I [Music] have hotam way Upstate New York a small spec on the map on the road to the Canadian border they like to joke up there that there's more cows than people and I don't think they're joking in this sleepy place with a main street from the 1950s you'd think nothing nothing happens that could possibly interest the outside world but an epic story has unfolded here a murder case for sure but so much more than that it's a little bit Fargo it is a little bit Fargo Jesse McKinley a reporter for t
he New York Times was drawn to it it's got a small town it's got love triangles it's got faded love and those elements for a rider are irresistible the woman in the middle of it all Andy Cyrus very pretty woman in a town where pretty women stand out one of her lovers stood out too Nick Hillary as a black man in a predominantly white town you still have people who will not accept interracial relationship what happened between Tandy and Nick would tip the balance in a political campaign give rise
to a controversial lawsuit and lure high-profile big city attorneys to confront each other in a murder trial that attracted national attention this has become a story that kind of Echoes Beyond St Lawrence County and even Beyond New York except when you drill down it say local as it gets all about a small town boy this one 12-year-old Garrick Phillips Tandy son Garrett was a blur of a kid perpetually sat on Fast Forward according to his mom was very energetic uh always on the goal always had to
have something to do people here remember him tearing around town on his ripstick a little bit skateboard a little bit snowboard all hip action and balance there goes Garrett sidewalk surfing his way home in 2011 did you think wow my kid is really an awesome little athlete yes soccer lacrosse football hockey he's very good at everything his bedroom wall a poster Shrine to his Sports Heroes including New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady he's never really inside wasn't much for video games s
o it's got to be pitch black before he's ready to come in for the night huh yes but when he was still a toddler Garrett was dealt a devastating blow the death of his father Robbie Garrett was 9 months old when his dad had a brain aneurism that ruptured um and then he was two when when Robbie passed away Tandy a single mom picked up the pieces as best she could she studied at the police academy but eventually gave up law enforcement for a job in a credit union where she became a loan officer she
also had a brief marriage which gave Garrett a kid brother Aaron did Garrett like to mess with him all the time he lik to play jokes a little bit April fools was his uh favorite day of the year then Tandy moved in with sheriff's deputy named Jon Jones but it didn't last how did the breakup go not well at one point she said that John shoved her um during an argument and that that was the last straw in that relationship so in 2010 Tandy was alone again making ends meet by Moonlighting as a bartend
er in a joint on pot stam's main drag that's when Nick Hillary walked in and pulled up a stool so he's just a customer who comes in yes he came in on evenings after he was done work and coaching they came from different worlds she was local to Frozen North he was from Lush Jamaica what's a happy memory from Jamaica for you Nick going to The Rivers just swimming all day um coming back home mom has a great home-cooked meal waiting for you I mean that's some fantastic [Music] day he moved to Brookl
yn as a teenager and found his niche as a soccer star earning a scholarship to NYU but the kid from Jamaica was still searching so he did school for the Army just as the first Gulf War was winding down I said let me serve a greater purpose for a while 3 years in the Army All State Side forced Nick to grow up and now he was ready for college soccer was his ticket to St Lawrence University near the Canadian border here's a Jamaican guy used to swim all day in the river and you're going to be in fi
elds of snow for 6 months a year exactly exactly you know but in the summertime it brings me back right back to Jamaica again weirdly had you found something in Upstate New York that worked out very well for you a good fit yeah it it sure was he felt most comfortable on the soccer field where his respectful teammates gave him a nickname Nick was the General he was a leader the general so that was a tip of the had both to his career as a vet yeah Abol but also his traits as a person his leaders t
raes for sure I mean it fit him to a te in 1999 Nick LED St Lawrence to an undefeated season and a national championship cementing bonds of friendship that remain tight today just great person on and off the field a great role model yeah he was our brother he was our big brother he was the glue that kept us all together he he brought us together he he arranged dinners at his house he cooked for the whole team is that the rosta pasta night the rosta pasta absolutely I mean it was it was a staple
of who we were as as a group after the Championship season and graduation Nick kept leading he became a coach and in 2009 landed a plum job head soccer coach at Clarkson just minutes from his alma mater life was good it got even better when Nick a father of three who drifted from his kid's mother met Tandy at that bar him drinking Guinness and diagramming plays on a cocktail napkin what do you think the attraction was Dany conversation was just it was easy the one thing that I liked about handy
he had goals and ambition things between the two heated up quickly as these emails attest from Nick I miss you Millions have a great workday from Tandy I can't wait to get home to you I ly I love you they were sharing a house blending families and going on vacations as a couple Nick took her to Jamaica but as they say in the islands it wasn't a cool breeze being an interracial couple in potam which is over 90% white Andy said it was particularly hard on Garrett and's boy Garrett was being teased
at school because his mom is dating a black man so he's getting schoolyard aggravation huh exactly but whatever tensions Garrett was feeling it didn't keep him from his Sports they were always a welcome distraction even on the Fateful afternoon of October 24th 2011 he was playing basketball with his friends in the gym but I got upset with him because he knew the rule was he had to go home and do his homework first do your homework and then go play with your pals right so I made him go home Garr
ett blasted home on his ripstick on what seemed like a nothing special rain dreary Monday in potan where Community safety was a given so no worries he'd be home first Home Alone what could possibly go wrong is it turned out a lot H police a little after 5:00 p.m. a neighbor called police hi I living an apartment house and the folks next to us I thought I heard um screaming like no and help a couple of times so I knocked on their door and I heard the lock click what had happened in that apartment
when we come back they get the key they open the door and they go inside can an ambulance someone had been in my apartment I had no idea what had happened when dat line [Music] continues that October Monday in 2011 Garrett Phillips was supposed to be the first one home to a second floor apartment at 100 Market Street he apparently arrived just before 5:00 p.m. yeah it's on a very busy street uh Market Street is basically the right off the main drag right it is the main drag it's a kind of rundo
wn apartment building Sean Hall and Marissa vogle engaged then and now married didn't know Tandy Cyrus or her sons but they were very familiar with the boys willbe boys activities across the hall you could hear running or rough housing sometimes or something rolling down the hallway like a skateboard but that afternoon as Shawn and Marissa were watching the drama Dexter on TV The Sounds coming from next door were different scary different I heard a loud crash and after that it was silence for a
few seconds and then in a low voice I heard sound like moaning help ow or no at that moment I didn't think it was two little boys rough housing anymore it felt more dangerous it felt wrong concerned Marissa walked down the hallway and listened in I knocked on the door and waited a moment and then I definitely heard a click like a lock I had the feeling that there was somebody on the other side of that door she called potam PD I live in 3A and they live across the hall it just made me a little ne
rvous that I thought I heard yelling and then I knocked to see if they're okay and then it was silent I'm sorry if it's not anything it was a weird situation that it makes me uncomfortable okay I'll have somebody check on it a patrol officer arrived at the second floor apartment around 5:15 p.m. no one answered his knock so he waited for the building manager to bring a key the patrolman hears what he thinks is footsteps moving inside inside inside the apartment and then they get the key they ope
