In a ruling that bolsters the prosecution's case, a judge Tuesday denied former television investigative reporter Stephen Hill's request to bar videos he shot from his upcoming trial on molestation charges.
About 18 videotapes -- some previously hidden in a pile of clothes in his residence -- show him performing oral sex on four teen boys and having them performing anal sex on him, police said.
Hill, who was a member of Channel 9's I-Team for seven years, faces eight counts of sexual battery and four counts of unlawful sex with a minor, charges that could land him in prison for up to 60 years.
Hill, 45, acted as a mentor to the teens from December 2000 to Jan. 25, when they went to the police after previously confronting him. When the teens asked him about the video camera, Hill wrote them a $2,000 check in an attempt to buy their silence, said assistant prosecutor Rick Gibson
Defense attorney Ken Lawson had argued that the videotapes should not be allowed at the trial because the affidavit that police submitted for the search warrant had not included information that any crime had occurred at Hill's home, so any evidence seized there should not be used at trial.
But Judge David Davis overruled Lawson's motion to bar the videotapes from the courtroom, saying the affidavit included information about a video camera concealed in a pile of clothing in Hill's residence and the victims had mentioned the use of a video recorder in phone calls to Hill.
http://www.cincypost.com/2004/06/02/video060204.html
About 18 videotapes -- some previously hidden in a pile of clothes in his residence -- show him performing oral sex on four teen boys and having them performing anal sex on him, police said.
Hill, who was a member of Channel 9's I-Team for seven years, faces eight counts of sexual battery and four counts of unlawful sex with a minor, charges that could land him in prison for up to 60 years.
Hill, 45, acted as a mentor to the teens from December 2000 to Jan. 25, when they went to the police after previously confronting him. When the teens asked him about the video camera, Hill wrote them a $2,000 check in an attempt to buy their silence, said assistant prosecutor Rick Gibson
Defense attorney Ken Lawson had argued that the videotapes should not be allowed at the trial because the affidavit that police submitted for the search warrant had not included information that any crime had occurred at Hill's home, so any evidence seized there should not be used at trial.
But Judge David Davis overruled Lawson's motion to bar the videotapes from the courtroom, saying the affidavit included information about a video camera concealed in a pile of clothing in Hill's residence and the victims had mentioned the use of a video recorder in phone calls to Hill.
http://www.cincypost.com/2004/06/02/video060204.html
