Whatever was going on could not be legal or good.
This can't be real.
We were just shocked.
If it wasn't for her, he's alive today.
PROSECUTOR: She used Conrad as a pawn
in her sick game of life and death.
If you want the truth,
you have to let all the evidence come forth.
LAWYER: This case, it's not about the defendant's race...
I have nothing to hide.
♪ (SOMBER MUSIC PLAYS, CONCLUDES) ♪
( birds chirping )
( crows cawing )
( music playing )
( thunder rumbles )
Female Reporter: Six months have passed
since 12-year-old Garrett Phillips was killed.
Now, the family knows they can't get their loved one back,
but all they want now is justice,
and they're saying it through a new decoration
in their front lawn.
Brian Phillips: We just want justice for Garrett where,
you know, somebody pays for the crime that was committed.
They need to pan up.
I don't know how they can shut their eyes at night.
Female Reporter: And the investigation into his murder hasn't stopped,
so they just have to wait.
Phillips: It was just a way to try to generate money
to maybe get somebody to come forward and say,
"I have some information."
We made $40,000 just like that.
That's a rather large amount of money.
Then everybody and their brother wanted them
to show support.
Say you drive by this place,
they've got a sign.
This place is for Garrett,
this place for Garrett.
Half the time we were waiting for signs because we had,
you know, everybody and their brother would be wanting them.
And we sold them for seven dollars.
That seven dollars bought another sign.
So you make nothing off that.
But most people, "Okay, here's $10."
Okay, the other three goes into his reward.
But it was a lot of work.
But, being that--
I have two children,
I couldn't go and do something...
just out of hate,
and then where would I be?
I felt the best thing for-- for Nick
is to go to prison
and pay for his crime,
and maybe, you know,
not have another good day in his life.
Marissa Vogel: In the beginning it seemed like a slam dunk,
Hillary had done it.
And then all of a sudden
it's thrown out,
there's not enough evidence.
You kept hearing mixed stories,
"There is evidence, there is no evidence.
This is good evidence, this is bad evidence.
They have a great case, they have nothing."
What little bit we were getting seemed conflicting.
So it was-- we had no idea.
Ian Fairlie: When I left Clarkson I went immediately to Buffalo
to start coaching there.
That was in May of 2012.
First day of preseason at Buffalo on campus
all those signs started showing up.
You know, I was like, oh, that's kind of--
that's kind of messed up.
Like, and they're there for me.
I was the only one connected to the case.
Buffalo is really far from Potsdam.
When he told us that story it was, like,
there's a lot of forces at play here.
Oral "Nick" Hillary: That symbolizes and tells me that,
you know, the Justice for Garrett signs
is one way of discreetly saying,
"Let's get Nick Hillary for this."
But then I stopped working at Buffalo in January 2013.
It was right at the turn of the year--
went back to my-- lived with my parents briefly in Owego...
Natasha Haverty: Some small town far from Potsdam,
pulled onto his street, you know,
and there are Justice for Garrett signs down the road.
Somebody doesn't necessarily like what Ian Fairlie is saying.
You know, I think that's, like,
kind of an objective thing you can deduce.
Whatever you're trying to do,
you're really just making yourselves
look really, really creepy and desperate.
( birds chirping )
( whistling )
Later.
All right. Have a good one, bud.
Hillary: I could move, leave,
but obviously I can't really do that
because my family is still very much soil entrenched there.
One down, one to go.
Hillary: The best way for me to put it,
it's like living on house arrest.
To have to calculate
your every move that you are going to make
within the community
really takes a toll on you.
Nobody will ever look at you the same way.
Nobody wants to interact with you the same way.
Hi.
Hillary: Hi, how are you?
You want some milk?
Okay.
Hillary: Here we go, come on.
Come, Lolo.
All right.
I think if my demeanor
was on the weaker side,
then I think they would...
suffer a lot more.
What happened?
You know, hopefully,
God will continue to keep them strong.
Lisa Marcoccia: So when he left the police station that day,
it wasn't just, "Oh, you know, I was at the police station for a couple of hours."
- His life changed. - His life was completely destroyed.
Clarkson University didn't want him back on campus.
The public had already said, "Okay, well, this is their guy."
It was really the beginning of the destruction of his life.
Female Reporter: A Clarkson coach has filed a notice of claim
against the Village of Potsdam,
and his attorney says a civil lawsuit
will follow in the near future.
He says the notice of claim is being made for injuries and damages
sustained during the investigation,
including claims for false arrest,
illegal detention, illegal search and seizure,
emotional distress, and defamation.
Hillary's attorney says that his client has handled
the situation the best he can.
Well, Mr. Hillary has conducted himself
with extreme dignity throughout this entire process.
And Mr. Hillary has faith in justice and also the truth.
Marcoccia: For us Nick's case has always been bigger than Nick.
It's about our justice system as a whole.
You want to do things that your kids are going to be proud of,
and so I think that we've been trying to fight the good fight.
- Hey. - Hi, sweetie!
- Hello. - Hey, guys, high-five!
Hillary: ...catches the ball with a baby in his hands.
That's it. That's it.
You know it's not the first baby.
Tafari: Kick to Nick. Kick it to Nick.
Hillary: This is not one of those situations
wherein which you just get up in the morning
and is able to say,
"Okay, you know, that happened yesterday.
Let me forget about it and move forward."
The civil case was the initial step for me
in starting the process.
To slowly erase
what they had started in terms of...
deconstructing, demolishing,
everything that I have earned
and built as a legacy up until that point in time.
Thomas J. Mortati: This was in early January of 2012,
and that's the first I'd heard of it.
I had no understanding of this incident,
the crime taking place, or anything, until that day.
One of the things I typically do when I first get a claim
is I do a Google search.
Holy smokes,
this is a murder case.
If he goes forward with a civil suit,
my defense is going to be an offense against him.
I'm going to go after him
to show that he committed this crime.
If that ends up benefiting the police
and the district attorney, fantastic.
They're somewhat stymied in their investigation.
They're waiting for something to come up.
Marcoccia: They took Nick's DNA right away.
There was no match of the DNA,
no match of the fingerprints,
you know, nothing tying Nick to the crime.
And that's obviously confirmed because
had there been a DNA match I'm sure Nicole Duve
would have brought an indictment against him, right?
Male Reporter: The district attorney will only say
it remains an open investigation.
Everybody associated with this case continues to work very diligently,
following up every possible lead.
Unfortunately sometimes these kinds of cases take time.
This is one of those kinds of cases.
She knew there was nothing,
and therefore she did nothing.
Male Reporter: Well, it's been nearly two years
since 12-year-old Garrett Phillips was killed in Potsdam.
While no arrests have been made yet,
the family holds onto hope that one day
the person responsible will be brought to justice.
Um, he loved everybody. He'd do anything for anybody.
He was a great kid.
Phillips: All's I would really ask the people
is to still keep putting little clips in the paper,
keeping the pressure on,
so that it's just not, you know, left on somebody's desk.
Why is there no evidence?
Why was there no forensics, no fingerprints, no anything?
And it really wasn't until Mary Rain,
when she ran for office, she started really pushing
for some advancements in this case.
Male Reporter: The unsolved murder of 12-year-old Garrett Phillips
taking center stage at a political rally
for GOP district attorney hopeful,
Mary Rain, Wednesday.
With Garrett's mother at her side,
Rain promised that if elected she would work
with police to find Garrett's killer
and bring them to justice.
Mary Rain: I explained to Tandy
that if they came to the campaign stop in Canton
that I would bring Garrett's case to the forefront to, again,
give it more publicity and keep it alive.
Rain: Garrett's murderer should be behind bars at this point,
but he's not.
And that's all because of the ineffective
incompetence of our district attorney's office.
Nicole Duve: It is unfortunate and disheartening
that someone would play on the emotions of a grieving family
during a political campaign.
Male Reporter: Mary Rain has made two unsolved murders
the lynchpin of her campaign,
blaming Duve for not getting convictions.
Hillary: She's making a promise.
It just goes to show
what she was about,
and the situation that I was up against.
