Man who triggered Pittsburgh gunfight that left toddler dead gets harsher sentence than killer

Marvin Hill didn’t fire the stray bullet that killed Zykier Young.

That was Andre Crawford.

But it was Hill, the prosecution said, who started the chain of events in August 2020 that ultimately led to the 17-month-old’s death as he lay in bed on Pittsburgh’s North Side.

And it is Hill who will serve the longest sentence in the case — to the dismay of Zykier’s mother.

Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Susan Evashavik DiLucente on Tuesday ordered Hill, 44, of the city’s Spring Hill neighborhood, to serve 19 to 38 years in prison after a jury found him guilty in November of voluntary manslaughter and illegal gun possession.

At trial, prosecutors presented evidence that Hill, Crawford and another man, Devon Thompson, were involved in a shootout on the afternoon of Aug. 24, 2020, in Three Rivers Manor housing complex in Spring Hill.

The incident began along Rhine Place just before 5 p.m. when someone fired shots at Hill, who retreated into his apartment.

About an hour later, investigators said, he went outside carrying a rifle.

Thompson fired five shots at Hill, who was grazed.

Hill retreated again, re-emerging five minutes later, firing indiscriminately.

Crawford returned five rounds of his own — one of which went through the window of a nearby apartment building and through three walls before it struck Zykier as he lay in bed.

All three men were charged initially with homicide.

But the prosecution withdrew that count for Thompson, who pleaded guilty to aggravated assault for shooting Hill and was ordered to serve 2-1/2 to five years in prison and immediately paroled.

Crawford pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and was sentenced in February to five to 10 years in prison.

They both testified against Hill at trial.

On Tuesday, Zykier’s mother, Zaphora Bernard questioned why the other two defendants got off so much easier than Hill.

“No one can convince me you deserve this,” she said. “You didn’t do it, but I feel like you were the one who made it happen.”

Defense attorney Carmen Robinson argued to the court that the two co-defendants in the case went to Spring Hill that day to shoot her client.

“He certainly didn’t start it,” she said. “Mr. Hill was in his home. Mr. Hill’s home took a barrage of bullets.”

“How does a man minding his own business get more time than the commonwealth’s witnesses?”

Robinson also told the judge that since the jury acquitted her client of attempted murder and aggravated assault, that they must not have believed that Crawford or Thompson were victims.

But Assistant District Attorney Nicole Ehrheart argued that Hill put himself in the situation that led to his conviction.

“The jury convicted him of voluntary manslaughter because they believed his actions killed Zykier Young,” she said. “He did not have to come back out.”

Hill’s sister, Tisha Williams, who spoke briefly to Bernard before the hearing began, was the only witness for the defense.

“It’s heartbreaking and sad what this mom is going through and will always go through,” Williams said.

She called her brother a good guy.

“I love him,” she said.

Hill also gave a brief statement.

“I wish that it never happened,” he said. “I don’t have the right words to tell you. I’m so sorry. Aside from my past, I did not cause the death of that precious child.”

DiLucente was unmoved.

“The problem I have is, you continue to deny any responsibility for what happened that day,” the judge said.

She noted that Hill grew up with a mother who was a nurse and a good role model. He has three sisters who have led successful lives.

“You had a good family life,” DiLucente said.

But it is Hill’s criminal record, she continued, that drove her to give him such a lengthy sentence.

At age 11, she recounted, Hill was adjudicated delinquent for holding a kitchen knife to a person’s throat.

Additional convictions followed: at age 13 for simple assault; age 15 for robbery; drug possession at 18; age 19 for DUI; selling drugs at 20; and robbery at 21.

From 2000 to 2018, the judge said, Hill was behind bars for all but two years.

And after he was released, in June 2019, he got caught with a gun twice.

And then in August 2020, Zykier was killed.

“You were out of jail for three years and caught three cases,” DiLucente said. “You know what that says to me? You’re not amenable to treatment. Nothing has worked. You’re a danger to society. Your criminal behavior had not stopped.

“Not once.”