Mother to plead guilty in death

Adopted girl was beaten, later died

A Wake Forest mother accused of fatally beating her 2-year-old daughter last summer is expected to plead guilty to second-degree murder today in a Virginia courtroom, prosecutors said.

Peggy Sue Hilt will be sentenced after a hearing this spring, said J. Regan Wilson, assistant commonwealth attorney in Prince William County, Va. Hilt's family and friends will speak at the sentencing hearing before a judge determines how much time, if any, Hilt should spend in prison, said her attorney, William Stephens.

Prince William County police arrested Hilt, 33, on July 6, four days after paramedics rushed her adopted daughter, Nina, to the hospital, where she died.

Hilt initially told officials that Nina had fallen down the stairs while at home in Wake Forest. Doctors and police thought the injuries were suspicious and investigated Nina's death as a child abuse case.

According to court documents, Hilt later told police that she had become enraged with Nina while at the family's Wake Forest home July 1. She shook Nina, dropped her to the floor, kicked her and punched her stomach and back, according to court documents.

The day after the beating, July 2, Christopher and Peggy Hilt, along with their two daughters, drove from Wake Forest to Manassas, Va., to visit family during the Fourth of July weekend, police said. During the trip Nina threw up twice. Shortly after the four-hour ride, Nina collapsed, police said.

Attention overseas

Nina's death gained international attention after people learned that the Hilts had adopted Nina from a Siberian orphanage. The Russian Education Ministry, outraged by Nina's death, called for tighter restrictions on adoptions and said it thought foreigners wishing to adopt Russian children should undergo mandatory parenting courses and psychological testing.

Since then, the Russian media have continued to write about Nina's death and to call for adoption reform. Stephens, Hilt's attorney, said he has fielded several phone calls from Russian reporters in the past few months.

"They are very much interested in this case," Stephens said. "I assume there's a lot of interest in agencies that deal with this type of thing."

Stephens said that his client has not claimed in court documents that she was insane at the time of Nina's death, but he expects to introduce psychiatric information about Hilt at her sentencing hearing.

Christopher Hilt, 34, sold the family's home in November and moved to northern Virginia, where the couple lived before moving to Wake Forest. He could not be reached for comment.

After Peggy Hilt's arrest, the couple's older daughter, now 5, was placed in the custody of the Prince William County Department of Social Services, police said. Officials with the department said Tuesday they could not comment on whether the girl, also adopted, was still in their care.

Stephens said he is uncertain whether the Hilts' older daughter has been reunited with her father. He said he doubted that Peggy Hilt would have a relationship with her remaining daughter until the girl is an adult.