n the door and they go inside everything appeared to be in order the living room was tidy Garrett stuff all in place ripstick propped against a wall backpack in the corner they walk to the back they turn the corner there and then they find Garrett he's lying there they think at first he's sleeping perhaps he's fallen perhaps he's knocked himself out but at that point he's pretty much in physical distress cam un an ambulance to respond to 100 Market Street Apartment 4 and expedite Patrol on scene
beginning CPR the patrol officer called in the distressing details unresponsive um now no P the mother is Jones was a sheriff's deputy so police knew Tandy and tracked her down she raced to the Canton Potsdam Hospital and Garrett's in a very bad way in the hospital yes what has happened is there any information about this when I got there the doctor told me that he was in full Cardiac Arrest when they brought him in I had no idea what had happened and couldn't understand how my 12-year-old had
a heart attack did you think it first that maybe this had something to do with his dad's problem maybe there was something genetic and and aneurism or something that happened to him I honestly was in a shock and couldn't wrap my head around anything and I don't really want to take you back there but you're there when he finally gives up yes they can't bring him back no how awful for you Garrett Phillips Unstoppable in life was dead at age 12 what happens in the next few hours Tandy um was kind o
f a blur we were at the hospital for a while we got sent home I slept in Aaron's room with him at the hospital Tandy had been joined by some of the men in her life her ex-husband Casey Collins and JN Jones the sheriff's deputy but no one notified Nick Hillary turns out he and Tandy had split up the month before and he was no longer in her Loop so Mark Murray then a lieutenant with the poam PD called Mr Hillary speaking Mark Murray the P police dep we had an incident uh occur this evening and we'
d like to speak with you in regards to it minutes later Lieutenant Marie and two other investigators were at Nick's Door a courtesy notification they said it's we're going to reach out to all the people who are connected to this kid what do they know do they know anything about where he was or who he might have been with attorney Tom morat represented at the pot stamp police so Mr Hillary we have some bad news for you yes you know Mr Hillary expresses shock I can't believe this oh my goodness pu
ts his hands on his head Nick Hillary says he remembers the moment well I'm still broken up over the situation he has lived with me how could I not be affected by what has happened to Garett Nick wasn't dating Tandy anymore and he told police he hadn't been in apartment since she moved in 2 months earlier the officers didn't stay along an autopsy was scheduled for the next day but police didn't wait for the results to reveal their suspicions to Tandy when was it that you started to get this awfu
l news that there might be foul play the next morning how'd that happen we had gone down to the police station and that's when they had made a comment that someone had been in my apartment somehow Garrett's made it home and there's somebody there or follows him or something's happened and he's attacked yes is it now a homicide investigation yes coming up a small town in fear is there a break-in Maniac out there yeah someone who is going to kill again an urgent hunt for suspects begins who are th
e people connected to his life T's partners and husbands absolutely when dat line continues October 201 Halloween was less than a week away but the good folks of poale young and old were learning that a monster had arrived early a child killer was in their midst can you tell me if it was an adult that heard him or or children you don't know we don't know it's still under investigation news this bad traveled fast in a town where so many people knew the EMTs the n nurses and docks at the hospital
the cops Mark Murray a lieutenant at the time is a lifelong pot Stam resident at the hospital some said he looked like he hadd been beat up or he had he had injuries on his body the boy had a rug burn on his knee what's that tell you the injuries on the knees indicated along with other injuries that there was a significant struggle there was a violent struggle this boy fought for his life what do you think it is like a choke hold or hands fingers around the neck or what it's a combination of bei
ng sat upon and and smothered and as fixated so it was a long process say it wasn't an instant death a chilling headline summed it up boy's death is ruled a homicide police tell family 12-year-old Garrett Phillips was strangled no suspects listed from every indication this was a very tense scene this is a crime that does not happen in a place like this is there a Breakin Maniac out there yeah Intruder who kills children absolutely is there someone who is going to kill again God forbid in the vac
uum of hard information rumor took flight is it true about some guy riding around in a bicycle molesting children that one I haven't heard hang on though but in the fog a story that was gaining traction early on an unsubstantiated report that Garrett had been killed by one or more kids attorney for the pun stamp police Tom moratti who was he with recently did he have any uh issues with other kids you who was he playing with that afternoon calls continued coming into the police hotline towns peop
le begging for reassurance from a school principal we're meeting with our staff right now the news said that our student that died last night was death another you back at the crime scene police were beginning to pick up clues that suggested another possibility that the killer had to be an adult the police kind of descend in Mass the one of the things they see is that in a back bedroom there's a window that appar apparently has been pushed outward of the screen is a jar so whoever is in there ha
s to leave and there's only one way out and that's a second story window there's no fire escape you're kind of up off the ground the developing theory was that when a cop knocked at the door that window became the Killer's only exit police surmised that only a fit adult not a kid could make such a dangerous leap it's kind of a shed structure beneath the window yeah about 10 ft down not an easy jump a crack tile was a big clue that the killer ricocheted off the shed on his way down to the ground
where police picked up another clue they find a skid kind of a gash in the in the grass below and keep in mind it was a little bit muddy down there so this is describing whoever the Intruder was is exit from the property yeah what basically what they're arguing is that he jumped out of the window down to the shed off the shed into the grass and ran off police wondered if the killer had injured himself on the way down possibly limping away from the crime scene but no one reported seeing someone f
lee so police combed the area looking for fingerprints chew prints DNA evidence was collected in sent to the crime lab meanwhile investigators began talking to those who knew Garrett best who were the people connected to his life so T's partners and husbands absolutely yeah the list included ex-husband Casey Collins former boyfriend John Jones and her most recent ex-lover Nick Hillary Collins and Jones had been with Tandy at the hospital and they even sat next to her during her interview at the
pot Stam PD the next morning Jon Jones is to T's left holding her hand Casey Collins was quickly eliminated as a suspect because he had a solid Alibi that placed him nowhere near Garrett's apartment at 5:00 p.m. on October 24th but Jon Jones the local sheriff's deputy got a deeper look so it's early hours but something might be going on with Jon Jones you just don't know what it is huh potentially yes he told police he got home about five and he lives just two blocks from Garrett's apartment pol
ice say this is Jones on a very great rainy security video across the street from where Garrett passed on his skate ride home in a police interview room Jones was asked to roll up his shirt and pants to check for possible wounds and a leg injury meanwhile Tandy was talking to police and she had some thoughts strong thoughts coming up they had asked if there was anybody that I could think of that would want to Hur Garrett and there was only one person that came to mind when dat line continues [Mu
sic] Tandy Cyrus had lost her 12-year-old son now she had to pull herself together to talk to the pot stamp police did they ask you who could possibly have something in for bugar yes what' you say Nick Nick Hillary the soccer coach her most recent ex-boyfriend there seems to be some discussion of who would want to harm Garen and the name Nick is raised early on it sounds the name Nick was raised almost instantaneously from from most indications and whether or not that was justified or not of cou
