Oral 'Nick' Hillary: New York; Major Development; Bulletin: Exonerated: He as been found not guilty in the 2011 murder of 12-year-old Garrett J. Phillips..."Earl S. Ward, a New York City attorney on Mr. Hillary’s defense team, had told Judge Catena during his closing arguments Thursday, that prosecutors cobbled together a “torn and tattered quilt” of circumstantial evidence that wasn’t able to put Mr. Hillary in Garrett’s apartment or even on Market Street at the time of the murder. And Judge Catena agreed, when he took the bench, that the case was 100 percent circumstantial. He said it was because of that fact that he took the time to “fully and fairly” review the evidence presented by both sides. Among that evidence, Judge Catena said prosecutors brought in 22 witnesses to testify and entered more than 100 exhibits into evidence in their case against Mr. Hillary. The defense brought forward eight witnesses and seven exhibits. The only physical evidence Onondaga District Attorney William J. Fitzpatrick, who took the lead of the prosecution against Hillary as special assistant to St. Lawrence County D.A. Mary E. Rain, attempted to bring in at trial was a DNA sample that was produced by STRmix, a forensic software tool used in testing DNA that could implicate Mr. Hillary in the Garrett’s death."........."But the case against Hillary had prosecutorial bungles when Ms. Rain had been questioned about a convicted rapist who said he saw St. Lawrence County sheriff’s deputy John E. Jones Jr., ex-boyfriend of Garrett’s mother, Tandy Collins, entering Garrett’s 100 Market St., Potsdam, apartment building just minutes before Garrett did on the afternoon of his death. Hillary’s defense team filed a motion for a mistrial with prejudice after a hearing was held in which it was determined Ms. Rain ordered investigators to interview the potential witness in April 2015 and failed to turn over the statement and notes generated from the interview the defense." Reporter W.T. Eckert; Watertown Daily Times: (September 28);

"Oral “Nick” Hillary is a free man after being found not guilty of the 2011 murder of 12-year-old Garrett J. Phillips. Presiding Judge Felix J. Catena rendered his verdict Wednesday morning after a week of deliberation in the bench trial against the former Clarkson University men’s soccer coach which began on Sept. 12. Mr. Hillary, 42, formerly of Potsdam, was found not-guilty of second-degree murder after he was accused of strangling Garrett, between 4:56 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. on Oct. 24, 2011, at the 100 Market St. apartment where the boy lived with his mother, Tandy L. Collins, and younger brother Aaron Collins. Mr. Hillary stood in tears as he was embraced by his defense team following the verdict. The room was divided by cheers and sobbing, with Mr. Hillary’s sister, Pamela Winters shouting, “Thank you Jesus,” and Garrett’s uncle, Brian A. Phillips shouting, “Karma is going to get you.” But the true defining moment when Mr. Hillary was given his freedom back was that moment when he was handed back his passport that kept him from leaving the country and going back to his native Jamaica. Earl S. Ward, a New York City attorney on Mr. Hillary’s defense team, had told Judge Catena during his closing arguments Thursday, that prosecutors cobbled together a “torn and tattered quilt” of circumstantial evidence that wasn’t able to put Mr. Hillary in Garrett’s apartment or even on Market Street at the time of the murder. And Judge Catena agreed, when he took the bench, that the case was 100 percent circumstantial. He said it was because of that fact that he took the time to “fully and fairly” review the evidence presented by both sides. Among that evidence, Judge Catena said prosecutors brought in 22 witnesses to testify and entered more than 100 exhibits into evidence in their case against Mr. Hillary. The defense brought forward eight witnesses and seven exhibits. The only physical evidence Onondaga District Attorney William J. Fitzpatrick, who took the lead of the prosecution against Hillary as special assistant to St. Lawrence County D.A. Mary E. Rain, attempted to bring in at trial was a DNA sample that was produced by STRmix, a forensic software tool used in testing DNA that could implicate Mr. Hillary in the Garrett’s death. The motive for that murder, Mr. Fitzpatrick said, was because Garrett’s mother broke up with him when she said she decided to put her sons first, after they expressed their displeasure with the conditions of the relationship. That was a motive that the defense also challenged. “It is not the type of theory that you bring into the courtroom and ask a judge to find a man guilty of murder on the second degree,” Mr. Ward said during his closing remarks. And the cornerstone of the case against Hillary was his left turn out of the parking lot of Potsdam High School on the afternoon of Garrett’s death because he was “hunting” the boy. Again, there was no evidence to support that theory that wasn’t purely circumstantial, the defense team argued. But the case against Hillary had prosecutorial bungles when Ms. Rain had been questioned about a convicted rapist who said he saw St. Lawrence County sheriff’s deputy John E. Jones Jr., ex-boyfriend of Garrett’s mother, Tandy Collins, entering Garrett’s 100 Market St., Potsdam, apartment building just minutes before Garrett did on the afternoon of his death. Hillary’s defense team filed a motion for a mistrial with prejudice after a hearing was held in which it was determined Ms. Rain ordered investigators to interview the potential witness in April 2015 and failed to turn over the statement and notes generated from the interview the defense."

http://www.watertowndailytimes.com/news05/nick-hillary-found-not-guilty-in-murder-trial-20160928