Photo via North Country Public Radio
As of this Tuesday, the trial that is the culmination of years of investigative efforts began. It is the murder trial of Oral “Nick” Hillary, where he is accused of strangling Garrett Phillips, the young child of his then girlfriend Tandy Cyrus. The trial began with jury selection this past Tuesday, September 6th. The eyes of the nation are watching, and that’s not an exaggeration. Present at the trial are press members from ABC, NBC, Fox and the New York Times, among others.
In all honesty, this case wasn’t managed very well. However, before I get into that, I want to make something very clear; these are my opinions, and they don’t reflect anything that SLU believes, or that the Hill News believes. These thoughts are my own. The first problem that I have with this case is the fact that it became time-sensitive because District Attorney Mary Rain made it her campaign promise. You see, when Nicole Duve was running for reelection, she was dragged on social media for her perceived inaction on the Garrett Phillips murder case. Rain took advantage of that and ran against Duve, promising that she would bring charges against a perpetrator. Less than five months after she was elected, she brought charges against Nick Hillary. The first time, she couldn’t get the charges to stick, so she conspired to indict him again. She’s fought through this case while also deal-ing with investigations of her own including fraud and a no-confidence vote from the St. Lawrence County Board.
A lot of things in this case don’t sit well with me, besides the obviously brutal and personal murder of a young boy. There have been cries of racism from people all around the area. There have been claims that the suspect pool wasn’t looked at deeply enough, and that Nick Hillary’s alibi is solid.
There’s even been a website made, truthfornickhillary.com, where there is compiled evidence of suspects, a timeline of events after the murder, and documented evidence that speaks out against the Justice for Garrett campaign and the acts of DA Mary Rain, and apparent claims of inappropriate (to say the least) law enforcement activity at the hands of officers in the area.
On top of all of this, the prosecution was handed another huge blow recently, where a court ruled that any DNA samples that the prosecution had could not be used against Hillary during his trial. Now, any links that can be traced to Hillary through those means are now inadmissible in the trial, creating a tougher path for the prosecution.
I have no idea whether Nick Hillary is guilty or not or whether you, the reader, believes he is or is not. Those thoughts are your own but to me this case has been handled poorly. Rain has not done her job well. I am going to be following the hell out of this trial, waiting for developments as the case draws near-er and nearer to the opening date. If you want a more in-depth look at this case, then look for the Watertown Daily Times, the New York Times, and Grantland. Each source has excellent articles pertaining to the case. I am continuing to wait for more developments, but in the meantime we will all just have to watch and wait.