rse is at the heart of the case the videotape of T's interview with police is difficult to hear but when she talked to Dateline she described a different side of the general the nickname adoring teammates gave Nick in His Glory Days she came to believe it reflected a more controlling nature and that's what she was telling the cops he was very regimented everything his day started and ended with his planner like 9:30 tomorrow morning I'm going to be doing this and such and 11:00 I'm going to be d
oing this very structured did he bring that into your life into into the family he tried he tried it wasn't well received especially not by Garrett a spontaneous ants in the pants kid but according to Tandy Nick was increasingly acting the trill instructor with both the boy and his mother if I didn't get Garrett under control or get him on a more strict schedule then when he got older I wasn't going to be able to control him he was just all about control was that too much was he asking you too m
uch very much so that's not how I am it's not how my kids were and he wanted them to change Tandy said Nick's inflexibility brought it all crashing down she said Garrett had told her about one incident with one of Nick's children there was um kind of an argument between Garrett and his daughter that turned into an argument between the two of us he took his daughter's side and obviously I took Garrett's side and I chose my son as tensions escalated and with Nick out of town Tandy had a heart-to-h
eart with Garrett he didn't hold back he didn't like being in the same house with Nick and his kids and he just wasn't happy that was it Tandy told Nick she was moving out then according to Tandy it was Nick's turn to be unhappy there was an argument um he told me that I was letting Garrett make my decisions for me and he was standing in front of the doorway blocking me and he picked me up and carried me away from the door and wouldn't let me leave was that a scary moment it was was that a side
of Nick you hadn't seen to that point yes when he ended up putting me down and he just he put his hands up and stepped back and I left Tandy says soon after that incident occurred she and her two boys moved into that second floor apartment at 100 Market Street and Nick helped them move we' ended up having a couple different conversations you know trying to make it work but living in separate households and I had talked to Garrett and he said he was okay with it he just didn't want to live in the
same house with him but according to Tandy Nick wasn't okay with the new living arrangements he showed up at my apartment in the middle of the night middle of the night M well you're asleep and then yes because he had a key where is he you're you're you're in I woke up and he was standing in my bedroom that was it the final straw in what Tandy saw as Nick's scary transformation I was angry so I told him that that made me want my key back I didn't want him to have a key anymore when you give a g
irlfriend a key back that's really the end of it that's right over and out it was September Garrett had one month to live the unwelcome drop in as well as T's other stories about Nick made police suspicious but what to make of her account she tells a story about looking up from her bed in the middle of the night midnight or later and there's Nick that's what she says that is not a substantiated account that is her her saying that this happened investigators started knocking on doors all over pod
am to get the lowdown on Nick tandy's side didn't pull any punches attorney for the postam PD Tom Mort family friends relatives they all immediately thought well there's only one person that we can think of might do something uh to Garrett and that was Nick Hillary that he has reason to have a grudge against Garrett but for breaking up this relationship essentially yeah still wants to be with the mom yep T's parents gave statements to police her mother wrote he kept telling me it was tandy's fau
lt they broke up and that Garrett was a factor Nick had gone to her parents to basically Lobby them to help help me get back and T's good graces I'm good for Garrett I'm good for her you know help them see the light as investig continue targeting Nick they say they still had the other ex-boyfriend fellow cop J Jones on their radar he provided a DNA swap uh fingerprints let his photograph get his shirt up and his pants up and uh pretty much whatever you need me to do I'll do it besides his eagern
ess to cooperate police say his timeline with corroborating security video checked out he's seen walking his dog around 5:13 about the time the officer arrived at Garrett's apartment I'm sorry but nobody goes over to somebody's house to strangle somebody with their dog and then jumps out the window with their dog so police dropped Jones as a suspect and even though Tandy had had a bad breakup with Jones she told police Garrett and Jones were very close what about JN Jones absolutely not wasn't p
ossible no for Tandy it always was Nick and only Nick in the frame for the crime police would continue investigating but by day two pressure seemed to be mount for a quick resolution even the next morning uh the chief of police there in poam indicated to another investigator that they had a pretty hot suspect and that they were lining up whatever evidence they could to try to make an arrest that conversation was recorded by the pot stamp PD a routine procedure for calls in and out of the departm
ent we got a 12-year-old that's lost his life we got to somebody up and we have a strong suspect at this point um and we're just trying to get all the ammunition against him at this point we can so 24 hours after the murder Lieutenant Mark Murray working his first homicide as lead investigator went to observe Nick on the sideline at Clarkson soccer game against Sunni potate remember police believe the killer may have sustained a leg injury jumping from that second floor window would Nick be limp
ing coming up were you aware that the cops were running a camera on you as you coached the team I had no idea coach Hillary secretly taped and strongly questioned I a man was treated like an animal and that's not allowed in the United States when dayline continues not long after Garrett Phillips had been strangled his mother told investigators Nick Hillary is your killer and now police were urgently investigating the socer coach the night after the murder a team led by Lieutenant Mark Murray aim
ed a video camera at Nick as he prowled the sidelines while coaching a soccer game they were looking for a limp which would match their theory that the killer may have been injured leaping from that Second Story window police had interviewed some other individuals at this point and he's known to be an active guy on the sidelines he's not doing that here after videotaping Nick throughout the game police were convinced they saw what they came to see did you think you saw a hitch in his gate that n
ight definitely I put it on my search War affid David I observed the significant limp when he went off at halftime I observed what I observed to be a limp were you aware that the cops were running a camera on you as you coached the team I had no idea Nick said he was focused on beating cross town Rivals Sunni poer a big game you're going to be seeing these guys eyes around town this is a game that we must win he said he had nothing to do with Garrett's death so he had no reason to think he was a
suspect that night or the next morning when police asked him to come down to the pot stamp PD and help their investigation for what purpose to see if I could identify alista Garrett's friends ra monsters to him but then the conversation veered away from the L kids you're here to help me with something as Nick seems surprised by the cops line of questioning what questions I'm being asked right now is not the questions I come what we like to do is eliminate you as being part am I suspect this thi
ng no we eliminated B everybody's suspect just suspect Nick now realized he was being accused he shut down what time was practice have no comment one practice was Jesse McKinley covered the story for the New York Times I think at that point his argument would be I was scared this was a scary situation I seem to be being singled out for a crime I didn't commit but Lieutenant Murray had a different take he believed Nick was not cooperating and for no good reason and he said no comment I remember t
hinking to myself you know everyone else here is given us any information whether it's relevant or not if the roles were reversed I I would be doing anything in my power to help figure out what happened to Garrett Nick was then read his Miranda rights the two officers got up and barred the door and told me that I'm not allowed to leave but you hadn't been arrested never arrested I've been held against my will police were zeroing in on Nick and they were asking tough questions to his assistant co