People get up in arms, and people go and vote for presidents,
and congress people, and they don't understand
that the one position that will affect your life,
that will possibly send you to jail for the rest of your life,
even if you're innocent, is that of a prosecutor.
And there's absolutely no checks on power-hungry people
who are willing or who have a willingness
to destroy a man's life to advance their careers.
If you don't have a plan, you're doomed to commit
the same errors over and over and over again.
And that includes dismissals,
grand jury dismissals, acquittals at trial...
Duve: Let me assure you that there is no lack of vigor
in that investigation, okay?
So I can promise you that.
William J. Fitzpatrick: I was just driving in the North Country--
these signs had begun to pop up,
"Justice for Garrett."
And I called Nicole because the murder of this young boy
was becoming a political issue,
which can be a little distasteful.
So I called her and discussed her political future,
and she sent me a bare-bones summary of the case.
And I probably called her back, you know, two days later,
and in words or substance said,
you know, "Why isn't this guy in handcuffs?"
And I said, "This sounds like something that would be amenable
for the Mutual Assistance Committee of the State D.A.'s Association."
Which is a committee that I had formed years earlier.
And we'll put together a panel of very, very experienced
homicide prosecutors.
And she did not avail herself of that opportunity
for whatever reason.
Rain: My understanding is that she thought that
she didn't have enough evidence,
and she declined their offer,
indicating that it would make her look weak.
Male Reporter: Mary Rain has also had to defend her record.
She resigned as county public defender in 2011,
citing an overwhelming caseload.
But that was after she was stripped
of operational oversight of her office
and put on administrative leave.
If she couldn't handle the workload, as she had said,
when she was in the public defender's office,
how would she handle the workload as the lead prosecutor in the county,
where there is plenty of crime?
Male Reporter: Watching the results,
Nicole Duve the democrat actually had a pretty big lead,
but that was before a lot of the precincts started reporting in.
And as we got closer to 100%,
the numbers flipped completely
and in fact Nicole Duve has been beat.
Rain: I have a lot of work ahead of me.
I can't wait to get started.
And I want to dive right in.
Rain: What I told Tandy is that would be my top priority
when I came into office January 1st.
Actually after I got elected in November
I contacted Bill Fitzpatrick,
who is the district attorney of Onondaga County.
He's also the committee chair for the Mutual Assistance Committee.
And he said he was very familiar with the case already.
I'll put together five prosecutors and we'll review it.
They don't have any smoking guns.
Perhaps the most important bit of information
that the investigators were looking at, at that time,
was the Potsdam High School security camera video
that had a vehicle consistent with Mr. Hillary's vehicle
coming into the parking lot at Potsdam High School.
Fairlie: Investigator, what, Gary Snell,
who's the state trooper, and Mark Murray.
So the two showed up at my door again to check in on me,
and they were like, "Can we come in?" and I was like, "No."
So they're just standing in the doorway.
They pulled out this laptop and they're like,
you know, "We want to show you this video.
Please know it's-- the timeline isn't right.
It's just kind of unedited."
"Okay, let's see it."
So they're, you know, you see this
video of Nick's car pulling in.
They're like, "Do you recognize that car?"
"Yeah, that's Nick's car."
Then they split to this different video
and it's Garrett, like, skateboarding.
They're like, "Do you recognize that?"
I was like, "It's Garrett." And they're like, "Great."
And then they kind of split to this other video
and it's Nick leaving and kind of always prefacing
that this is not-- this isn't the final cut.
And then, like, Nick leaves,
and they're like, "Well, what way would he go to his house?"
I was like, "Well, he would take a right."
And they're like, "Well, he took a left."
"Okay. How does this make you feel?"
You know, "After seeing this,
does anything make you think differently?
Does it change it?" "Doesn't do anything."
And then it just kind of stumbled and kept like,
"What if he followed him down this way? What if he did this?
What if he did that?"
I'm like, "Guys, it just showed him
pulling into the school and leaving the school,
and at one point Garrett."
And just-- it didn't make me feel anything.
For me that was kind of the clincher.
He followed Garrett Phillips home that day.
I mean, that's my take on the video.
That's-- how do you refute that?
But we didn't have a license plate.
We didn't know who was driving the car.
We didn't know who was in the car.
Mortati: It's not like "CSI." It's not like the movies.
Let's zoom in on the license plate, or better yet,
let's zoom in on the person behind the wheel.
Oh, that's Nick Hillary, we got him.
Doesn't work that way.
Female Speaker: The date is January 20th, 2014.
The time is 10:08. ( inaudible )
Tafari: Mani Tafari for Mr. Oral Nicholas Hillary.
Mortati: Thomas Mortati of Burke, Scolamiero, Mortati,
and Hurd, for the defendants.
And I'm here with Amanda Sherman of my office,
as well as defendants Edward Tischler and Mark Murray.
Mortati: The civil suit is going to be a game-changer,
because the one person they really wanted to speak to the most,
who basically said, "I'm not talking to you anymore,"
on October 26th, is now not only going to talk to them,
but he's going to do it under oath.
Mortati: Good morning, Mr. Hillary.
As you know, my name is Tom Mortati
and I represent the defendants in a lawsuit
that you have brought.
And we're going to be here doing your deposition today.
Just a couple of ground rules, I know you and I...
Mortati: You can't make this stuff up.
I've been working in a civil career as an attorney
doing defense work of one kind or another.
I've never, ever come across anything
even remotely similar to this, nor likely will I ever.
Mortati: Monday, October 24, 2011,
I want to start with the beginning of the day.
Do you recall when you got up that day?
Tafari: Objection, relevance.
I typically get up around 6:30 in the morning.
Tafari: People object for the record.
If you look even at the other side's deposition,
Tom Mortati, the attorney for the Village
is objecting also quite a lot.
Mortati: What vehicle were you driving, sir?
Tafari: Objection, relevance.
I was driving my vehicle.
Mortati: What vehicle is that?
A Honda.
Mortati: Can you tell me the make and model--
or rather the model and year?
Tafari: Objection, relevance.
It's a CRV, 209.
I was-- to be honest with you,
I was, um,
surprised that he was even talking to me,
first of all, about any of this stuff.
2009.
Mortati: Light blue?
That is correct.
I was pleased obviously.
I mean, my job is to defend the police.
And again, my defense of the police is essentially
to investigate this crime and prove that this guy did it.
This is great, and everyone's like,
"Why is this great for you, being sued?"
Well, they have to--
He finally has to answer questions.
Mortati: Do you recall entering
the Potsdam High School parking lot with--
In your vehicle that afternoon, October 24th, 2011?
Tafari: Objection, relevance.
Yes.
Mortati: Why were you going to Potsdam High School that day?
Tafari: Objection, relevance.
To watch a soccer game.
Mortati: And what did you do while you were in the parking spot?
Tafari: Objection, relevance.
Waiting for the rain to break.
Mortati: Did it break?
No.
Female Speaker: And where did you go?
I went home.
Mortati: Need a break?
Tafari: Yeah.
Mortati: We took a break after about two hours,
and upstairs in the Potsdam Police Department
are several members of the New York State Police.
I went upstairs, walked in and said,
"Not only is he talking, but he just put himself
in that car in that parking lot at that time."
And they were all absolutely amazed.
And basically it was, "Okay, get back down there.
Keep asking him more questions." ( laughs )
I have nothing to hide.
But me talking to you
versus talking to a group of police officers,
who's trying tricks and trades,
it's two total different things.
There's a stenographer
who is taking down what I'm saying.
There is an attorney
who have my best interest at hand,
who's here,
and you're getting to ask your questions.
Mortati: Mr. Hillary, are you aware that, um,
approximately seven seconds before you left
the Potsdam High School parking lot onto Leroy Street,
Garrett Phillips left the Potsdam High School parking lot onto Leroy Street?
Tafari: Objection, relevance.
Calls for facts not yet in evidence.
No.
Mortati: And you didn't see Garrett Phillips
at all in that parking lot, correct?
Tafari: Objection, asked and answered, relevance.
No.
Mortati: Mr. Hillary, are you aware that Garrett Phillips
turned left out of the Potsdam High School parking lot
that afternoon as he left Potsdam High School?
Tafari: Objection, relevance.
No.
