From Day 1, Police zeroed in on Nick Hillary and never investigated anyone else. This was despite the fact that another person close to the family gave questionable statements of his whereabouts the day of the murder.

BREAKING NEWS: Nick Hillary Found Not Guilty in Murder of 12-Year-Old Garrett Phillips 

Former college soccer coach Oral “Nick” Hillary was found not guilty today in the murder of Garrett Phillips, the 12-year-old son of his ex-girlfriend. The decision was made by Judge Felix Catena. Hillary waived his right to a jury trial and requested a bench trial. Garrett’s younger brother, Aaron Collins, burst into tears after the judge announced his decision, and Garrett’s mother, Tandy Cyrus, cried softly. Hillary embraced his attorneys and left the courtroom shortly after the decision was announced.

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Times Union Albany investigates the sketchy DNA report prosecutors attempted to introduce (it was shot down by judge as a result of Frye hearing). Prosecutors attempt to introduce sketchy DNA analysis from 1 extremely small and inconclusive DNA sample. All the other samples of DNA found at the crime scene (over 100 DNA samples), were tested against Nick’s and NONE OF THE DNA MATCHED. The real question is why did investigators never find out who’s DNA they have?

Summary of an Injustice

• Potsdam Police named Nick the primary suspect on the night of the murder, even before the autopsy had deemed the boy’s death a homicide, and leaked his name to the media the next day.
Source: Watertown Daily Times Attorney: Soccer coach getting treated unfairly by the press

• Nick Hillary has maintained his innocence since the day he was arrested.
Source: Watertown Daily Times Oral “Nick” Hillary arrested (video)

• Police never properly investigated other named suspects who have contradicting statements about their whereabouts and activities moments before Garrett was killed.
Source: WWNY TV 7 News Hillary’s Lawyers Seek Video, Name Deputy Sheriff (John E Jones)
Source: Notice of Motion

Timeline

• Garrett Phillips was strangled inside his mothers apartment on October 24, 2011 around 5-5:10pm. (North Country Manor Apartments, 100 Market St. Potsdam, NY)
Source: Potsdam Police

• On Oct 24, 2011, at 5:07pm the downstairs neighbor calls police to report that she heard a scream for help from the Phillips’ apartment.
Source: The New York Times Tensions Simmer as a Small Town Seeks Answers in a Boy’s Killing

• On Oct 24, 2011, at 5:24pm when police arrive at the mother’s door, they report hearing someone walking around inside the apartment.
Source: The New York Times Tensions Simmer as a Small Town Seeks Answers in a Boy’s Killing

• On Oct, 24, 2011, at 5:34pm, when police and the apartment manager open the door to the apartment, they find Garrett’s body purple. The responding police officer tries CPR, then leaves the building and leaves the CPR to the apartment manager.
Source: The New York Times Tensions Simmer as a Small Town Seeks Answers in a Boy’s Killing

Nick’s Alibi

• Nick has 2 alibi witnesses that place him elsewhere during the time of the crime.
Source: Watertown Daily Times Hillary says daughter, former coach will offer alibi at murder trial

• Ian F (Nick’s alibi witness) was heavily pressured by police to change his story but he refused and insists on telling the truth.
Source: North Country Public Radio Why is Justice for Garrett Phillips so Complicated?

• Ian F (Nick’s alibi witness) also swears that there is no way Nick Hillary could have killed Garrett based on the timeframe and that Nick was not acting out of the ordinary.

• Ian F (Nick’s alibi witness) was threatened and followed around New York State by members of the Justice for Garrett campaign to try to bully him into changing his story but he insists that he is telling the truth.
Source: North Country Public Radio Why is Justice for Garrett Phillips so Complicated?

• Ian F (Nick’s alibi witness) is quoted on North Country Public Radio: “He was guilty before he was ever innocent,” Ian F, Hillary’s alibi witness, friend and former assistant coach, says. “It wasn’t ‘What’s his story?’ It was ‘How can his story add up to where he’s guilty?’ It didn’t ever make any sense to me; it was such a one-sided conversation.”
Source: North Country Public Radio Why is Justice for Garrett Phillips so Complicated?

Questionable Police Activity

• A police canine arrived at the crime scene after the murder and picked up a fresh foot trail leading from the ground below the window (where killer jumped), then went left onto Market St, then right onto Washington St and went towards the railroad tracks. Nick was nowhere near the railroad tracks, he was at his apartment on Leroy St. with his daughter and he was with Ian on Garden St. Both addresses are in the exact opposite direction of the railroad tracks.
Source: Watertown Daily Times Police, under oath, say there’s no evidence placing Hillary at murder scene
Source:  Order to Show Cause
Source: Picture of Window (where killer jumped from)

• Lt. Mark Murray, who shot the video footage, claimed Nick had a “significant limp” which spread like wild fire in the North Country.  It wasn’t until the same video footage surfaced, that we now see for ourselves they were lying. Watch the video he has NO LIMP, let alone a “significant limp”.
Source: Potsdam Police Footage of Oral “Nick” Hillary (video)

• The search warrant was granted several hours after police had already detained and searched Nick.