ach Ian Fairley at the same time Fairley told he had seen Nick shortly after 5:00 p.m. the afternoon of the murder and he was acting normally I and this was supposedly 10 minutes after he strangled someone's death you're not trying to cover for him right I mean I know you guys are buddies but I'm trying to as honest as I can I'm going to be honest with you it kind of looks like you did it I don't know if you believe me or not like every you believe he's capable something like that I don't think
you C on something like that actually absolutely don't believe yeah meanwhile Nick had asked for a lawyer he was detained but still hadn't been arrested police to sign a search War for a proud Army vet and prominent member of the College Community Nick said his treatment was humiliating they took my clothes took pictures of you naked as the day I was born looking for what scratches cut marks only day would know so how long did this day last seems like an eternity then after about 9 hours was ins
ide police released him this was from early in the morning till about after 5: when I was released in a hazmat suit you didn't get your clothes back nothing didn't have keys to go to my apartment didn't have my wallet with any kind of identification if I should get stopped in the street to identify who I am it's an inhumane way to to be treated the next day he felt branded in his own Community there was a big spread in the newspaper clearly stated that the police had questioned me realizing he w
as the Prime Suspect and perhaps the only suspect Nick started to fight back with the help of a good friend who happened to be a lawyer former teammate Mani tafari yeah this was tunnel vision U the powers that be that wanted to get Mr Hillary for this um always had that intention Nick told that he wasn't at Garrett's apartment that day and he denied the accusations Tandy had made to police saying that there was bad blood between you and Garrett that's very very shocking and surprising did you ev
er have a butthead moment with him Nick no an issue of do the homework or no do the chores no October 2011 how were things with you and Tandy things were great between Tandy and I but not boyfriend girlfriend but not boyfriend and girlfriend did you want to get back with Tandy no did did you have a keer her house still no I didn't and by this point Nick and his lawyer had also seen that sideline video police had shot of Nick the night after the murder to them it was eye opening they said it didn
't show what police said it did a significant limp uh that turned out to be untrue watch as Nick strides off the field at halftime he doesn't appear to be limping at all I had no limp I was myself that night on the sideline with the exception of a heavy heart because of what had happened to Garett and like the soccer Champions they were Nick and mani were not only playing defense they went on offense too blasting police for what Nick says they did to him at the station a man was treated like an
animal and that's not allowed in the United States so they vowed to sue the village of potam and its Police Department for violating Nick's civil rights we live in a country where when rights are viol ated citizens can stay silent and continue to have those rights violated or you can stand up coming up a startling new videotape clue Garrett on his way home and whose SUV was that seeming to follow him is that Nick Hillary in his car in that parking lot when dayline continues a little boy was dead
and potan was in mourning schools emptied out for a memorial service for Garrett Phillips that sixth grader so exuberant in his 12 years of life then later that week the funeral at this church for his mother Tandy it was all a blur I remember being at the church I remember being at the funeral home um it's just a lot of people H Garrett was laid to rest in the nearby town where his mother grew up he's buried next to the father he barely knew is it true that you buried him with the ripstick yes
that was Mom's decision what do you think that says about who that little boy was know that and his Lacrosse sck were his most prized possessions so I wanted them to Happ she said goodbye to her boy but now as police continued to zero in on Nick Hillary she hoped to get answers for him did you know that they had brought Nick in for questioning yes do you think there's going to be an arrest at that point Dandy I had thought there was going to be one very quickly but Nick Hillary was just as adama
nt he was an innocent man pounded he claims by a blinkered rush to judgment investigation that didn't turn up any evidence because he didn't do it why did they believe that you were their Person of Interest I wish I knew police were trying to make a case against him though in the months that followed search warrants on Nick's home phone and car yielded nothing forensics came back and did not match Nick for hair or fibers Tex did find fingerprints around that pushed out window but they matched no
one known to the case and the imprint in the slushy grass below useless even initial tests on D a scrapings taken beneath the boy's fingernail proved inconclusive and what's more two people were vouching for Nick's whereabouts around the time of the murder I was with my my daughter and my assistant coach during this time period so they are what they call in criminal investigations your Alibi Witnesses exactly Nick's teenage daughter would say in a deposition that her dad was with her at their a
partment here on Leroy street from 5: to 5:15 p.m. assistant coach Fairley said Nick to his house here on Garden Street around 521 their accounts would seem to make it impossible for Nick to have been here on Market Street about 5:00 p.m. when Garrett was being attacked there were no arrests there was no grand jury there's no indictments there's nothing um they really were kind of at at um at their wit's end in a sense police did pull up security video around potan and they noticed a car that lo
oked like Nick's Honda CRV creeping through the high school parking lot around the time Garrett was Escape by but the camera shots were too far away to ID plates or the driver despite the continuing lack of hard physical evidence against him in the court of public opinion Nick was A Marked Man being out and about in the community fingers are being pointed conversations are being whispered people will drive past our house and call me a murder my house has been egged that's something he maintains
to this day that he has been made a pariah in that Community which he felt a part of this black male being singled out in this mostly white part of the world absolutely and I think to some extent Nick's case fits into that narrative um of of a black man falsely accused but unlike the stalled criminal investigation Nick's lawyer manai tari was moving ahead with the civil lawsuit against Lieutenant Murray and the potam police a suit filed for detaining Nick all day without arresting him and allege
dly degrading him by taking photographs of him naked Mr Hillary could have held his head down and ran away he believes in civil rights um he believes in his rights as a man and he's going to stand up for those rights I did not violate his rights in any way shape or form I executed a lawful search warrant of his person while he was uh at our station lieutenant buray and the potam police department Deni the allegations in the Civil Service and pot stam's insurance company hired Tom moratti to defe
nd the police believing that the best defense is a good offense morat decided to turn the tables on Nick and his lawyer so what's your strategy to prove that Nick killed Garrett Phillips and therefore your clients the cops were justified in doing everything they did that he thought was a deprivation of his rights bottom line yes a preliminary step in these cases before the lawsuit is actually filed is a proceeding called a 5H hearing in which the defense attorney in this case Tom gets to questio
n the plaintiff Nick Hillary does he have to answer no he can assert his Fifth Amendment privilege April 2012 Tom purposely picked a non-descript conference room in pot stam's municipal building for Nick's deposition he chose not to videotape I wanted to keep it lowkey CU in the event he's talking I want him to keep talking how did it go well Mr Hillary was talking Tom's main goal was to get Nick to admit that he was in the car seen on that security camera video up until then police had suspicio
ns but no proof unlike the movies you can't zoom in on the license plate or let's let's zoom in on the guy's eyeglasses and oh that's that's so and so behind the wheel doesn't work that way so is that Nick Hillary in his car in that parking lot so Tom asked a series of questions and to his surprise Nick readily answered them Mr Hillary at any point on October 24th of 2011 were you at potam high school yes how did you get there I drove did you drive the Honda yes and why was Nick at the high scho