Mortati: Are you aware, Mr. Hillary,
that there is security camera video
that shows you turning left
in the same direction as Garrett Phillips
exiting Potsdam High School parking lot
in your blue Honda CRV that afternoon?
Tafari: Objection, relevance, assumed facts not yet in evidence.
No.
Rain: During the deposition
the civil attorney Tom Mortati
very masterfully walked him through, painstakingly slow,
a fantastic cross-examination of exactly
everything he did on October 24th, 2011.
Mortati: If you turned left out of the parking lot
to go home to your apartment,
what route did you take?
Through his masterful job,
along with the evidence that we had,
we were able to compile a case.
Mortati: And I believe you testified in the 50-h examination
that you went straight home
after you left the Potsdam High School that afternoon.
He added the word, "Oh, you said you went straight home."
No, I didn't say that I went straight home.
I said I went home.
Mortati: Mr. Hillary,
your apartment was to the right
up Leroy Street from Potsdam High School, correct?
Yes.
Mortati: And you've told me under oath
on two different occasions
that you went home that day,
leaving Potsdam High School parking lot.
- Correct? - Yes.
Mortati: The fastest way for you to get from your--
from the Potsdam High School parking Lot
to your apartment would be to turn right
out of the parking lot onto Leroy Street
to go in the direction of your apartment?
- Woman: Do that one again. - Mortati: Sure.
And the fastest way for you to get to your apartment,
driving from Potsdam High School,
would be to exit the parking lot and to turn right
onto Leroy Street, correct?
Yes.
Mortati: And if you made a left out of that parking lot,
and Garrett Phillips was on the sidewalk on Leroy Street,
approximately seven to eight seconds ahead of you,
is your testimony you never saw him at any point
while you were doing that?
Tafari: Objection, asked and answered, compound.
That is correct.
They have made it seem as if
I lived 200 miles away.
I was not supposed to be in that area.
Typically if I make a left out of the parking lot
I would be checking in with my assistant coach,
who lived on Garden Street,
which is what I would normally do,
- if I'm in the area. - You did that afternoon?
I cannot recall.
You know, going to try and see if he was home
at that point in time on my way home.
It's normal, you know, sometimes we often do things
just because it's what we consistently do.
Mortati: You don't recall whether or not you stopped
into Mr. Fairlie's apartment on Garden Street that afternoon?
That is correct.
Mortati: Just to be clear, you left Potsdam High School parking lot
- to go home, right? - Hillary: Yes.
Mortati: But you have no recollection as to whether or not...?
The grand jury spent over a four-day period looking at the evidence,
so there is a significant amount of evidence.
Male Reporter: Rain says they have both physical
and circumstantial evidence,
some that came out recently
during Hillary's deposition
from his civil suit against the Village of Potsdam
for defamation.
I'm 100% innocent,
100% innocent.
That's all I have to say.
Am I really living in a dream right now,
or this is really happening?
Everything that could have been done possible
to prevent me from getting my freedom
by the district attorney's office was done.
For 70 days I was held in jail,
and every time there was a hearing
something new would come to the surface
that required more time to explore,
which means I get to put--
sent back to jail while they let it get explored.
To have lived that for 70 days, you know,
has definitely given me
a certain level of drive
to fight and do whatever it is for me to do
not to see the walls
of those environments ever again.
Finally the judge decided, okay,
pretty much enough was enough.
♪ Where did you put your belt? ♪
Child: Right here.
( humming )
Hillary: Okay. Please walk.
Hillary: Love you!
Good morning. Who's that?
Shanna.
Yeah!
Shanna is awake, huh?
Yes.
Oh, we're grateful.
Before the whole thing I was,
like, friends with everybody, you know, carefree.
Well, I'm from around the area,
and I know it's a fantastic school.
And I wanted to be part of the community here.
Now you have to be, like, vigilant,
and you have to pay attention to everything.
You can't say the wrong things,
you can't talk to the wrong people,
you can't go to, like, certain places.
I'm part of his, like,
"Where were you when this whole thing went down?"
So, I was with my dad at that time.
So they needed me to, like,
cement that, that I was where I was with him
when whatever was happening. So...
Mortati: Just so I understand the chronology,
your daughter arrived home from school at approximately 4:30,
is that correct?
Around 4:30.
Well, that day I had soccer practice,
so I came home from soccer and my dad was there.
Mortati: So if your daughter arrived home
at or about 4:30 p.m. on that afternoon,
then you would've left for Potsdam High School
at approximately 4:35 to 4:40 p.m.?
Around there.
Rain: The last we see of Garrett in the high school parking lot
is at 4:52.
And if we presume that he went straight home afterwards
it's about a six-minute ride
going at the speed he was going on his RipStik.
He passed by some hospital cameras.
Nick Hillary pulled out at 4:53.
The call came in to
the Village of Potsdam Police Department at 5:08.
Police Dispatch: Potsdam Police, Dispatcher Schneider.
Vogel: Hi, my name is Marissa Vogel, and I have...
Rain: But you have to backtrack a little bit because...
Vogel: ...not sure if I should call or not.
...it's at least two minutes that Sean Hall
and Marissa Vogel took to stop,
listen, and then determine what they were going to do.
So a very conservative estimate would be two minutes.
So now you're putting the time of death at 5:06.
So you have a very tight timeline of 4:53
when we last see Hillary on the high school video,
to 5:06 when we believe the murder occurred.
That would've given him enough time to go down two blocks,
park the car...
And you have to remember, he's extremely fit.
He's not only got a six-pack, he's got an eight-pack.
He's very, very fit,
and to jog two blocks to get to Garrett's home
wouldn't take but 45 seconds, max, for him.
We believe he had a key.
We believe he opened the door,
Garrett recognized that it was him,
tried to push him back out,
and then tried to retreat, and he was murdered.
Mortati: And when you arrived home at your apartment
was anyone there?
Yes.
Mortati: Your daughter, Shanna-Kay?
- Tafari: Objection, relevance. - Yes.
Mortati: What time did you arrive back at your apartment?
Tafari: Objection, relevance.
A few minutes before 5:00.
Mortati: How long did you remain at your apartment?
I was there until shortly after 5:00.
Mortati: Well, now, when you say, "Shortly after 5:00,"
what do you mean?
5:15.
Mortati: And when you say, "A few minutes before 5:00,"
in terms of when you arrived there, what time was that?
I'd say about five to 5:00.
Mortati: So you would've been in your apartment
for an approximate 20-minute span
between 4:55 p.m. and 5:15 p.m.?
- Tafari: Objection, relevance. - That is correct.
Shanna-Kay Hillary: Mary Rain was relentless
during the whole questioning part.
She would ask me the same question more than once,
or try and word it a little differently, or...
At the end she would, like, ask the same exact question,
like, ten times, and I was like,
"I don't-- I don't know what you want me to do.
I'm not changing anything."
Rain: Here's how it goes.
So they say to you,
"I remember what I had for dinner on June 30th,
two years ago."
Okay. "What did you have for dinner on June 29th?"
"I don't remember."
"What did you have for dinner on June 28th?"
"I don't remember."
"What did you have for June 27th?"
"I don't remember." "But you remember what you had on June 30th?
Is that true?" "Yes."
The lawyer at the time made sure that I, like,
had everything cemented in my mind of, like, what had happened that day,
because I felt like he knew that eventually I'd be brought in.
We call it "walking them up and down the ladder,"
and that's what he chastised me about.
She was looking-- I don't know what she was looking for,
but she was, like, digging hard for something.
Tafari: Well, there's no defense attorney in the grand jury,
so basically a DA
can run rough-shot over the proceedings,
which is what happened.
Marcoccia: According to Judge Richards
we do know that when the district attorney,
Mary Rain, questioned Nick's daughter,
who is one of his alibis,
the judge had indicated that she was badgering her,
and asking her inappropriate questions.
Which is why it was dismissed.
( music playing )
Female Reporter: With the case again in limbo,
the community keeps searching for some resolution.
Natasha Haverty was at the remembrance gathering
and has more.
Haverty: Justice for Garrett.
A lot has happened
with that first word, "justice,"
in the past six months.
