Ryan Matthews
ANGLETON — Ryan Antonio Matthews, 17, was found guilty on two counts of Capital Murder Thursday (April 23) during a late evening delivery.
The jury had requested to deliberate until 10 p.m. after they retired to the Jury Room around 3:15 p.m. in Judge Pat Sebesta’s courtroom at the Brazoria County Courthouse. They came back with a verdict at approximately 8:40 p.m.
Matthews stood accused of killing Pearland resident and Dawson High School student Arrijana Hill, who was pregnant with his twins, on March 21, 2014.
As the verdict was read, Matthews stared down at the floor.
Judge Sebesta polled the jury, and every member responded that he or she found the defendant guilty as charged.
Sebesta then sentenced Matthews to life in prison, with the possibility of parole after 40 years, with credit for the 336 days he has already served in the Brazoria County Jail.
Opal Hill read a Victim Impact Statement with her husband by her side. Tearfully, she told Matthews of the, “Breathtaking agony, shattered dreams and seemingly aimless existence,” that they have lived for over a year since their daughter was murdered.
“You deserve this for your selfishness and this senseless act and the impact it had on so many lives. You are a true depiction of a wolf in sheep’s clothing. You could have chosen to move on and to do better in life, but you chose the coward’s way out. You get the coward’s reward,” Hill said.
Hill credited her faith in getting her and her family through this ordeal and finished her statement by reading the poem “Still I Rise” by Maya Angelou.
Matthews will appear before Judge Sebesta again on Wednesday (April 29) for his first Appellate Hearing.
Arrijana Hill
