Paul Jennings Hill was born on February 6, 1954, in Miami, Florida, to airline pilot Oscar Hill and his wife, Louise. Raised in Coral Gables, he struggled with drug abuse during his teens and was even charged with assaulting his father at 17 over a family intervention attempt. In 1973, after attending military school, Paul experienced a strong religious conversion. He later met his future wife, Karen Demuth, at Belhaven University, and they had three children together

Hill went on to graduate from Reformed Theological Seminary under Christian Reconstructionist Greg Bahnsen. He became an ordained minister in 1984 within both Presbyterian and Orthodox Presbyterian churches.

On July 29, 1994, Hill stood outside the Pensacola “Ladies Center” abortion clinic, armed with a 12‑gauge shotgun. When Dr. John Bayard Britton (69) and volunteer escort James Herman Barrett (74)—a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel—arrived in their pickup, Hill shot both at close range, killing them. Barrett's wife, June, was also wounded.

Immediately after the shooting, Hill calmly placed his shotgun on the ground and waited to be arrested. He was charged with two counts of first-degree murder, attempted murder, and shooting into an occupied vehicle. Hill chose to represent himself in court and sought to justify his actions as “defensive action” for unborn lives, but the judge denied this defense. 

On December 6, 1994, he was convicted and sentenced to death. The jury unanimously recommended execution, citing the murders as cold, calculated, and premeditated. Governor Jeb Bush signed his execution warrant in July 2003, and Hill was executed by lethal injection on September 3, 2003, at Florida State Prison in Raiford.