One suspect was finally arrested and arraigned,
but the proceedings were mishandled
and charges were later dismissed.
But this evening, people are here to remember Garrett.
Are we ready? One, two, three.
All: Garrett!
Haverty: Yes, we were working on this big investigative story,
but we were also, as reporters in the North Country,
going to the balloon release ceremony, you know,
on the anniversary of Garrett's death.
We were also covering small-town events
that were each a tiny piece of this bigger story.
Like, I can't emphasize that enough.
Like, you are in the checkout line with the defense attorney.
That small-town thing is real.
Pastor: Father God, we stand in your presence, Father.
Male Speaker: And as you gather here today, remember this--
through the power of prayer, justice will be served.
The judge indicated that
there was sufficient evidence to indict him,
"I just think you did these things wrong
so I'm going to dismiss it."
So we basically provided the exact
same presentation the second time.
Male Reporter: Now, this is the second time
Hillary has been indicted for Phillips' death.
Oral Nick Hillary was back in a St. Lawrence County courtroom Monday.
Hillary was arraigned on a charge of second-degree murder.
Female Reporter: The D.A.'s office has until 30 days
before trial to hand over all photo and video evidence.
Rain: They're going to find what I found.
The video inculpates.
That means it tends to show that Nick--
Oral Nicholas Hillary
was at the crime scene,
was present near the time of the murder,
and in fact is evidence that he did murder Garrett Phillips.
Hillary: Whatever videotape they could have gotten their hands on,
the one thing that I know deep inside,
that it was not going to reveal
what they are trying
to showcase to the public.
So they figure not having what they need,
they're just going to manipulate
what they claim they have to prove their theory.
Tafari: Justice for Garrett is justice for Nick.
But the prosecutors in this case
don't want to solve this case.
They want to get a conviction from this case.
Nick is seeking the same truth
that will set Garrett's spirit free.
Haverty: When we had stories about anything to do with
the Garrett Phillips case--
little ones, I'm talking about, like,
the bail hearing is set for,
you know, June 30th--
we would have to shut down our comments every time.
Every time.
Because within an hour of the story going online,
to quote our web guy, like,
"abusive, vitriolic comments."
The most hateful speech people are capable of.
W.T. Eckert: I remember leaving one of the hearings
and a lot of Nick's supporters were there.
And somebody yelled out, "Why haven't we heard anything about John Jones?"
And that was the first time I had heard
the name "John Jones," and I didn't know who Jones was.
A much better case could have been put together
again John Jones than was put together against Nick.
Marcoccia: You know, we know that his behavior was volatile.
You know, Tandy knew that, Nick knew that.
You know, was that a motivation for killing a boy? I don't know.
But it shows that maybe you're slightly unhinged.
There were allegations that he was an angry man,
a racist guy, and that the love of his life
was now sleeping with a black man.
You know, listening to this and trying to process this stuff,
like, why would this former boyfriend go after,
you know, this boy?
Talk about defamatory.
The defense team had maligned
John Jones for years,
years leading into this thing.
Tafari: She actually wrote a complaint
ten months before Garrett died,
stating that, "Because of Deputy John Jones
I fear for the safety of my children."
John Jones: I didn't get the statement directly,
I got it indirectly from my boss.
And I read it, and I said to my boss,
I go, "That's not Tandy's writing."
And it was typed.
And he's like, "How do you know that?"
I go, "Because Tandy doesn't know the definition
of some of these words in here."
I go, "so there's no way that she wrote this."
And he's like, "Well, that's interesting."
I said... I go, "We'll find out someday who wrote this,"
I go, "Because Tandy didn't."
If you write four different letters,
sign four different letters,
and send it to four different people
after getting it notarized,
that's the truth.
Within the body of the letter
Tandy states that John Jones sent her
threatening text messages.
Tandy also says that Jones sued her in small claims court
as retaliation for dating Nick.
Recording: The time, 6:16 p.m.
Police Dispatch: Mm-hmm.
Jones: Sure.
( inaudible background conversation )
Jones: Yeah.
Police Dispatch: Okay.
They were together from the beginning,
and then they spent the night together,
and then at the police station the next morning they said,
"We're not speaking to you guys without being together."
Haverty: You have someone who now we know
was a suspect at some point, John Jones,
holding the hand of Tandy Cyrus,
sitting across the desk from his buddy, Mark Murray.
So my thoughts are, like,
"This is really messy."
When we learned about that, reading those depositions,
it was just another kind of step on this road of,
okay, we need to talk about John Jones.
There's no denying that he took part in the investigation.
He helped in the investigation.
Mike Murray: There was nothing that he hid from us,
or there's no level of cooperation that he didn't go to
to try to help the investigation.
He cooperated 110%, provided his DNA sample,
fingerprints, let us photograph his body.
Tafari: So the person of John Jones,
here we see no face shots,
no dehumanizing--
Still has his tie on,
so nothing for anyone to look at to even know
who this picture of except it says the person of Jones.
So why bring in someone
if these are the pictures you're going to take?
And if they're both suspects,
why is the person of Jones
so much different from the person of Nick?
And what's the difference besides skin color?
Haverty: A big treasure trove for us as reporters
is the civil case.
Because when Nick Hillary filed that civil case,
not long after the investigation began,
as for us reporters,
that's all public documents, you know?
So all those depositions,
all the testimony of law enforcement saying,
"We didn't have physical evidence."
To be able to read a lot of officers
that were involved in the case, to see Ed Tischler's remarks,
to see Mark Murray's remarks
answering, "No, we didn't have any physical evidence."
I mean, it's interesting to think
that the first theory before Nick Hillary even,
as we've heard in the calls,
is some kids were getting rowdy, you know?
And something happened with kids.
Well, those kids' fingerprints aren't in the database.
My last story...
for North Country Public Radio
was this story.
It sounds weird and paranoid,
but it wasn't a coincidence
that we aired it when I left town.
At the time it was a big thing
to air anything about John Jones.
Haverty ( recording ): John Jones is still a deputy sheriff,
and again, Jones was at some point considered a suspect,
all of which raises big questions about trust,
about public safety,
about what it means when a local police officer
was also a suspect in a murder that's under investigation.
Haverty: It was a big thing to...
kind of uncover these declarative statements
from multiple people saying,
"We have no DNA evidence."
We kept thinking,
"How many other cases are there like this around the country?"
If anything, I think we thought,
"This must happen more than we know."
When national media started paying attention
it was just really affirming for us as journalists of,
wow, this thing that we followed our curiosity on,
or that raised some big questions for us in our community,
is somehow universal enough
that it applies to big questions
the whole country might be facing.
If the facts had been exactly as they are,
but Nick Hillary had been white,
would the "New York Times" be covering this story as it has?
Well, I think you have to step back a second
and look at what's going on in the country right now.
The issues of race and law enforcement,
it is something that people are talking about,
it's something people are concerned about.
It is through the information we got in the civil suit
that the media took a real interest, before, right?
Most time media take interest after someone's been wrongfully convicted, right?
And the person's sitting there for 25 years.
Hillary's been very fortunate and very blessed
in not just having information but in having friends.
Marcoccia: A lot of people empathize with him.
Sarah Johnson and Greg are perfect examples of that.
Male Reporter: Hillary's new lead attorneys
are criminal defense lawyer Earl Ward
and civil rights lawyer Norman Siegel out of New York City.
The two have consulted in the case since the fall.
Norman Siegel: How did I get involved?
"The Amsterdam News" owner and publisher
called me last summer and said,
"Please come. I want you to hear about a case.
I'd like you to get involved."
I said that I would get involved.
My one condition was
that Earl Ward be co-counsel with me.
And then we made phone calls, we talked to people.
Everything we've been told
is totally in opposite
to what the prosecution is trying to make
Nick Hillary out to be.
Earl Ward: I think Pete has the same sort of view here.
I've known Nick for over two years now.
It's always been a calm conversation.
In fact, when you discuss how people are vilifying him
in social media, how they're calling him names,
not once has he erupted in anger like you'd expect.
He's just calmly said, "The truth will come out.
I'm going to fight this, and I'm not going to do it that way."
Peter Dumas: I know that there are some people
who are very charged about this case,
and people that were friends of mine
that don't really talk to me right now.