• On Jan 27, 2012, three months after Garrett’s death and an “unsolved murder”, Potsdam Police Ed Tischler resigns. Tischler was only police chief for a year and a half.
Source: Watertown Daily Times Potsdam Village Police Chief Steps Down

• On Oct 25, 2011, the morning after the murder, even before the autopsy report had been issued designating the boy’s death a homicide, Lt. Mark Murray told an assistant DA in a phone conversation that, although there were rumors that kids had attacked Garrett, Murray was “cutting the heads off [those] accusations.” Why would he try to stop the rumors, rather than investigate them?
Source: The New York Times Tensions Simmer as a Small Town Seeks Answers in a Boy’s Killing

• Murray and Deputy Sheriff Jones are friends and play on the same adult men’s hockey team.
Source: The New York Times Tensions Simmer as a Small Town Seeks Answers in a Boy’s Killing

No Physical Evidence: No DNA, No Fingerprints, No Eyewitnesses

• DNA evidence was collected from numerous areas of the crime scene and NONE MATCHED Nick Hillary’s. Furthermore, they have numerous DNA samples from unknown person(s). Who’s DNA did they find? Why haven’t they found out who’s DNA it is?
Source: Notice of Motion to Preclude (Frye hearing request)

• On 2/4/14 (approximately 2.5 years after the murder), Police  confirmed, UNDER OATH that police had NO DNA EVIDENCE against Nick Hillary.
Source: Watertown Daily Times Police, under oath, say there’s no evidence placing Hillary at murder scene
Source: Order to Show Cause

• TrueAlleles who is New York States premier DNA lab also analyzed the DNA evidence several times and each time they concluded that the DNA found at the crime scene did not match Nick Hillary’s DNA.
Source: North Country Public Radio Allegation of lying reveals new DNA details in Hillary murder trial

• Onondaga DA Fitzpatrick (who is a special prosecutor with Mary Rain) claims in court he is unaware of any DNA results from TrueAlleles. However, emails recovered show Fitzpatrick emailing directly with TrueAlleles discussing the DNA results. TrueAlleles concluded there is NO DNA MATCH. Why would Fitzpatrick lie in court?
Source: Watertown Daily Times Hillary defense claims Onondaga DA Fitzpatrick lied in court conference

• In an act of desperation, prosecutors are trying to fund someone to refute the credible findings of TrueAlleles.

• Fingerprint evidence was found at the crime scene and it was analyzed against Nick Hillary’s and it was concluded they are NOT Nick Hillary’s fingerprints.
Source: Watertown Daily Times Police, under oath, say there’s no evidence placing Hillary at murder scene
Source: Order to Show Cause

• At least one of the fingerprints found at the crime scene is from an unknown person.

• On 2/4/2014 (more than 2.5 years after the murder), police confirm UNDER OATH they have NO EYEWITNESS that places Nick Hillary at the crime scene.
Source: Watertown Daily Times Police, under oath, say there’s no evidence placing Hillary at murder scene
Source: Order to Show Cause

Civil Rights Violated

• On October 26, 2011 (2 days after Garrett’s death), Nick Hillary was illegally detained by police. They questioned him and confiscated his car, keys, cell phone, stripped him naked, photographed his nude body & genitals, then kicked him out to the streets of Potsdam in an orange hazmat suit with no keys, car, cell phone, or access to his house.
Source: The New York Times Tensions Simmer as a Small Town Seeks Answers in a Boy’s Killing

• Police read Nick his miranda rights but NEVER arrested him.  They barred him from leaving the police station but would not place him under arrest or officially name him as a suspect.

A District Attorney on a Vengeance

• There were no arrests in this case for over 2.5 years until a new DA ran for office promising to bring a conviction in a case before seeing any evidence.

• The experienced District Attorney Nicole Duve at the time of Garrett’s death refused to indict Nick Hillary for the rest of her term (2.5 years) due to a lack of evidence connecting Nick to the crime.

• The current District Attorney Mary Rain ran her entire campaign on promising to convict Nick Hillary. So how did she know he was guilty?
Source: North Country Public Radio Accusations, but little information, in St. Lawrence DA race

• The acting DA Nicole Duve during her re-election campaign (against Mary Rain) was quoted saying “The individuals (Mary Rain) who have dragged the family into this political campaign have done them a disservice and are damaging the chance for ultimate justice for Garrett Phillips.”
Source: WWNYTV Duve Comes Under Fire For Campaign Stop

• After defeating the incumbent DA Nicole Duve, DA Mary Rain indicted Nick Hillary within weeks of taking office.
Source: Watertown Daily Times Clarkson soccer coach arrested in Garrett Phillips murder

• On May 15, 2014, Nick Hillary was arrested, put in jail, and denied bond even though he had all the paperwork for his bond release the very next day.

• DA Mary Rain successfully kept Nick in jail for 70 days on bogus bail sufficiency claims despite Nick having provided all of the necessary assets needed for his release.