ol on that rainy day he said it was to watch a soccer game but notice the yellow school bus it's blocking his view his vision of the soccer field is obscured by a giant yellow school bus the concession stand and the stands next to the field you can't see the soccer field coming up it was the thing I had prayed for Make Way for a new DA she was going to do everything she could to bring Justice for gar exactly what would that be I was alarmed a little bit when dat line [Music] continues soccer coa
ch Nick Hillary is the prime suspect in the killing of sixth grader Garrett Phillips his ex-girlfriend's son the motive investigators say Revenge there's no physical evidence that links Nick to the crime but now there is something new Nick's own words here again Dennis Murphy attorney Tom mortani was defending the potan police department in a civil lawsuit brought by Nick Hillary at a preliminary hearing Nick had just confirmed that it was him in this car seen on security camera video video at t
he high school Nick said he was there to watch a game but in the footage a school bus seems to block his view the Honda slowly moved settling into this parking spot red tail lights on but from there Nick still can't see the game nor does he try to get a closer look he never gets out of his car he never shuts the vehicle off so why was he really there the answer according to Tom was about to skate into view at 4:5 2: p.m. here comes Garrett at the bottom of the screen cruising down the sidewalk o
n his ripstick blissfully unaware that in just a few minutes he'll be viciously attacked and left for dead after about 16 seconds on camera he skates out of frame turning left on his way home Nick's bra KS come on within a second of Garrett going out of view and he backs his vehicle out but Nick did not admit to following Garrett he didn't admit to even seeing Garrett instead he told Tom I went home I went straight home I didn't stop anywhere else which Nick acknowledged should be with the right
turn out of the parking lot but when his Honda reached the T intersection Crossroads for this case Nick didn't go right instead he turned left going in the same direction as Garrett 6 months after Garrett's death this civil lawyer had breathed new life into a dorant murder investigation extracting what seemed like powerful new evidence from the prime suspect he didn't take the fifth and the police are are ecstatic with what we've got but the person he needed to convince was Nicole duve the then
district attorney for St Lawrence County so Tom sent her the transcript of Nick's deposition wherein Nick admits to being in his car in the high school parking lot which police said seemed to be tailing Garrett shortly before he was killed but the da said it still wasn't enough she believed that there was simply not enough evidence to to convict Nick Hillary let alone arrest him not a winnable case not a winnable case the da met with Tandy and told her the same thing she used a like a scale as
an example and it was one little Pebble at a time and that they just didn't have enough yet she couldn't get enough Pebbles to tilt it this way right the case went into a deep freeze and it seemed like it might stay there in that town this sort of crime is so out of the ordinary so unheard of that the fact that they were not able to find someone quickly and make a case quickly and convict them quickly and put this behind them has been enormously frustrating Tandy frustration what is your word ab
out how you feel I don't know if I can say it on camera just the level of frustration is there's no words really out of frustration and sorrow Garrett's family led by his uncle Brian put up justce for Garrett signs all over the county the message from a smiling Garrett was both subtle and direct do the right thing Brian was very close with with his brother Robbie Garrett's dad um so he lost Robbie um and then losing Garrett the way that we did um Brian never stopped you wouldn't let this become
a Cold Case never and then in 2013 Mary rain a former cop and public defender decided to run for district attorney politics has raised its T absolutely and her her prime Campaign theme if you will is there's a murderer running around and nobody's done anything about it the only thing I would promise is that would be my top agenda as soon as I got into office so I spoke with Tandy the next day and we talked for about two hours you didn't promise the results you promised her your professional inte
rest exactly I promised her I would put a lot of work and energy into it Tandy took the stump to campaign for Mary she was interested in your case yes passionate about it very she was going to do everything she could to bring Justice for G 10 days before election day Mary knew she still had ground to make up if she had any hope of becoming the new DA and you needed something you know help from up above that never hurts she calls it her campaign miracle I was in church one morning I sat there and
I said you know God I need some help and help came that same day when according to Tandy the incumbent da while out campaigning unwittingly walked up to her house she had no idea that she was door Belling well she the mother of the boy yeah she saw my sign in the in the yard and she was trying to change their minds or their opinions to vote for her and then she realized where she was and she left Tandy was insens because she says the da refused an invitation to speak with her and instead just w
alked away Andy took to Facebook to vent someone just paid a visit to my house that left me feeling like my family is very unimportant how did it feel to hit sand good and a little scary I'm not the type to rant on Facebook I generally stay away from the the drama side of it but I was angry and once I read that Facebook post I thought who does that and I immediately private messaged Tandy and I said this just makes me cry and she said there is no crying but that's hard to get past Tandy let Mary
repost the incident to her Facebook friends and from there it went viral it was the thing I had prayed for a big news Splash in the county kind of a political stumble you know it makes Nicole duvet look like she didn't have a handle on things but if she didn't even know where the victim's mother lived how could she find the victim's killer an election night the voters spoke Mary rain came from behind to [Music] [Music] [Music] Mary rain took office as the County's new DA in January 2014 and the
first file she cracked open as she' promised in the campaign was the Garrett Phillips case and I'm disheartened to see a folder a lone folder sitting in the office which is about this thick and I realized this is a murder investigation it's deficient but the file was about to get a huge addition Tom morat was just weeks away from putting Nick Hillary under oath again in the civil lawsuit Nick brought against police I prayed honestly um for for some guidance and to to just to be able to do my jo
b and to help in whatever way that I can this time Lieutenant Murray and his chief who both happened to be defendants in the lawsuit would be sitting in on the deposition taking notes for their criminal investigation and Nick would be on video how are you going to advance your story what's the strategy well I want him to reaffirm all of the things that he's previously told me under oath yes that is my car I'm driving it right I want him to be saying it on camera because the whole purpose of vide
otaping this had nothing to do with the civil case at all this is totally about this video is going to be played in front of a grand jury someday and a criminal jury someday acting as deao prosecutor Tom would be Mary re's best chance to get Justice for Garrett good morning Mr Hillary Tom heard off camera asked the questions Nick Hillary's attorney Mani tari also off camera was Raising objections to protect an appeal still Nick did go on to answer almost everything at some point did that relatio
nship that you had with Miss Cyrus end j yes but when the questions turned personal Nick seemed to get a case of Amnesia did you approach Miss Cyrus and uh discuss with her the possibility of breaking up I can't call did Miss Cyrus ever uh discuss with you her two boys relationship with you as a basis for ending the relationship I cannot recall if she had told you that that's why she wanted to end the relationship is that something you think you would have remembered people remember why they bro
ke up with their high school girlfriend you know you can't remember why this relationship with a woman you lived with for seven or eight months broke up Tandy had said she broke up with Nick because Garrett hated his rules and this is the part of the theory of motivation in this crime exactly that Garrett is dead because Nick Hiller believes that he was an obstacle in the way of him ever being with Tanny that the boy had caused the breakup right it goes to motive it goes to what's his underlying