You know, and they may not ever again,
no matter how this case goes.
Male Reporter: This is news from North Country Public Radio.
Female Reporter: Thanks very much.
We're sorting out the latest turn
in the Garrett Phillips murder case.
Female Reporter: District Attorney Mary Rain says
DNA evidence points the finger
directly at accused killer Nick Hillary.
Mark Murray, who's lead investigator,
testified under oath.
There was no fingerprints match.
There was no DNA match.
There was no eyewitnesses.
They basically had no case.
And then all of a sudden years and years later
Fitzpatrick comes on the case,
you know, takes a lead role,
and all of a sudden they have this DNA match.
The STRmix concluded very, very simply
that the DNA mixture
under Garrett Phillips' fingernails,
one of them was Garrett Phillips,
and the other was a partial profile
of a individual
who in likelihood ratio terms
was millions of times more likely
to be Nick Hillary than a random stranger.
We knew that something was so suspicious with it
because we knew it had been tested at the lab.
We knew they had 100-and-something samples, nothing matched.
Now how all of a sudden they got this match?
Peter: I think that they, uh...
they pounded and pounded and pounded
until they got that square peg in the round hole.
Fitzpatrick: The last physical act the kid does
is try to tell us who did it,
scratch Hillary's face somewhere.
Not deep enough to cause scratching.
You know, he's not thinking,
"I'm going to leave this guy's DNA under his fingernails,"
but I'm speaking metaphorically.
Ward: We've all heard the phrase that
DNA is the finger of God pointing at the accused.
This is not that case.
This is the finger of a statistician
pointing at Nick Hillary,
and that is not what DNA should be all about.
Clint: What we're talking about is a very, very,
very small amount of DNA.
Jesse McKinley: DNA has this mythology of being infallible.
If you watch "CSI," you know, it is that thing.
It is, "Oh, well, we've got the evidence.
It's right here on the DNA."
And I think particularly for jurors
who are probably not accustomed
to kind of high-scientific theory,
this is-- this is a smoking gun.
If the jury has to hear it, I mean, I--
Hillary: I mean, to sit here and tell you I'm scared
would be an understatement.
I mean, some of the lawyers don't even understand,
much less a lay juror.
Male Reporter: Hillary's trial is scheduled
to start September 6th in Canton.
What was already considered a tough case
for the prosecution to prove just got even tougher.
Male Reporter: Some very complex DNA test results will not be allowed.
Female Reporter: It might've been key evidence
in the upcoming Nick Hillary murder trial.
Now a judge has tossed it out of court.
We find the DNA-- not find,
but find an expert that can testify
as to the significance of the DNA evidence,
and, um...
it winds up getting thrown out.
Dumas: You know, Nick is really excited,
but he's also worried because we still have a trial date.
Having done over 100 trials, I know one thing,
is that anything can happen in front of a jury.
Siegel: Ms. Shanna-Kay, my name's Norman Siegel.
- You know me, Earl Ward. - ( laughs )
- And you know this guy, right? - Dumas: Yep.
This is all in preparation for the trial.
And we are giving serious consideration
to calling you as one of our witnesses.
So you've been through this before a little,
- right? - Yes.
You testified in the grand jury
on two occasions, right?
- Yes. - You told the truth.
All we're looking for is the truth from you.
And again, I think you're going to make a terrific witness,
so, you know, just don't be nervous as we,
you know, go through this.
- Okay. - All right?
- Okay. - You look nervous.
- I'm just a little nervous. - ( laughs )
- Ward: Why are you a little-- - S. Hillary: I'm just nervous.
I don't really have, like, a reason.
It's just what happens every time.
I just get a little nervous.
Ward: Okay.
N. Hillary: They have no idea.
Truly no idea,
the negative impact
they have...
imposed and put upon my kids.
My two oldest are
good with their knowledge with what's going on.
So, you know, with me saying, "Hey, I'm going off.
I'm going to address this situation once and for all."
They're good. The two youngest,
they're still not as cognitive to understand the big picture.
Not too hard.
Let me see. Yeah.
You know, but for Elijah,
he's really at that stage where,
you know, he needs answers,
and he will ask questions.
Man on phone: ( inaudible )
Yeah, exactly, exactly,
exactly, exactly.
You know what I'm saying, you know, I mean,
that's all we need is just good eyes,
you know, for look over all the necessary moving parts
and see where we're going.
Man on phone: Yeah, man. Yeah, man.
(Inaudible) me, bro.
N. Hillary: Yes, starting to look good,
starting to look good, you know?
Man on phone: (Inaudible)
- All right, one love. - Yeah, man.
Yes, yes.
( phone beeps )
Yeah, so,
you know, back again.
N. Hillary: All right. All right, come on.
Elijah, let's go.
Are you leaving tomorrow?
No, no, no.
Yeah, I know I gotta go back up in a couple days, right?
- Yeah. - Huh?
Why?
Up back to the North Country, you know,
I've got to have some stuff to finish up.
Wait, can I come?
- If you could come? - Yeah.
Well, maybe on the weekends
when you don't have school you could come, you know,
or I will come down, you know?
No need to worry, okay?
Can I come?
No, because you've got to be here to go to school.
Yeah, I know.
But a day before the school starts
can we come with you?
That's not going to be feasible.
You are just really... (inaudible)
Okay?
(inaudible)
It's not going to be possible for that to work out.
Oh, okay.
- Okay? - Yeah.
- All right. - You'll see?
Yeah, I'll see.
( whispers ) Goodnight.
Goodnight.
Yeah.
- Child: Daddy, (inaudible)? - Yes.
Child: Okay.
Okay. All right.
Love you.
Maybe, okay?
- Love you. - Daddy, lay with me.
Okay, I'll come back later.
Vogel: I think...
having all of this drawn out for so long
has affected us in that
it feels like a book that needs to be closed,
and you can't close it yet
because you haven't read that last page.
It feels unfinished,
and it's just hung there over us.
Everybody is upset about this.
The poor child's family has gone through a lot.
The community is in turmoil.
Just needs to be taken care of.
I mean, the evidence is probably good,
it's just that they don't like the way it was handled.
Yeah. It can't be used now.
With Hillary's two-hour deposition,
I think things were looking good.
You could ask everybody in the world
where they were on the 24th
of that night...
that Garrett was taken.
They're not going to lie.
They're not going to need to lawyer up.
They're going to not hide DNA.
One person killed him.
Woman: The family has kept it in front of all of us,
which they should.
for the last five years.
I'm hoping, as everyone else is,
that this is resolved and that they do have proof,
and that there is something that comes out--
Conviction comes out, whether it's Nick or whomever,
but that they-- So they can put this to rest.
I'll feel awful if anything that I've done, you know,
ends up hurting, you know what I mean?
I mean, I don't know how that works
in the court or the law.
You know, you can twist things however you want.
( indistinct conversation )
Fairlie: I'm just an average person.
I'm just in it.
Haverty: This case has been adjudicated on the streets,
and in the Price Choppers,
and in the parking lots,
for years.
Now this is a real trial.
This is really happening.
Dumas: We were really worried going into the jury process
that we were going to run into a roadblock.
Woman: The commissioner of jurors told me that
1,000 people from St. Lawrence County
have been summoned for jury duty,
and that's four times as many as usual.
Dumas: We were worried that we were going to have some very
opinionated people on the jury,
and we were worried that there wasn't going to be one juror
in the courtroom who didn't know anything about this case.
Turn around for me please.
( beeps )
Thank you, sir.
Everyone says they're going to be fair.
You've just got to sit back and decide
if this is the person who really can be.
Rain: I thought voir dire went excellent.
We got ten jurors the first pass.
One of the jurors I knew,
and I felt that he would do a very fair job.
He would give both sides a fair shake.
So I was very confident that we had good ten jurors.
Dumas: I drove all the way home.
I live about an hour away from where the trial's happening.
I got home and I got the call from Norm, and Earl, and Kate.
They said, "God, you've got to come back.
We've got to talk about this some more."
So dropped whatever I was doing, hopped in my car,
and I drove back, and we talked about it
for another three or four hours.