• On July 25, 2014, Nick was released from jail on bond.
Source: North Country Public Radio Garrett Phillips murder suspect ordered to be released on bail

• On October 16, 2014 DA Mary Rain’s first indictment against Nick Hillary was DISMISSED by the judge for prosecutorial misconduct and lack of evidence.
Source: North Country Public Radio Garrett Phillips murder charges dismissed
Source: Judges Order

In November of 2014 DA Rain issued a press release saying she was determined to re-indict Hillary.
Source: St. Lawrence County District Attorney’s Website

• On January 21, 2015, DA Mary Rain re-indicts Nick Hillary  (you can indict just about anyone for a crime, it is not until the case goes to trial that you have to prove you in fact have a case)
Source: Watertown Daily Times Grand jury issues new indictment of Hillary in Garrett Phillips’ death

• On September 23, 2015, in a coordinated effort to put Nick Hillary back in prison until trial, Garrett’s mother was relocated to the same Potsdam bank branch Nick Hillary had been going to without incident for the past 2 years. As a result Nick Hillary was accused of violating an order of protection against the mother and Nick was taken back to jail on $200,000.00 bail.
Source: Mainstream media failed to report the details behind this suspicious plot.

• To everyone’s surprise, Nick Hillary was bailed out of jail the very same day by a north country resident who had been following the case closely.
Source: Amsterdam News DA thwarted in attempt to sideline Nick Hillary

• Mary Rain is the subject of several investigations, looking at allegations of fraud and misconduct.
Source: North Country Public Radio St. Lawrence Co. will ask Cuomo administration to investigate D.A.
Source: Watertown Daily Times Hillary defense claims Onondaga DA Fitzpatrick lied in court conference
Source: North Country Public Radio  Prosecutors group urges probe of DA Mary Rain

Suspect John Jones, Deputy Sheriff

• Deputy Sheriff John Jones of the St. Lawrence County Sheriff’s Department dated the mother of the murdered boy until Aug. 2010, a little more than a year before the murder.
Source: The New York Times Tensions Simmer as a Small Town Seeks Answers in a Boy’s Killing

• Tandy Cyrus, the mother of Garrett Phillips, wrote a formal complaint against Jones after their breakup, saying “he has been acting in various ways that causes me to fear for the safety of myself and my sons.” She also said Jones had pushed her.
Source: The New York Times Tensions Simmer as a Small Town Seeks Answers in a Boy’s Killing

•  Around the same time, Jones also threatened Nick, who had started seeing Cyrus. The deputy sheriff came to his house out of uniform saying he would kick Nick’s door in if he knew that Nick was sleeping with Cyrus. Jones later sent text messages to Nick, calling him a “coward” and a “pussy” and telling him he should be scared. Nick wrote a formal complaint against Jones.
Source: North Country Public Radio Why is Justice for Garrett Phillips so Complicated?

• Although the police claim that Jones was briefly a suspect in the case, D.A. Mary Rain said that he was not investigated because Jones was “getting along fine” with the mother and her sons. Rain, in her attempts to try the case in public, obviously assumed facts not in evidence.
Source: North Country Public Radio Why is Justice for Garrett Phillips so Complicated?

• Despite his being (briefly) a suspect, Jones was allowed to accompany Cyrus to the police station the morning after the murder and to sit next to her while police talked to her about the death of her son.
Source: The New York Times Tensions Simmer as a Small Town Seeks Answers in a Boy’s Killing

• Jones had a key to the apartment where the boy lived at the time of his murder. He offered it to police during their investigation of Nick Hillary, but police were never able to match it with any keys found on Nick or in his home.
Source: The New York Times Tensions Simmer as a Small Town Seeks Answers in a Boy’s Killing

• On Oct 24, 2011 at 4:52pm, footage from a video camera at the hospital across the street from Jones’ house shows him arriving home just before Garrett goes past on his skateboard, minutes before he was murdered. Garrett’s neighbor heard a cry for help at 5:07pm. Jones’ house is 1-1/2 blocks from the murder scene.
Source: The New York Times Tensions Simmer as a Small Town Seeks Answers in a Boy’s Killing

• Police never took a sample of Jones’ DNA, and so never compared it to the DNA evidence found in the apartment and on the murdered boy.
Source: Watertown Daily Times Hillary defense seeks to keep DNA from trial, questions testing techniques
Source: Notice of Motion to Preclude

Help a Good Man: No Money, No Justice

• Anyone who really knows Nick Hillary, knows him and respects him as a compassionate person who cares deeply for those around him. Nick is an exemplar of hard work, discipline, and love. It is absolutely impossible that Nick would ever hurt a child or even kill one. This is a crazy accusation and completely groundless. Nick is a family man, a proud father of 5 kids himself. You add this into all the questionable reasoning local police are trying to argue and it’s a complete farce.

• Nick Hillary now has the support of a growing number of citizens who have some serious questions about the series of events presented and the facts surrounding the death of Garrett Phillips. Furthermore, there are events in front of our eyes that need to be investigated to the fullest.

• The trial has been rescheduled several times.

• The trial is set for September 6th, 2016 in Canton, NY (St. Lawrence County)