visit xfinitymobile.com to learn more. doc? that's it for me. thank you for joining us. tune in tomorrow to "the sunday show" when congressman becca ballard of vermont joins us to discuss why democrats are unlikely to save speaker johnson the next time his fellow republicans try to throw him under the bus for tomorrow, at 6:00 eastern right here on msnbc. follow us on social media. catch clips of the show on youtube, and listen to every episode as a podcast, for free. scan the qr code right there on your screen to follow and list anytime. -- listen, anytime. >> i have pictures in my head that will not go away.

i am never going to have my son back. i don't get to go to his high school graduation were see him go to college. i have no idea what happened. >> it was like a meteor hit. >> a 12-year-old kid, loved to ride his scooter everywhere, lost his life at the hands of a killer. >> he's a soccer coach. >> great, on and off the field, great role model. >> they don't have a fingerprint. they don't have a witness. >> there is a darkness at work. >> people call me a murderer. i am 100% innocent. >> you could have heard a pin drop in that courtroom. a small speck on the map on the road to the canadian border. >> upstate new york, a small

speck on the map on the road to the canadian border. >> they like to joke that there are more cows than people and i don't think they are joking. >> in a sleepy place, you would think nothing happens that could interest the outside world , but an epic story has unfolded . a murder case, for sure, but so much more. >> it's a little bit fargo. >> jesse mckinney, reporter for the new york times, was drawn to it. >> it's a small town, love triangles, faded love, and those elements, for a writer, are irresistible. >> the woman in the middle of it all. >> one of her lovers stood out, a black man in a predominantly white town.

>> people would not accept interracial relationships. >> what happened between them would tip the balance in a political campaign give rise to a controversial lawsuit, and more high-profile, big city attorneys to confront each other in a murder trial that attracted national attention. >> is a story that echoes beyond the county and beyond new york. >> but it's as local as it gets, all about a small-town boy. garrett phillips. >> garrett was a blur of a kid. >> it was very energetic and always on the go, always had to have something to do. >> the people here remember him tearing around town, a little bit skateboard, a little bit snowboard, action and balance.

there he goes, sidewalk surfing home in 2011. >> soccer, lacrosse, football, hockey. he was good everything. >>'s bedroom wall was a posterior shrine to sports heroes, including tom brady. >> he wasn't much for video games. >> so it's pitch black before he comes in. >> yes. >> but when he was still a toddler, garrett was dealt a devastating blow. the death of his father. >> he was nine months old when his dad had a brain aneurysm that ruptured and he was two years old when robbie passed away. >> candy, 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 at a

credit union where she became a loan officer. she also had a brief marriage which gave garrett a kid brother. >> did he mess with him? >> all the time. april fools was his favorite day of the year. >> then, tandy moved in with a sheriff's deputy named john jones, but it didn't last. >> at one point, she said john shoved her during an argument and that was the last straw in that relationship. >> so, 2010, tandy was alone again, making ends meet by moonlighting as a bartender. that is when nick hillary walked in. >> so he's just a customer. >> he came in after he was done with work and coaching. >> they came from different worlds. she was local to the frozen north, he was from jamaica.

>> swimming all day, coming back home. mom has a great, home cooked meal waiting for you. it's a fantastic day. >> he moved to brooklyn as a teenager and found his niche as a soccer star, earning a scholarship to nyu, but the kid from jamaica was still searching. he ditched school for the army as the first gulf war was winding down. >> i said, let me serve a greater purpose. >> three years in the army forced him to grow up and now he was ready for college. soccer was his ticket to st. lawrence university, near the canadian border. >> used to swim all day and now you will be in snow six months a year. >> exactly. in summertime, it brings me right back to jamaica. >> you found something in upstate new york that worked

out well for you. >> yeah, it sure was. >> he felt most comfortable on the soccer field where his teammates gave him a nickname. >> "the general." >> that was a tip of the hat to his career as a veteran, and his traits as a person. >>'s leadership, it fit him. >> 1999, he led st. lawrence to an undefeated and national championship, cementing bonds of friendship that remain tight today. >> a great person on and off the field. >> he was our big brother. >> he was the glue that kept us together. he brought us together, arranged dinners and cooks for everyone. posto, absolutely. it was a staple of our group. >> after the championship season , nick kept bleeding. he became a coach in 2009 and became head soccer coach at

clarksville, minutes from his alma mater. life was good. it got better when nick, father of three, met tandy. him, drinking guinness, and diagramming plays on a cocktail napkin. >> the conversation was easy. >> the thing i liked about tandy, she had goals and ambition. >> things between the two heated up quickly as these emails a test. "i miss you millions, have a great workday." "i can't wait to get home to you. i love you." they were sharing a house, blending families, and going on vacations as a couple. nick took her to jamaica. as they say in the islands, it wasn't a cool breeze being an interracial couple in pot stand, which is 90% white. andy said it was particularly hard on garrett. >> garrett was being teased at

school because his mom is dating a black man. >> he is getting schoolyard aggravation. >> whatever tensions garrett was feeling, it didn't keep him from sports. they were always a welcome distraction, even on the fateful afternoon of october 24th, 2011. >> he was playing basketball in the gym, but i got upset because he had to go home and do homework. >> do your homework and then go play. >> so i made him go home. >> you blasted home on his rib stick and what seems like a normal monday. no worries that he would be home, first. what could possibly go wrong? as it turned out, a lot. a little after 5:00, a neighbor called police. >> i live in an apartment house, and the folks next to us, i thought i heard some screaming like, "no," and

