Prison Sentence: Glasgow

JOLIET —On Monday, Nathaniel Hill, 44, of Joliet, was sentenced by Will County Judge Daniel Rippy to 80 years in prison for the 2020 shooting murder of 32-year-old Derrick Williams-Scott on Joliet's east side.

Hill, a convicted felon, received 75 years for first-degree murder and five more years for unlawful use of a weapon by a felon.

Hill was found guilty on June 24, 2022, following a jury trial before Judge Rippy.

According to the Will County State's Attorney's Office, on June 12, 2020, Hill and Williams-Scott had an argument inside a car. Williams-Scott struck Hill in the back of the head and left the car.

Hill then left the car and shot Williams-Scott multiple times on the front steps of a house in the 1100 block of Richards Street. Hill then sped away in the car. Joliet police found Hill later that morning and placed him under arrest.

First-degree murder carries a mandatory minimum of 45 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections, with a maximum sentence of life. The unlawful use of a weapon by a felon count carried a mandatory minimum sentence of two years in the Illinois Department of Corrections that was consecutive to the murder conviction.

Hill must serve 100 percent of the sentence imposed on the murder conviction.

Will County State's Attorney Glasgow said he thanked Assistant State’s Attorney’s Adam Capelli, James Long, and Mark Shlifka, Jr., Victim-Witness Advocates Esther Borrego and Mallory Magee, and Joliet Police Detective Michael Cagle for their work on the case.

As Joliet Patch previously reported, this was the second time in Hill's life in which he stood trial for a first-degree murder in Joliet.

Back in 2000, a Will County jury found him not guilty.