uh State of Mind can you describe for me your relationship with Garrett up into the point in time where you and Miss Cyrus broke up J we had a positive relationship um you know Garrett liked you he never said he disliked me Tom also Pro Nick about his behavior after Tandy moved out did you ever show up in Miss Cyrus's apartment in the late evening hours letting yourself in on your own no if Miss Cyrus has provided a sworn deposition to the police indicating that that did in fact occur was she l
ying when she gave that testimony yes police had a theory that the killer was injured in the Escape leap and they claimed they had video of neck limping at the soccer game the next night when Tom asked him about it Nick admitted he had injured his ankle but said it happened before Garrett was killed Mr Hillary at any point prior to October 24th of 2011 did you suffer an injury to either one of your lower legs judge relevance yes can you tell me the circumstances under which that occurred I was m
oving Furnitures around in my new apartment approximately when did that occur injection relevance I cannot recall what kind of piece of furniture was it injection relevance I cannot recall did you trip over the piece of furniture or drop something on you or something else answer cannot recall Mani tari maintains Nick's ankle injury had no connection to the crime or the crime scene if there were abrasions we should have some DNA that's linked in Mr Hillary to this and we do not as in the first de
position Tom asked Nick to describe his route home on the day of Garrett's murder but this time Nick suggested that if he turned left it would have been to to visit his assistant coach typically if I make a left out the parking lot I would be checking with my assistant coach who lived on Gardner Street which is what I would normally do you did that afternoon I cannot recall you don't recall whether or not you stopped into Mr Fe fairley's apartment on Garden Street that afternoon that is correct
and I interrupt him and say well wait a minute you've already told me previously under oath a year and a half ago you didn't go anywhere else you didn't make any stops anywhere on your way between leaving Dam high school and going to your apartment that afternoon you recall giving that testimony at your 5H examination that's what I said that's what I said you theor left out of the parking lot to go home to your apartment what route did you take I can't recall when it was over Tom morat had a gif
t for the new DA Mary rain more than 6 hours of Nick on tape under oath everything he said everything he couldn't recall so rare from a Prim suspect who was not talking to police I've always described this uh as the OJ case backwards you know in OJ you had a criminal trial and then there was a civil case and here it the exact opposite happened you have regrets about going the Civil route in the midst of this criminal case I regret that Mr Hillary um was targeted due to his race um and I have no
control over that that is the only regret I have in this entire situation da rain who had campaigned on getting Justice for Garrett now believed she had enough evidence to take to a grand jury but in a perplexing case that still had gaping holes no DNA no forensics no eyewitnesses this road to indictment would hit an unexpected ptle coming up a bold new strategy you take samples of DNA that previously would have been cast aside an attempt to make sense of them prosecutors wondered could Nick DNA
really be at the crime scene after all when dat line [Music] continues 8 2014 2 and 1/2 years after Garrett Phillips skated home for the last time da Mary rain was finally putting the case before a grand jury her key piece of evidence if I make a left out the park Nick Hillary's own word from his video deposition for his lawsuit against the potam police no one can talk about grand jury arguments but the the simple deposition safe to say was very important extremely important we couldn't have pu
t him in the places where he put himself on May 15th Nick Hillary was indicted and arrested 100% in charged with second degree murder he was led away in handcuffs by lead investigator Mark muray no Ruckus no Todo no Ruckus not to do just us walking NE into the station nothing however has been ordinary in this extraordinary case 5 months later a judge threw out that indictment on the grounds of prosecutorial misconduct the judge in the case decides that Mary rain acted inappropriately that she in
jected opinion that she obviously was not pursuing Justice per se but was pursuing Nick the judge read transcripts of the proceedings and determined that the da bullied Nick's daughter an alibi witness asking her the same question 13 times it's cross-examination there was no bullying he's not there he doesn't know my tone of voice so he's surmising something that just didn't occur Mary rain had taken a legal roundhouse blow to the chin but she got up to fight again there was no question we going
to refile it absolutely no question at all using the same evidence but toning it down the da won another indictment and this one stuck Tandy felt finally Vindicated you believe ni killery killed your boy yes for what reason Dandy me for whatever reason did not like my son he was a problem for him was in his way meanwhile Nick Hillary was gearing up for his biggest match ever ever his very Freedom was at stake I have stated that since day one I'm 100% innocent Nick's old friends and supporters h
ad helped him make baale although in potam he faced visible reminders of the strong feelings against him at every turn lawn signs are everywhere in your town justice for Garrett what do you think they're everywhere they're everywhere I mean for my own sanity I have told myself Justice for Garett sign is a good thing because I need Justice for Gary but justice of any kind was grinding slowly and the case was attracting attention two legal heavyweights from New York City joined Nick's team Norman
seagull a civil rights lawyer and Earl Ward a celebrated criminal defense attorney for people like that to be involved in the case shows you that the case is echoing Beyond is this shaping up as as another test of AAL Justice in the criminal justice system I think for the defense team they don't believe that Nick did this and they think he's being railroaded and they feel that part of that has to do with his race I think for Mary rain and the prosecution team that is the last thing that they wan
t they want this to be a murder trial and they want this to be about a 12-year-old boy who lost his life at the hands of a killer Nick's supporters including his former teammates remained adamant that their friend was innocent it's not possible I mean he's just such a caring and compassionate loving person he's been around kid his entire life even on the worst day of his life something happened you can't get there not a chance these teammates are among countless friends and supporters behind the
website Truth for Nick Hillary they dipped into their pockets and helped fund his defense and also paid his everyday bills once he was fired a soccer coach after his arrest and you're now putting your money where your sentiments are um yeah all these guys are you we've had hundreds of people on the donation site itself uh contribute whatever they can a trial date was set for September 2016 Nick's teammates would stand by him in open court so it's the championship season again this is this is mo
re than a ring this is more than a ring you know this is this is this is life and death but first both sides braced for a summertime fight that could tilt the balance it was over DNA did it exist was it NYX and whatever it was was it even admissible no hair tissue or fingerprint belonging to Nick was found at the crime scene and testing on that tiny mix of DNA under one of Garrett's fingernails had been inconclusive the initial sampling of this the initial testing of this showed that it could ne
ither include nor exclude Nick Hillary so with traditional DNA chemistry not implicating Nick prosecutors opted for something revolutionary a new kind of computer-driven DNA analysis from a company in New Zealand whereby you take samples of DNA that previously would have been cast aside because they were too small they were too difficult to analyze properly you take those samples and attempt to make sense of them using a computer algorithm prosecutors said the new test came back a match for Nick
not so fast argued the defense too unorthodox too unreliable after every reputable um uh organization or test in sites told them look there's nothing connecting this guy they went to a different continent to New Zealand uh to try to get something to stick and it didn't stick in the end the judge agreed with the defense pre- trial he ruled that the prosecution could not use the new fangled DNA analysis A major setback do you still have a case absent that science we still can do it based on the o
