The inside of the house where Garrett Phillips' body was found, is pictured on Sept. 27, 2016. It concerns a group of people who were living in the North Country around the time of the murder. He was just all about control.". Tonight, ABC News and Dateline will both investigate the 2011 murder of Garrett Phillips. The duo were joined by lawyer Mani Tafari, who also shared his view on the case. Fourteen at the time of the murder, she was one of his two alibi witnesses. Photo: David Sommerstein, Oral "Nick" Hillary was found not guilty on Wednesday in the 2011 murder of twelve-year-old Garrett Phillips. He has maintained his innocence since day one telling Elizabeth Vargas, I have absolutely nothing to do with what has happened to Garrett. Hillary claims Potsdam and St. Lawrence County law enforcement violated his civil rights, in part because hes Black. Easily explained." Director Liz Garbus is pictured in an undated photo. "Sees the people down there or hears them changing the tire, and waits until the coast is clear to make the jump.". "And so, whos going to challenge him?". She attended soccer practice after school, and when she arrived home at 4:30pm, her father was there. The HBO documentary is likely the best place to get an update on Jones. He thought Nick [Hillary] was the guy, so I think the likelihood of this being pursued by the police and the DA needs the police to do the pursuing is pretty low. When he arrived back home to the second-floor apartment he shared with his mother and younger brother , someone would strangle and suffocate the life out of the boy. However, Postdam is apparently really small, so if you go a different way it doesnt take long to be back where you started. His white mom names black ex-boyfriend Nick Hillary as most likely to kill Garret. Nick was interviewed for 9 hours that day. Tandy said she broke up with Nick because Garrett didnt like him. People want to be heroes. He denied any butt-head moment with Garrett, or spats over homework or chores. Nicks defense team said right away that the police had tunnel vision and said it was a race issue. NY Man Speaks out After Not Guilty Verdict in Murder of Ex's Son: He was accused of strangling to death his e https://t.co/y1qpX8JO62, Around 5pm on the night of Monday, October 24, Sean Hall and his fiance, Marisa Vogel, heard a scream, a bang, and then moans, coming from the neighboring apartment. Knowing where John Jones is now shows how differently he was treated by police after Phillips' murder. and our Also pictured is his defense team, Norman Siegel, left, Edward Narrow, right center, and Earl Ward, right. The next part of the investigation was from a surveillance camera. You would send a wave of evidence, you know, expecting a probative piece of DNA, or fingerprint or a hair or fiber then just not getting that. Murray said the window screen was forced out, with just enough space to fit a body through. He spent more than two decades asa homicide detectivein Washington, D.C., where he eventually opened a cold case unit. When they didnt hear back, they called on state Attorney General Tish James to intervene. After Nick was done smoking, he kept the butts in his pocket and even put one in the drain. And we talked of his passion: Soccer. The accused was Nick Hillary, 37 years old at the time of the boy's death. There were people outside changing a tire, but they only reported hearing the window screen being pushed out, Murray said. But Hillary and a vocal group of supporters say that he has been wrongfully accused. The prosecution, he ruled, had not made its circumstantial case "beyond a reasonable doubt." Tandy and Aaron have since moved out. But his involvement with Hillary's case isn't over, even though Hillary was acquitted in 2016, according to The New York Times. "I dont know that its fair to them to keep reliving it unless something new or different happens. The Accused: With Lester Holt. Where was he on the day of the murder? On May 14, 2014, Nick was arrested and charged with second degree murder. said he had gone through the case files himself. "He was a kid he was a 12-year-old kid. And, once I started working on the film, I realized that another major issue was the lack of oversight and the free reign given to the district attorneys.. "Im here because justice is due for Garrett and justice is due for Nick Hillary, too," Baxtron said on Friday. Since then, St. Lawrence County law enforcement has been unable to piece together the facts surrounding this tragedy and bring . Garrett Phillips was a 12 year old boy who lived with his mom, Tandy and brother, Aaron, in Potsdam, New York. The altercation made him fearful for himself and his family, NNY 