NY - Garrett Phillips, 12, murdered in his Potsdam home, 24 Oct 2011

Oral “Nick” Hillary will remain in jail for at least three more weeks after a St. Lawrence County Court judge on Friday gave the prosecution more time to challenge his bond.

The continued bail hearing in the case against Hillary, the man charged with the 2011 murder of 12-year-old Garrett J. Phillips in Potsdam, is being held to argue the sufficiency of the combined value of three properties secured by Empire Bail Bonds to cover Hillary’s $150,000 bond, and the company’s legitimacy...

But District Attorney Mary E. Rain said she contacted the Fraud Bureau of the Department of Insurance and was told Empire Bail Bonds was not licensed. “We dispute the legitimacy of the bond company,” Ms. Rain said. “We don’t believe they are licensed. They keep throwing out different bond company names and that concerns us. They are not consistently providing one name.”

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A St. Lawrence County judge dismissed a second-degree murder charge against Oral "Nick" Hillary Thursday in the 2011 homicide case of 12-year-old Garrett Phillips...

St. Lawrence County Judge Jerome Richards accused prosecutors of improper questioning as well as discussing their opinions of the case with a grand jury that handed up an indictment of Hillary.

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Oral "Nick" Hillary said Thursday he's "relieved" by a judge's decision to throw out murder charges against him.

Judge Jerome Richards dismissed the murder case in a decision released Thursday morning, a decision that blistered the way St. Lawrence County District Attorney Mary Rain handled the case when it was presented to a grand jury.

Hillary spoke at an afternoon news conference at his lawyers' office in Canton.

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St. Lawrence County District Attorney Mary E. Rain will attempt to reindict Oral “Nick” Hillary, the man who was accused of killing 12-year-old Garrett J. Phillips in 2011...

Ms. Rain plans to take the case before another grand jury Monday beginning at 9:30 a.m.

After considering the options and consulting with the boy’s family, Ms. Rain decided to seek to reindict Mr. Hillary, she said in a news release Thursday afternoon. “When considering the option to appeal … it could take an additional 18 months before the family received justice and that is unacceptable,” Ms. Rain said in her release.

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A new St. Lawrence County grand jury is expected to begin hearing evidence in the Garrett Phillips homicide in mid-January.

A previous second-degree murder indictment against Oral "Nick" Hillary was dismissed by county Judge Jerome Richards... The judge accused District Attorney Mary Rain of "bullying" Hillary's teenage daughter during her earlier testimony and of mishandling the presentation to grand jurors.

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Oral "Nick" Hillary is planning to sue St. Lawrence County, its district attorney, the village of Potsdam and one of its police lieutenants; he's alleging malicious prosecution and wrongful arrest.

He has filed a notice of claim against the municipalities, Potsdam Police Lieutenant Mark Murray and county D.A. Mary Rain.

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Prosecutors are now re-presenting the former Clarkson University men's soccer coach's case to a grand jury.

Hillary's daughter, Shanna Kay-Hillary, and former Clarkson assistant coach Ian Fairlie, both were subpoenaed to go before this new grand jury panel by District Attorney Mary Rain. They testified as alibi witnesses during Hillary's first grand jury proceeding...

Potsdam Police Patrolman Mark Wentworth, the officer who found the Potsdam boy near death in his Market Street apartment, was also among those seen going into the grand jury room to testify Thursday. Earlier in the day, members of the boy's family also presented testimony.

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A St. Lawrence County grand jury has handed down a new indictment against Oral “Nick” Hillary on a charge of second-degree murder in the 2011 death of 12-year-old Garrett J. Phillips.

According to the indictment, it is alleged that on Oct. 24, 2011, between 4:56 p.m. and 5:30 p.m., at 100 Market St., Apt. 4, Potsdam, Hillary caused the death of Garrett Phillips by suffocation and strangulation.

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A former college soccer coach has pleaded not guilty to a new murder indictment that charges him with killing his ex-girlfriend's 12-year-old son in New York four years ago.

Local media report that 40-year-old Oral "Nick" Hillary of Potsdam entered the plea Monday during his arraignment in St. Lawrence County Court...

Hillary remains free on $150,000 bond.

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GumDrop said:

This case is heartbreaking. I live in the North Country, and it has been in the news a lot lately. Nearly four years later and it just became public that the man being charged cannot be connected to the crime with neither a witness nor DNA/fingerprints. The county DA, who arguably won her election by exploiting this case, with promises of a conviction, fumbled the first indictment hearing and has since made the news regularly for various accusations and lawsuits-unrelated. Other players have popped up as well-unofficially. My personal opinion has changed dramatically over the past few months, mostly due to case documents that have been released by the newspapers.

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