ther evidence that we have be determined as they say setting the stage for Nick Hillary to At Last have his day in court the trial finally was about to get underway I think that it has taken so long to find Justice for Garrett as it were that this has become one of those stories that people will talk about for a very long time regardless of how the verdict turns out coming up I will continue to fight until I don't have anything left Nick and Tandy face to face are you ready for that moment I Am
The Showdown begins every single fact in this case points to him you could have heard a pin drop in that courtroom when line [Music] continues five long years after Garrett Phillips was killed the case of New York State versus Nick Hillary went to trial neck and tent former lovers would be together in the same courtroom you're going to be going up to the stand and the inside the rail will be Nick Hillary are you ready for that moment I am as Tandy ready to face her ex-boyfriend in court Nick cam
e face to face with the possibility of a conviction and there you'll be given another jumpsuit put in a van and taken away I would have fight and I would will continue to fight until I don't have anything left inside of me to fight just the same way I'm fighting right now the trial was shaping up as a battle between seasoned successful attorneys the venerable team of Earl Ward and Norman seagull for the defense for the state da Mary rain asked Bill Fitzpatrick a renowned prosecutor from another
County to take the lead in court so you bring in Fitzpatrick from down in Syracuse for what reason well Bill Fitzpatrick has over 75 homicide um prosecutions himself he's been a prosecutor for over 24 years and I've been a prosecutor for over two almost immediately a courtroom bomb show 10 jurors had been quickly selected all white when Nick and his defense team made a shocking announcement they were opting for a bench trial letting judge Felix ktina decide next future New York Times Reporter Je
sse McKinley I think their calculation was we're better off going with a legal mind someone that knows the law so they're arguing it to the judge he will be the judge and the jury absolutely good morning everybody please be seated Mr Fitzpatrick your opening statement thank you very much Bill Fitzpatrick laid out the state's case painting a portrait of Nick Hillary as a scorned lover and a liar he said Nick's own words from his video deposition given under oath would nail him the only reason he
has to lie is because he was killing Garr but long time rights attorney seagull said Nick is an innocent man and could prove he was home at the exact time Garrett was being attacked you can't be in two places at the same time and Nick Hillary went home it was all part of a rush to judgment by police argued seagull there's naturally a cry for justice a cry for someone to be held accountable but it must be the right person Nick Hillary is not the right person after opening arguments cameras were r
emoved for all testimony the prosecution called the victim's mother to the stand as its leadoff witness Tandy told the judge what she told us that Nick was unhappy about her breaking up the relationship she was absolutely cool as a cucumber she rarely let a motion get to her she was uh very controlled very competent witness and she testified about the times she said Nick let himself into her apartment Uninvited I was getting very annoyed with the fact that he wouldn't leave me alone he obsessed
about the breakup next the prosecution presented evidence that Garrett died from a choke hole a Gastly combination of strangulation and asphixiation Rook burns on Garrett's legs and red marks on his neck pointed to a desperate struggle it was a crime of passion insisted fit Patrick pointing to Nick is the only person hostile to Garrett this is somebody that chokes the life with a high degree of hatred of a 12-year-old boy he talks about an amicable breakup was not amicable at that point because
he was not happy Tandy was amicable but he was not he was very very angry prosecutors used video to try to prove their case a one-w punch of Nick Hillary on camera they played for the judge the security video of Nicks Honda in the high school parking lot as they saw it stalking Garrett that's the most important witness in this case a neutral camera sitting on top of a school the state also presented that critical video of Nick under oath from his deposition in his civil case something happens wh
ich I will affectionately refer to as the gift that keeps on giving that person is telling lies frankly too numerous to catalog One Lie according to the state involved Nick's damaged ankle remember during his deposition Nick said he heard it before Garrett's death Mr Hillary at any point prior to October 24th of 2011 did you suffer an injury to either one of your lower legs judge for relevance yes can you tell me the circumstances under which that occurred I was moving Furnitures around in my ne
w apartment PR utters attacked that story when the medical examiner took the stand he commented on photos police took of Nick's ankle just two days after Garrett was killed his ankle is swollen it's got a very fresh cut uh Dr Sara and me said the cut is uh 24 to 48 hours old a fresh cut prosecutors theorized caused by Nick's desperate Escape leap from Garrett's second floor apartment and then what prosecutors called another lie the big one at the heart of their case when Nick talked about where
he went after driving out of the school parking lot just minutes before Garrett was choked to death according to him at least a dozen times under oath I went straight home back to my daughter straight home you went straight home uh after you left the pdam high school that afternoon correct yes straight home would have meant turning right but Nick turned left just like Garrett prosecutors laid it out with dramatic flare here was Nick under oath caught in a lie confirmed by the video Mr Hillary do
esn't turn right he turns left because he's hunting Garrett Phillips maybe the prosecution's best evidence is his videotape the journey to the field to look at the soccer team yeah prosecution says it's their most conclusive piece of evidence rainy day in potam the last few minutes and when they were playing that tape which was about 5 minutes long in that courtroom you could have heard a pin drop the state argued that when Nick wasn't lying he had very suspicious lapses in memory about the day
Garrett was killing a convenient forgetfulness said prosecutors highlighted by three simple words I cannot recall I cannot recall I cannot watch him as he answers I cannot recall without even the slightest reflection or effort to try to record if you start to take these things in sum in Toto that you have a guy who is not telling the truth you have a guy that does not have an ironclad Alibi and the proof is beyond compelling it approaches mathematical certainty every single fact in this case poi
nts to him and at some point coincidences stop being coincidences and they start being proof of guilt it was a circumstantial case but prosecutors were confident now the defense would get its turn and they would aggressively make the case in court that Nick Hillary had been making for himself from day one I'm 100% innocent of the accusations that I'm facing coming up you searched his house twice what did you find nothing you searched his car what did you find nothing you searched his office what
did you find nothing no evidence no case the defense comes on strong Nick hry is not a murderer when dayline [Music] continues Nick Hillary's High powerered legal team of Norman seagull and Earl Ward began their defense by aggressively cross-examining the prosecution's witnesses starting with Tandy Cyrus the defense now acknowledged Nick had in fact visited Tandy twice in her new apartment but they got Tandy to admit those visits weren't so scary after all those two episodes prosecutors tried t
o portray as some type of Nefarious behavior on Nick's part but tany made it clear that they that these episodes were nothing more than an inconvenience she testified that on one occasion they slept together the defense's argument tandy's breakup with Nick was hardly the drama she made it out to be they tried to portray it as if Nick was this you know demon this this this awful person who snuck into This Woman's bedroom as I said on my submission like something out of a horror movie and hovered
above her in the dark as if he was about to do something you know evil when during the cross- examination it came out that that's that wasn't the case and Tandy and other family members also conceded that Nick had never laid a hand on Garrett while they lived together there was nothing between the two could be considered hatred nothing between the two that would lead or could lead to murder they've kind of picked away at the prosecution's witnesses enough it would seem for them to try to create