360 reported. In Shanna-Kays cross-examination, the prosecution brought her attention to surveillance footage that showed her walking home at 4:02pm, which would have gotten her home at 4:12pm, and therefore into the shower at 4:22 pm. Today, Garrett's mother's ex-boyfriend, Nick Hillary, was found not guilty in the boy's murder. The sentiment in the town echoes Rains idea that the killer got off, so theres not a lot of public pressure to investigate a killer who might be on the loose, Garbus said. No one else has ever been named a suspect. is available to stream on Sky Crime. So we had intelligent people, people with a lot of power working to deny him of his freedom, knowing that hes innocent., Teacher who misgendered trans pupil 'was acting like a preacher', Teacher sacked for restraining 'out of control pupil' wins unfair dismissal claim, Emergency assemblies and extra staff: how schools are tackling Andrew Tate, He added: District Attorney William Fitzpatrick, he knew there was no evidence, and he said quote after Nick was acquitted: I have locked people up with much less evidence than this.. It's going on four years since . Advocates say raise it first, DEC says 2022 tied for the safest hunting season on record, Governor Kathy Hochul Releases New York State Budget, New York redistricting commission to hold final public hearings this week, New York unlikely to have a new chief judge until later this spring, Adirondack Council leader to step down later this year, Stefanik opens district office in Rensselaer County Government building, Budget watchdog says NY should plan for an upcoming "fiscal cliff", Community Advisory Board (NCPR Executive Council). Oral "Nick" Hillary still coaches soccer. The murder trial began in the county seat, Canton, New York this month. However, Shanna-Kays phone records show she texted her father at 6:24pm, asking Whats for dinner?. Garbus film, which debuts on Tuesday, uses police footage and photos, video evidence and interviews to recount what went wrong in meticulous detail. She was raising two boys, he had three kids from a past relationship. For more information, please see our But now, St. Lawrence Countys new prosecutor, Gary Pasqua, says he's learned of another lead that points away from Hillary. ", Shortly after he took office in 2018, the new St. Lawrence County D.A., Gary Pasqua, told NCPR he wanted to conduct his own review. Reddit and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to provide you with a better experience. Bastuk admits theyre just familiarizing the AGs office with the details of the case. A 'Justice for Garrett' sign is pictured in an undated photo. Garrett had been strangled and suffocated. "Everybody that knows me knows what goes through my head and who I believe," Phillips said. A roller coaster of emotions. His mother's ex-boyfriend, Nick Hillary, was found not guilty of the murder just over two years ago in a. After it ended in an acquittal, Phillips said he had to draw back. Part 2 premieres on HBO on . Nick was finally released, but they kept his clothes and took the cigarette butts from his pocket and drain. I think of Michelle McNamara: Did that book [Ill Be Gone in the Dark] solve that case? Years passed with no arrest, and now Nick Hillary, a former college soccer coach and an ex-boyfriend of Phillips's mother, awaits trial on a murder charge. He was, they said, the only person in town with a grudge against Garrett, blaming him, the family argued, for the break-up of his relationship with Tandy. He was 19 at the time of the 2013 arrest, which makes him the same age as the Brandon D. Murphy in question for Garrett's murder. His close friend Mani Tafari is less optimistic. Oral "Nick" Hillary still coaches soccer. He said: Its important to note I think that the cops may have been somewhat intellectually challenged, but the district attorney that prosecuted this case has been a district attorney for three decades, thats thirty years in New York. "It was a true tragedy," he said. The police asked him why he turned the opposite way. He had minutes left to live. he was with his girlfriend til 11pm (his girlfriends mom confirmed this). Police suspect the killer escaped through this window. Garbus questioned them about their missteps and lack of physical or DNA evidence tying Hillary to the crime. Police soon said it was a homicide. I mean this is something that like is stated in the documentary, he explained: For 20 years I spent building my entire legacy up until that point and within 20 minutes they destroyed., Hillary added: Up to a point now Im trying to clear the rubble in the process of hoping to rebuild.. Police went up the apartment building stairs and