Rain: The defense came into chambers
looking like somebody just kicked their puppy in front of them.
And I had no idea why they had such long faces.
And they were kind of hemming and hawing, saying,
"We were up all night talking to the defendant,"
and I thought, "Is he going to plead?"
( laughs ) You know, I didn't have any idea
what was going on.
You know, "He wants to do this," and I'm, like, "What is this?
What is this? Tell us."
Tafari: Hillary chose himself to go bench.
I would never classify myself as a risk-taker,
you know, but after the first round of seating
and there was just no one
who I can say with great sense of comfort,
would be... (inaudible)
We'd actually found out after the fact
that one of the jurors was actually friends with--
That they had picked,
was friends with the Phillips family.
It's too connected up there.
Everyone's too close with the family.
Tafari: And I think five years
of poisoning
turned Justice for Garrett into "Lynch Nick Hillary."
The trial will be trial by a judge.
We understand the enormity
of what Nick is charged with,
and we take that responsibility seriously.
You can hear my voice sort of crackling there,
which indicates it's not just my brain--
My whole body recognizing what I just said. So...
Female reporter: Can I ask how Nick's feeling?
I'm feeling very well, thank you.
Okay.
When we actually had a trial date
and we were all sitting in court together,
it just seemed like some kind of weird,
surreal dream that this was actually taking place.
( door opens )
Bailiff: All rise.
St. Lawrence County Court is now in session.
The Honorable Felix Catena presiding.
Good morning, everybody. Please be seated.
We're on the record.
This is the People of the State of New York
against Oral Nicholas Hillary.
Mr. Fitzpatrick, your opening statement.
Fitzpatrick: Thank you very much, Your Honor.
It's normally at this point, Judge,
where either you or some of the litigants
would say to a jury
to keep an open mind.
And I don't think, Judge,
I've ever beseeched someone more
in a criminal case to keep an open mind
than I would in this matter right now.
Because the narrative of this case
up to this point has been very, very simple.
A group of bungling,
incompetent cops from a small town in upstate New York...
Fitzpatrick: Okay, these guys, very experienced lawyers,
just selected this individual to decide this case.
And I wanted to disavow him of the narrative.
The narrative which has been established
at this point for 4.5 years.
That this case is razor-thin,
that this case is nothing but a bunch of, you know,
upstate hicks that want to grab the only black guy in town
and put him on trial.
None of that stuff is true.
From day one the murder investigation
focused almost exclusively on Nick Hillary.
You will learn that after a thorough inspection
of the deceased's apartment at 100 Market Street,
the police found no fingerprints,
no hairs,
or no fibers linking Nick Hillary to this crime.
Fitzpatrick: Let's examine in what is the most conclusive piece
of guilt against this man,
at the exact instant
Garrett reaches Leroy Street,
the defendant backs up,
K-turns out of the parking lot,
and according to him
at least a dozen times under oath,
"I went straight home,
back to my daughter."
Except the camera doesn't lie.
Mr. Hillary doesn't turn right,
he turns left,
because he's hunting Garrett Phillips.
Siegel: This is all the video will show you.
But the prosecution wants you to jump to conclusions.
You will not see or hear any credible evidence
of Nick or Nick's car approaching,
at, or leaving 100 Market Street
during the critical time from when Nick exits the parking lot
until Officer Mark Wentworth found the deceased.
And why?
Because he wasn't there.
Fitzpatrick: Now, meanwhile, Judge, just outside
in the back of Market Street
there's a young man by the name of Andrew Carranza
and his then girlfriend Shannon Harris,
and they're in the process of changing a flat tire
on Carranza's truck.
Andrew's now deployed with the United States Marine Corps,
but he'll be here to describe what he saw and what he heard.
Don Tracy: When Nick came to the trial
I was hired by Nick's attorneys
to locate and interview witnesses
to find out what they would know and say at the trial.
I learned that the D.A.'s office was going to
fly Andrew back from Hawaii,
and he was a vital witness in this case.
So I called him.
And he apparently jumped to the conclusion
that I was working for the D.A.'s office, quite quickly.
I didn't tell him any different.
I didn't feel I had a responsibility to tell him that.
He said, "They're flying me from Hawaii to testify in this.
I'll be showing up Monday in Canton."
"Fine. What are you going to testify to?"
"Well, I saw a black guy
on the second floor,
a silhouette of somebody that fits Nick's."
Talked with him as much as I could, went on,
and the other witnesses that I was trying to locate
was Andrew's girlfriend, Shannon.
Harris: Don Tracy called me,
told me he was an investigator. He stopped over.
He questioned me about what I was doing that day,
what I heard, what I saw.
We were changing his tire,
and we kept hearing this ripping noise. And...
Fitzpatrick: The decision was made by me to fly Andrew Carranza in.
It was my judgment that Andrew described
the noises that he heard a little bit better.
Harris: Police asked both of us if we had seen anybody in the window,
any movement, anything like that,
and we both said no.
This window right here on the top, on the outside,
was the window that had the screen forced out.
So these parking spots right here
would've been occupied by the Carranzas,
this being Andrew's.
Would've been very hard to see a body standing in that window.
And if there was,
it certainly would've been a time to say it at that time.
And they did state they didn't see anything.
Their statements indicate that.
Harris: We went over the statements multiple times,
and nothing was different.
Afterward he told me
Andrew had an opposing story.
I told Don Andrew he was trying to get a hold of me,
and I had called him anyway,
and I did record the entire conversation with Andrew,
just in case he said he was making it up.
Harris: Now I feel like you're changing your story or something,
and I don't know, Andrew,
but I am not going to go to court and, like,
lie for something about you,
if that makes sense. If they question me on it
I'm going to have to be honest and tell them--
Andrew Carranza: But that's exactly what I had written down on the paper.
Harris: I think I would remember
because it would be in my statement.
Harris: Yeah, well, you saw somebody
but you didn't necessarily see Hillary.
So I don't understand how--
Even if you did, that would be substantial evidence.
Harris: Andrew, come on.
Andrew clearly knew what had to be said in that trial
to make a difference.
And he was willing to step up and do it.
Ward over phone: Wow.
Wow. Wow.
Wow.
So is she willing to testify?
Is Shannon Harris on the witness list? No, right?
Don spoke to-- The investigator spoke to her.
- Siegel: And? - Thinks-- She says,
"Carranza's full of shit."
Yeah, this is crazy.
That's a big one. Don, thank you very much.
I'll fill the team in on what's going on here, but that's big.
Thank you.
Okay, cool.
- Okay. - Do we have enough plates?
- All right. - Yeah?
- Yeah. - Yeah.
- Plenty of everything. - Ward: Okay, great.
All right, Don, Thank you.
Bye-bye.
Don spoke to the girlfriend of their star witness,
and she says he's full of shit.
- Who did? - Awesome.
All right.
Man: Okay, who's saying this?
Siegel: Shannon Harris.
The girlfriend who was there, who was present.
Man 2: Oh, the girl changing the tire?
- Yep. - Yeah.
- Man: Super. - Siegel: Super, good.
good win, good win.
( indistinct conversation )
- Man: Good morning, everybody. - Man 2: Morning.
Tracy: The next day when the trial had resumed
I happened to bump into Dan Manor
from the D.A.'s office,
and Dan knew what I knew.
Because he looked at me, he says,
"What are you doing talking to my witness?"
And I said, "Dan, how could you
bring him all the way from Hawaii
to testify to something that you knew was not the truth?"
And he said, "I have rules to follow.
I have people I'm responsible to."
Fitzpatrick: Dan Manor would've spoken to Carranza
to logistically get him flown in.
Nobody interviewed him prior to flying him in.
I had no knowledge that he was going to say
it was a black male at the window
until I spoke to him the day before he testified.
Why didn't anybody ask Mr. Carranza
about the color the man who was looking out that window?
They said he was looking out the window,
but no one asked the description of the man...
Ward: (Inaudible)
...the description of the man. Was there...?
If there was a person looking out that window
and there was a--
That was an African-American person,
he would've said it.
Fitzpatrick: There was no way
we could ethically allow Andrew Carranza
to now say suddenly four years later that,
"Oh yeah, it was a black male."