Reasonable Doubt which is all they want to do that's the game they Reasonable Doubt Reasonable Doubt wins their case Nick Hillary is not a murderer he is not a violent man violence is inconsist consistent with who he is and what he has done in his life now the defense started to paint a different picture of Nick Hillary not the man accused of a heinous crime but the Army vet adored soccer captain and loving father who could never ever harm a 12-year-old let alone kill him he's been around kids h
is entire life I've seen him interact with 12-year-olds constantly Brendan Murphy the goalie on Nick's Championship soccer team was one of the character Witnesses who testified about the Nick he knew he was always there to pick me up and never blame me and never you know yelled at me or made me feel bad about letting a go in some point and his lawyers dismissed the prosecution's suggested motive that he killed for Revenge this theory is simply not credible on its face there has always been this
question as to what this would possibly gain for him what would be the upside of hurting this kid the defense's biggest point was very simple there was no physical evidence none linking Nick Hillary to the crime there was no hair there were no fibers there was no fingerprints uh linking Nick to this crime and there was testimony from investigators about those unknown fingerprints that were found around that pushed out window screen you have to ask yourself whose print was on that window whose pr
int was on the window that that perpetrator climbed out of to escape the building again it wasn't Nick Hillary's in an unusual move the defense called to the stand Mark Murray the lead cop on the case getting him to admit his nearly 5-year investigation had failed to turn up any physical evidence against Nick in any place brought him forward and said you searched this house twice what did you find nothing you searched his car what did you find nothing you searched his office two times what did y
ou find nothing which made it clear the defense argued that police had tunnel vision starting with the night of the murder when Lieutenant Murray and two State cops came to Nick's house within hours as you have heard I was targeted is would it be fair to say there's a rush to judgment yes I cannot recall the most damning prosecution evidence against Nick had been those videotapes first his deposition in the civil suit I canot recall the defense argued that his inability to answer questions then
was just a memory lapse nothing more the statements he made at that deposition were made 27 months after the death of Garrett Phillips it is true he often said I can't recall but does that make him a murderer and as for the state centerpiece evidence that security camera video where Nick appeared to follow Garrett out of the high school school parking lot it didn't actually show much of anything argued the defense the prosecution wants you to make much of this video but the prosecution wants you
to jump to conclusions camera doesn't record the end of this yeah there is no videotape that exists anywhere that shows Nick Hillary pulling up to 100 Market Street getting out of his car and walking up those stairs Nick's assertion that he went to his home and not Garretts was bolstered at trial by two Alibi Witnesses the focus was to show that Nick was somewhere else from the period of 5:00 to at least 523 and have two Alibi witnesses that would hold up the first was assistant soccer coach Ia
n Fairley he testified that Nick stopped by his house at 5:21 p.m. about 20 minutes after Garrett was attacked according to police estimates did fairly stick to his guns to the same story he's told over and over absolutely and said as he said to me and other people that that afternoon when Nick Hillary walked in that apartment he wasn't limping he wasn't sweating he didn't seem discombobulated he didn't seem upset he just seemed like the same old guy but it was Shauna K Hillary Nick's daughter w
hose testimony would be make or break she testified he was with her at their house in the critical time period of 5 to 5:15 p.m. which is the same time young Garrett was losing that struggle for his life judge there was nothing about showing a K's testimony that was false she is a strong witness and she is reasonable doubt in cross-examination prosecutor Bill Fitzpatrick went after Nick's daughter with gusto and got her to admit she didn't remember very much else about that day except for the ti
me her dad was home it will all come down to whether or not the judge believes whether Nick was where he said he was which is the gamble Nick had taken when he waved a jury trial his fate would soon be in the hands of one man judge CA would decide coming up we're talking 25 years to life the judge's verdict what would it be when dat line [Music] continues we're talking murder too you know we're talking 25 years to life this is not shoplifting this is a very serious charge the awful question befo
re the court was this had Nick Hillary choked the life out of a 12-year-old boy he's been lying about it ever since lead prosecutor Bill Fitzpatrick had thundered outrage during his closing argument channeling the emotion of Tandy and her family Garrett Phillips wasn't killed by someone passing through town who hates little boys he was killed by Nick Hillary he wanted to be 12 years old and not be dictated to and that cost him his life convicting someone be the defense team had spent 3 weeks arg
uing there was simply no evidence against neck I know judge that you'll get it right I know judge that after considering all the evidence in this case you will find Mr Hillary not guilty the defense had wagered an un usual High stick gamble bypassing a jury and asking the judge to decide judge and jury in one man Felix [Music] cina a week went by with no decision an excruciating waight for both sides then the judge called everyone back to the courthouse to hear his verdict for 42-year-old Nick H
illary and his unwavering Legion of Truth for Nick Hillary supporters it had been a 5year long slot to clear his name we've been here since day one supporting Nick and you know standing in his corner I'm not going to stop standing by him [Music] now for Tandy Cyrus cocooned in a huddle of supportive friends and family the agonizing weight with all its fits and starts was finally over the moment was at hand as to the charge of Murder in the second degree as charged in the indictment the defendant
oral Nicholas Hillary is found not guilty not guilty a quick burst of Applause and a cry from Nick's side of the room Garrett's Uncle shouted out in Nick's Direction Karma will get you Nick hugged his attorneys then dissolved in a flood of Tears Tandy a bundle of nerves while waiting for the verdict was inconsolable da Mary rain said she was devastated and spoke of T's pain I just simply expressed my condolences and that was about it and she said I know you guys tried Tom morat the attorney for
the pot stamp police addressed the issue of race which had been hanging over the case from the start race had nothing to do with this investigation and uh if any of you actually had an opportunity to meet with some of the investigators involved you know that but I can tell you affirmatively that race had nothing to do with this from the get go defense attorney Earl Ward there's a family that even after 5 years still Grieves so we're not oblivious to that but Nick Hillary did not kill Garrett Ph
illips Nick Hillary is an innocent man love you man all right Jo for you bro yes brother just a few hours after the verdict Nick told us he felt a sense of relief but would feel the scars of his ordeal for years to come I'm very happy don't get me wrong but for 5 years my family and I have been living underneath this cloud and the Focus right now is to start putting this in the rearview mirror maybe the people in pot stain will try too to put this case behind them in 2022 Nick's civil rights law
suit went to trial and a jury found the village of ponam and police were not liable for any alleged wrongdoing but small towns don't pivot so easily to normal after an epic drama like this one this case has had a lot of the great elements of fiction and at the heart of it you have this terrible terrible tragedy which is the death of a child and that raw hurt never goes away not to a mother with a broken heart I have pictures in my head that will never go away I had to watch as people tried to re
suscitate my son and failed I'm never going to have my son back had he lived had he gotten extra years who do you think he would have been still the funloving kid that he was and joking and teasing and I think he would be looking at have a very bright future somewhere as an [Music] athlete but the boy is is buried now with the artifacts of his brief childhood including that ripstick Garrett exits forever frame left the mystery surrounding his killing still [Music] abides that's all for now I'm L
ester Holt thanks for joining us
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