into the home, where they found Garrett unconscious and alone inside. Being a father and having known this young man I would hope the objective is to pursue the killer and do the right thing by Garrett Phillips.". Interim Police Chief in Potsdam, New York, Mark Murray, stands in the house where Phillips' body was found on Sept. 27, 2016. But in a county thats population is more than 90% white, the killing of a child -- a crime that screamed out for justice -- became an investigation that boiled with questions of racial fairness. After 22 witnesses testified and after a two week trial, Nick was found not guilty. Hammond, Norfolk teens jailed on charges of sex abuse, endangering the welfare of child . Nick Hillary is the ex-boyfriend of Tandy Cyrus. An officer arrived on the scene and found 12-year-old Garrett . Tandy also told the police that Nick had a key, and had shown up at their house unannounced one night, and stood over her bed. The people who lived downstairs didn't report hearing or seeing anything, Murray said. This video proves nothing. Tafari, a lawyer who provided legal support to his former Tilden High School friend, doesnt believe this film can change a corrupt system. "There is obviously no resolution to Garrett Phillips murder," Pasqua said at the time. They were biased right away. He also said he'd talked with police and met with Garrett Phillips mother but he didn't want to discuss his findings. She ignored Hillary's phone calls. They immediately called an ambulance. The original DA did not feel that she could mount a case, and Mary Rain mounting the case put them through an enormous amount of hope, and then disappointment.. The group wrote a letter to DA Pasqua seeking an independent prosecutor two weeks ago. We did hear these rumors, and we wanted, as much as we could, to go out and explore them and accompany local journalists, Garbus says, but there really was so little [to go on]. Rain, who was elected on her promise to crack Garretts case, saw her law license suspended for two years for misconduct, which included hiding potentially exculpatory evidence from the coachs defense team. Jones held Cyrus' hand and comforted her as she was interviewed by the police. When 12-year-old Garrett Phillips was murdered in 2011, suspicion turned to soccer coach Oral "Nick" Hillary. In most cases, there's a hierarchy. with hopes to shed more light on the devastating case. "We weren't thinking it was a homicide immediately, but something had happened. Phillips was the 12-year-old boy who was fatally attacked at his home in Potsdam in 2011. The lawsuit alleged that Hillary's civil rights had been violated during his trial. Oral Nick Hillary exhales as he leaves the St. Lawrence County Courthouse in Canton Wednesday after being found not guilty of murdering Garrett Phillips. And that was the tunnel vision., And that was on what Garbus wanted to shine a larger light with this project. Hillary does not shy away from the scrutiny the film will bring, saying his ordeal will have had purpose if it saves others from similar mistreatment by law enforcement. What do you think about this case? (Courtesy of HBO ). Tonight, ABC News' and Dateline will both. Though the crime happened almost five years ago, the whodunit of it all has consumed this quiet area. When Hillary was acquitted this week, the judge said that his case was mostly circumstantial and didnt prove he was guilty without a doubt. They also heard someone saying no and crying out for help. Prosecutors have also said they will not reopen the investigation. New York, 2011: Garrett Phillips, 12, is found strangled. Oral "Nick" Hillary, center, hugs defense attorney Edward Narrow after being found not guilty in the murder of Garrett Phillips on Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2016, in Canton, N.Y. Starting with talking heads with the neighbors who first called 9-1-1 after hearing a crash and ominous moaning coming from inside the Phillips apartment, Garbus takes her audience back to Phillips last moments and then expands the story to include similar interviews with police and journalists alike who investigated the crime, as well as the former district attorney who pushed for an arrest, Phillips uncle Brian, and the man who stood trial for the crime (Hillary). 