And in fact I'm fairly certain
he was prepared to say that it was Nick Hillary at the window.
If we had not had Shannon Harris
to come and testify,
or not planned on calling her after he testified,
who would know the difference?
Knowing that we had witnesses
who would contradict their statements in real time
and blow this up in their faces,
they did not know that when they booked his flight from Hawaii...
- Right. - ...to come up.
They found that out after he was in Potsdam.
( indistinct conversation )
( metal detector beeps )
( music playing )
Catena: Mr. Dumas?
Fitzpatrick: Judge, I didn't take Mr. Duma'' remarks as accusatory,
but essentially it's being suggested
that I'm withholding exculpatory evidence
regarding a witness I've never heard of.
So I will go through our archives
and talk to the investigators on the case
in an attempt to identify Mr. Brown.
And obviously if there's anything exculpatory
I fully know my obligations.
Rain: D.A. Fitzpatrick has said,
"Well, who's Gregory Brown?"
I said, "I don't know who Gregory Brown is."
And then as he started explaining
that he was an inmate, I was, like,
"Oh yes, I do remember something about
the state police going out
and interviewing this person at Attica.
Can I see counsel in chambers, please?
Dumas: We got into chambers and they handed us two pages.
And we looked at it,
and we all just kind of jaw-dropped.
Because this piece of paper said that
John Jones entered 100 Market Street
approximately 15 minutes
before Garrett Phillips entered 100 Market Street.
Eckert: So my question is,
how would he even know who John Jones is?
And John says that he knows Greg Brown
from having played football with him.
You know, he's, like, "I didn't know him by name,
but I knew who he was."
"You know G-Money?" I go, "Who's G-Money?"
And I'm not trying to stereotype it
but I assumed it was a black man.
And I said,
"No, I don't hang around with a lot of black people,
so no I don't know who he is."
And he goes, "You don't know Greg Brown?"
I said, "No." I go, "Help me out with this."
And he goes, "You used to bounce at this local establishment."
And I go, "Oh yeah. Yeah, I know him."
I go, "Why?" He goes,
"Apparently he saw you come out of--
or go into Tandy's house that day."
I go, "Seriously?" I thought it was a joke. He goes, "Yeah."
Dumas: When they handed us that document
I took one look at it
and that was probably
the one instance in my whole career
of the clearest-cut Brady material I've ever seen.
Brady material is a material
that's favorable to the defense,
something that might show that Nick Hillary
didn't commit the crime.
And it's one of those things that
you take a step back as a defense attorney
and you're working late at night,
and you say to yourself,
"Wait a minute.
If this is just coming out now,
what else is there? What else don't we know?"
That's why these rules are in place.
they're to protect someone like Nick Hillary.
They're to protect his constitutional rights.
Fitzpatrick: Here's the problem.
Okay.
Should it have been disclosed?
Absolutely.
Inexcusable that it wasn't disclosed.
In Mary's mind,
there's irrefutable proof
that John Jones did not commit the crime,
ergo someone alleging that John Jones
did commit the crime is lying.
So in her mind it went from potentially exculpatory
to just total B.S.
Can't make that decision as a prosecutor.
All I have is my reputation when I'm appearing in court.
And I thought about, you know,
just packing it up and leaving,
but I couldn't do that to Tandy and the Phillips family.
The prosecution's witnesses today,
but instead the defense got up
and asked Judge Felix Catena for a dismissal.
Now, that's an extreme remedy to the situation,
but this is an extreme case.
You know, we've got a man who's on trial for his life here.
This is a murder in the second, and they're hiding this.
I think that it should be an extreme remedy.
McKinley: The judge is the judge and the jury.
He is the man. He will decide Nick Hillary's fate.
And so for him to sit in a courtroom and someone say,
"Oh, by the way,
we forgot to give some information
to the defense team,"
I'm sure that that must've set off some alarm bells
for him in his brain, where he was, like,
"What's the prosecution doing here?"
And I think that that
probably was part of the defense's strategy as well.
Liz Garbus: Excuse me, Earl,
can you say where you're going now
and then we'll let you go?
We are headed over to
the jail to speak to Gregory Brown.
Garbus: They brought him down fairly quickly, huh?
Yes, fairly quickly. Rapid speed.
I'm sure some of you are thinking,
"Well, they didn't use Gregory Brown.
He must be a whack-job."
Gregory Brown is not a whack-job.
He's not a whacko.
He was very credible,
and he didn't remember everything
in part because there's been a passage of time.
The idea that somehow John Jones was at that building,
did you find it credible or was it the case
of there being too many holes in his account to use it in court?
Siegel: The fact that John Jones was not only there
but went into 100 Market.
Which I thought was important.
I found that credible.
There is no way in hell John Jones--
The guy is on video walking his dog
at the time the murder takes place.
You can't have better evidence.
And his DNA didn't match
the DNA profile under the fingernails.
It wasn't John Jones because,
you know, as I've said before,
who brings their dog to a murder?
Nobody.
Coincidences happen.
Twenty-nine seconds after John Jones
pulled into his driveway,
Garrett rode by on his Ripstik.
Now, I think the prosecution would clearly say,
"That's a coincidence."
Mortati: There's a camera on the side of Canton-Potsdam Hospital,
and among other things,
it just coincidentally also captures John Jones' house
because he happened to live on Cottage Street at that time. Two
different cameras.
You see Garrett coming down the northside sidewalk of Cottage.
He gets to the driveway that you would turn right
to go towards the ER.
The second camera from the ER
that shows the parking lot, shows Garrett
basically passing from left to right
as he's traveling down Cottage Street.
They don't pass each other waving or anything like that.
You don't see that on camera.
Ward: It's a coincidence with John Jones,
but it's not a coincidence with Nick Hillary.
John Jones,
who was the former boyfriend of Tandy Collins.
John Jones, who didn't like Nick Hillary.
John Jones, who once pushed Tandy Collins.
John Jones, who had sued Tandy Collins.
Nick being in the parking lot,
in their view, is evidence of murder.
I submit to you, Judge, it is not.
Siegel: What we now have to do
is weave together all of the depositions,
the grand jury testimony,
the transcripts of the days of testimony so far
of 28 witnesses,
and put together a concise, powerful statement.
There's always pressure when someone's life is on the line.
I mean, Nick loses,
he's going-- We lose,
he's going away for the rest of his life.
He has two young kids,
two young boys, really cute little boys who love him.
And last time I saw him,
kids was holding onto him and saying, "Don't go."
And so it was really heartwarming
and at the same time...
scary.
And we've got Fitzpatrick in there also?
Siegel: Yes.
I'll double-check on that. I think-- Yep.
- Great. - Siegel: Yeah,
and so it's on page 76.
Ward: I've seen a lot of injustices,
and I just hope that this is not one of them.
And we're hoping that we can
win this case for him so that he can get back to his life.
Ward: The prosecution has pieced together--
they've cobbled together
fabrics of so-called "evidence."
And they've given you, Judge,
a torn and tattered quilt.
And they have given this torn and tattered quilt to you,
and they've called it "circumstantial evidence."
They're trying to paint this picture of Nick
as an obsessed psychopath who,
unable to get the love of his life, kills her child.
Does that make sense?
I submit to you it makes absolutely no sense.
It's not the type of theory you bring into a courtroom
and ask a judge to find a man guilty of murder.
Guilty of murder in the second degree.
What they're trying to do here, Your Honor,
what they're trying to do here is to demonize--
Is to demonize this man.
I know the prosecutor's going to stand up here,
and he's going to say to you,
in the loudest voice as he can,
"You have to convict Nick Hillary."
And he will say to you,
"I have proven my case beyond a reasonable doubt."
Judge, this case is riddled with doubt.
Fitzpatrick: I can't emphasize enough, Judge,
how in this case...
there's two possible explanations.
You have to give the benefit of the doubt to the defendant.
But possibility number one is either Nick Hillary
is the victim of the most bizarre convergence
of coincidences
since man first learned to write and record history,
and he sits there an innocent man,
or, on October the 24th, 2011,
obsessed by his break-up with Tandy Cyrus,
enraged that it came down to the needs
of the 12-year-old boy--
As if there was some moral confluence between
his needs and the needs of a 12-year-old boy.