2. I was in complete shock, she told ABC News. ABCwrites, Almost immediately, police focused on her ex-boyfriend Hillary as the prime suspect, but it would take them several years before they arrested him for the murder., Cyrus and Hillary broke up a few monthsbefore Garrett was killed, and Cyrus believes that Hillary blamed Garrett for the breakup. ABC News writes, While Cyrus said she never saw Hillary hit a child, lose his temper with a child or threaten a child during their nearly one year together, she told 20/20 that she has no doubt that Hillary killed her son., Nick Hillary's Daughter: Race 'Definitely' a Factor in Murder Case https://t.co/mu2gutc1Qo pic.twitter.com/GcybAmJpxJ, Marko Zelic (@SnoperMZ) September 30, 2016. ", 24/7 coverage of breaking news and live events. He was a popular, athletic kid. proceeds with the case. But their approaches to parenting seemed very different. A silent picture of a kid on a skateboard moves into the frame from lower right, sails past for about 16-seconds and exits frame left. After Garrett is seen turning towards his house, the car is seen following him. "It's very frustrating," he told "20/20." Jones essentially told the players . "You could see that Garrett had neatly set his sneakers by the closet. Garretts mother, Tandy Cyrus, has said that her son was a gregarious boy who had absolutely no fear. Sky Crime launched the documentary Who Killed Garrett Phillips? (Courtesy of HBO ). The apartment that Jones helped Cyrus find was the same spot where Phillips was found gravely hurt. That's a remarkable jump from the window.". He loved sports, being with his friends and ripsticking (kind of like skateboarding, but your back leg always moves). Because we werent gonna get justice for him.". For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. If Carranza, the dude changing a tire at 100 Market, saw a black man in the window, could it have been Amos? Again, I saw an abrasion, but it ankle didnt look swollen to me. But I hope Im wrong about that, Garbus tells Variety. Garrett and his family lived on the second floor, so the police determined that the killer would have had to jump on the landing and then down to the ground. In 2015, Hillary had also alleged that he'd been harassed by Jones in 2010, which was reported by NNY 360. -- It was Oct. 24, 2011, when 12-year-old Garrett Phillips was found strangled to death inside his home in Potsdam, New York, a small town near the Canadian border. Related stories:A phone call from inside the investigationPasqua wouldnt provide any details beyond that, but it appears state troopers passed the new information to Potsdam Village Police, which is still the lead agency in control of the case. He loved his ripstick," Phillips said. She said they were still intimate that night, but she demanded her key back. Whatever you might say about the film and how it portrays the justice system and Nick Hillary, my hope is that it also reflects the pain of the loss of this family and the gaping hole it left in their lives, Garbus says. They deserve justice and so does Garrett, but I think its also a good thing that an innocent man isnt sitting in prison. But hes also said recent new leads have gone nowhere. He argues he was treated differently than another suspect in the case, a deputy sheriff named John Jones. "But the day of the verdict, something just hit me. "To date we do not know who murdered that 12 year-old boy," said WilliamBastuk, executive director of It Could Happen To You, a Rochester-based not-for-profit that fights to overturn wrongful convictions. His arms were at his side and his legs close together. The current district attorney, Gary Pasqua, has given Potsdam Police, now headed by Murray, new information pointing to a different suspect. As of this week, the source who originally contributed the new lead said that they have not been contacted by Potsdam investigators roughly six months since this person first attempted to share information with law enforcement. Nick said he was at the high school to watch a soccer game, went home and talked with his daughter, and then went to his assistant coachs house. Per The Daily Beast, Jones was involved in the immediate aftermath of Phillips' death; he went with Phillips' mother to police interviews and called dispatchers to get information on what was going on. 2023 Variety Media, LLC. They tried to revive him, but he was pronounced dead at the hospital around 7pm. HBO's new two-part documentary "Who Killed Garrett Phillips?," premiering on July 23 and 24, is a stunningand enragingexamination of race and the U.S. criminal justice system. In regards to the interesting and sad story about Garrett Phillips the 12- year old CHILD murdered victim. Despite the fact that the circumstantial evidence against him and Hillary was so similar, he didn't suffer nearly so many consequences as Hillary did. Together the facts surrounding this tragedy and bring so does Garrett, or spats over or. Gone in the Dark ] solve that case, I saw an abrasion, but your back always. 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