He entered that boy's apartment,
he chased him down,
he dragged him into a bedroom,
and he spent 90 seconds choking the life out of him.
And he's been lying about it ever since.
What kind of mind can orchestrate something like that, Judge?
The same type of mind that can look you right in the eye
and say that, "When I leave the Potsdam
parking high school parking lot,
and my apartment is four-tenths of a mile
in a straight line to the right,
sometimes I go left,
and it doesn't make any difference to me."
That's the type of mind that we're dealing with.
"And of course you've got to believe me,
because I'm Nick Hillary, and I said it.
And that's good enough--
Should be good enough for you."
And we're here, Your Honor,
because of tapes,
but frankly none more important than exhibit 71.
And there's the last time
we ever see Garrett Phillips alive.
Garrett Phillips
wasn't killed by someone passing through town
who hates little boys.
He was killed by Nick Hillary.
He wanted to be with his friends.
He wanted to occasionally watch TV, judge.
He wanted to play on his Ripstik.
He wanted to be 12 years-old,
not be dictated to,
and that cost him his life.
Now Garrett belongs to the ages.
He's forever 12.
I wish you Godspeed, Judge.
I pray to God you've seen this defendant for what he truly is.
A person who with premeditation
murdered a beautiful 12-year-old little boy.
And he did it so arrogantly and stupidly,
that he can now finally be brought to justice.
Thank you, Your Honor.
Catena: With regard to the Court's decision,
the Court's verdict,
I anticipate Wednesday or Thursday of next week
that we'll stand in recess to await the court's verdict.
Thank you, everybody.
( gavel bangs )
( music playing )
A verdict is expected at some point this week
in the Nick Hillary murder trial.
The former Clarkson University soccer coach
is facing a second-degree murder charge
for the 2011 death of his ex-girlfriend's son.
He'll be back in the courtroom
as soon as a verdict is reached.
Child: Hi, daddy.
N. Hillary: Look at what I got right here.
Child: I want hot dogs.
N. Hillary: It is. It's a special kind of hot dog.
Just trust me, okay?
No, that's not a hot dog.
N. Hillary: It's not a hot dog?
No, it's pepperoni.
- That's pepperonis? - Yes.
N. Hillary: No, this is better than pepperonis, man.
Good job, Jo-Jo.
Child: (Inaudible)
N. Hillary: Wake up every day
and you're trying to enjoy every second,
every minute with your kids,
all the while trying to protect them
and shelter them from the unknown.
( indistinct conversation )
- ( phone ringing ) - Huh?
Child: (Inaudible)
Okay.
All right.
N. Hillary: Come on boys.
- Child: I want a lift. - Okay. All right.
Let's say bye. Give me beso.
Child: But why?
N. Hillary: Give me beso.
I love you. I'll see you in a few, okay?
I want One more beso.
One more beso.
All right.
Give daddy beso now, son Jo-Jo.
- Beso! Beso! - Give me beso.
Elijah: Dad, how are you going to work this out?
( kisses )
N. Hillary: One more.
( kisses )
- All right. - Elijah: Daddy...
Hmm?
I'll give you a (inaudible),
- okay? - Elijah: Yeah.
Remember the promise.
What's the promise?
Don't cry.
Okay, good, good.
( inaudible )
N. Hillary: All right?
All right, Jo-Jo.
Give me five, man.
All right.
( inaudible )
N. Hillary: Be strong, okay bud?
Elijah: How are you going to work this out, dad?
N. Hillary: Everything's going to be all right, okay?
( horn honks )
( music playing )
N. Hillary: Praying continuously that the correct decision
will come down,
and I will have to get down on my hands and my knees
and start rebuilding, you know?
Because everything I have built up until this point
has been totally destroyed.
Haverty: No matter what happens,
you know, there's no real, like, reparations
that are going to go back to Nick's family
for all the--
The fact that he lost his job,
for the debt that his family went into.
His name is kind of ruined.
Google "Nick Hillary"--
His name is next to the word "murder."
And even if it's that he's innocent,
He's stuck with that for the rest of his life.
( dog barking )
Female reporter: In the news today,
Judge Felix Catena will hand down his verdict
in the Nick Hillary murder trial.
We'll bring that to you live at 10:00 a.m.
Male reporter: One or two more words, "guilty" or "not guilty."
Man: Nick, how you feeling today? Confident?
McKinley: You can look at it one of two ways.
You can look at it that Nick Hillary did this,
that he strangled a 12-year-old,
either out of rage or to punish Tandy,
and then clambered out that back window
and has managed since then
to convey himself as an innocent victim,
which would be an act of true pathology.
Or that someone else did this,
and somehow entered that apartment,
strangled this little boy for reasons unknown,
then clambered out that apartment
and escaped into the night,
and has never been heard from again.
And either one of those options are frightening.
( ticking )
( bangs )
Catena: Please be seated, ladies and gentlemen.
Good morning and welcome back to St. Lawrence County Court.
This is a continuation of the People,
the State of New York, against Oral Nicholas Hillary,
indictment number 2015-015.
The matter was scheduled this morning
for the Court to deliver its verdict.
Mr. Hillary, if you'll please rise.
Defendant was indicted on January 19, 2015
for the October 24, 2011 murder of Garrett Phillips.
A trial was had before this court sitting without a jury
over the course of three weeks.
The case against the defendant is entirely based upon
circumstantial evidence.
Because of this the Court must review the evidence
in this case under a rigorous standard.
Accordingly,
it is the judgment of this court that as to the charge of murder
in the second degree as charged in the indictment,
the defendant, Oral Nicholas Hillary
is found not guilty.
( applause )
There having been an acquittal,
the court shall enter an order pursuant to section 160-50
of the criminal procedural law.
Bail is exonerated, and the defendant is released.
Ladies and gentlemen,
this court is adjourned, thank you.
( music playing )
Siegel: Someone killed Garrett Phillips,
but it wasn't Nick Hillary.
Rain: The families were extremely distraught.
They've lost a 12-year-old boy,
and now they see their--
The murderer of that 12-year-old boy
walking out of the courtroom, free.
Siegel: The criminal justice system worked here.
It is important that the public
fully understand
how our criminal justice system is intended to work,
and that sometimes...
Sometimes it actually does work.
I'm 100% certain that Nick Hillary was the man.
There will be no search for anybody else.
He was the only person that committed this crime,
I'm 100% certain of that.
Man: Conversation that you might've had with Tandy?
Rain: Tandy is a very private person.
I just simply...
expressed my condolences,
and that was about it.
And she said, "I know you guys tried."
Ward: So I just want to say that this team,
this legal team, is not oblivious to the fact
that there is a family that even after five years still grieves.
And I think the judge,
despite all of that emotion
that was exhibited in that courtroom,
despite all the pain that he saw from that family,
he had the courage and he had the strength
to apply the law to the facts,
and after doing so
he determined that Nick Hillary was not guilty.
( indistinct chatter )
( applause )
Yeah.
He's a man of God, you serve a little time.
N. Hillary: It was the second time,
you know, some of my teammates have seen me crying.
Garbus: What was the other time?
It was when we won the national championship.
Yeah. So that was the first time.
Are you going to go back to coaching?
I mean, I've never ruled it out,
but at the same token,
you know, the focus right now at this moment
is to get back with my family,
and try to get back as
best sense of normalcy within their life,
and then start to explore the possibility going forward.
N. Hillary: Brother Norm. Thank you.
- Siegel: You take care. - N. Hillary: Yes, will do,
- will do. - Be careful.
Yes, yes, yes.
Even though it's over, it ain't over.
Exactly, exactly, exactly.
- It's never over. - It's never over, exactly.
( music playing )
N. Hillary: Thank you so much.
Man: Yep.
N. Hillary: All right.
( music continues )
Hey, boy.
What's going on?
Yeah.
( child exclaims )
N. Hillary: Hey. ( laughs )
Elijah: Why are you still dressed up from the meeting?
N. Hillary: Well, you know,
I didn't have time to change.
Elijah: Let's go.
N. Hillary: All right. Here we go.
( theme music playing )