"help,". i knocked on the door and i heard the lock click. coming up. what happened in that apartment? >> they open the door, and we go inside. >> someone had been in my apartment. i don't know what happened. >> when "dateline" continues. some things should stand the test of time. long lasting eylea hd could significantly improve your vision and can help you go up to 4 months between treatments. if you have an eye infection, eye pain or redness, or allergies to eylea hd, don't use. eye injections like eyla hd may cause eye infection, separation of the retina, or rare but severe swelling of blood vessels in the eye. an increase in eye pressure has been seen. there's an uncommon risk of heart attack or stroke associated with blood clots.

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and something serious may be behind those itchy eyes. up to 50% of people with graves' could develop a different condition called thyroid eye disease, which should be treated by a different doctor. see an expert. find a t-e-d eye specialist at isitted.com that october monday in 2011, garrett phillips was supposed to be the first one home to his second floor that october monday in 2011, garrett was supposed to be the first home to his second-floor apartment. he apparently arrived just before 5:00. >> it's a very busy street. it's the main drag. >> sean hall and marissa vogel, engaged then and now married, were very familiar with boys

will be boys activities. >> you can hear running or roughhousing sometimes or something rolling down the hallway like a skateboard. >> that afternoon, sean and marissa were watching a show on tv, the sounds coming from next- door different, scary. >> i heard a loud crash and after that violence for a few seconds and then a low voice, what sounded like moaning. >> i didn't think it was too little boys roughhousing anymore. it felt more dangerous. it felt wrong. >> concerned, marissa walked down the hallway and listened. >> i knocked on the door and waited a moment and then i definitely heard a click, like a lock. i had the feeling there was someone on the other side of that door. >> she called the police.

>> they live across the hall, and it made me nervous that i thought i heard yelling and then i knocked to see if they were okay and then it was silent. i'm sorry if it's not anything, it was a weird situation that made me uncomfortable. >> a patrol officer arrived at the second-floor apartment around 5:15. no one answered, so he waited for the building manager. >> the patrolman here's what he thinks is footsteps inside the apartment. then, they get the key, they open the door, and they go inside. >> everything appeared in order. the living room is tidy. garrett stuff was all in place. rib stick against the wall, backpack in the corner. >> turned the corner and i saw garrett. he was lying there. they think at first he's sleeping, he's fallen, he's not himself out.

>> ambulance to respond. >> apartment four. cpr. >> the patrol officer called in the distressing details. >> unresponsive mail. >> is she john jones's ex- girlfriend? >> police new tandy and tracked her down. she raced to the hospital. >> and garrett in a bad way. what has happened? is there any information? >> the doctor told me he was in full cardiac arrest when they brought him in and i had no idea what had happened and couldn't understand how a 12- year-old had a heart attack. >> did you think, at first, maybe this had something to do with his dad's problem, that it was genetic and something happened? >> i honestly was in shock and could not wrap my head around anything.

>> i don't want to take you back there, but you were there when he finally gives up. they can't bring him back. >> no. >> how awful. >> garrett phillips, unstoppable in life, was dead at age 12. >> what happens in the next few hours? >> it's kind of a blur. we were at the hospital a while and got sent home. >> tandy have been joined by some of the men in her life. her ex-husband and john jones, but knowing notified nick hillary. he and tandy had split up the month before and he was no longer in the loop, so lieutenant mark called him. >> we had an incident and we would like to speak with you. >> minutes later, investigators

were at next-door, a courtesy notification, they said. >> we are going to reach out to all the people connected to this kid, what do they know, do they know anything about where he was or who he might have been with lexi >> so, we have some bad news for you. >> mr. hillery expressed shock, i can't believe this, my goodness, rubs his hands down his head. >> he says he remembers the moment well. >> i am still broken up over the situation. he has lived with me. how could i not be affected by what has happened? >> nick wasn't dating tandy anymore and told police he had not been in her apartment and she moved in two months earlier. the officers didn't stay long. an autopsy was scheduled the next day. the police didn't wait for the results to reveal their suspicions to tandy. >> when did you start to get

this feeling there might be foul play? >> we had gone down to the police station and that is when they made a comment that someone had been in my apartment. >> so he's home and there's someone there, and then he's attacked. is it now a homicide investigation? >> yes. >> coming up. >> this kind of crime doesn't happen in a place like this. >> a small town in fear. the mac there's a maniac. >> someone who will kill again. >> and the hunt for suspects begins. >> who were connected? >> it is partners. >> when "dateline" continues . . you're not alone, there is hope. find a specialized urologist who can diagnose and treat pd. visit makeapdplan.com today. sup? -who are you? find a specialized urologist who can diagnose and treat pd. i'm your inner child. get in.

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[music playing] reporter: october 2011, halloween was less than a week away. but the good folks of potsdam, young and old, october, 2011, halloween was less than a week away, but the good folks, young and old,

relearning that a month or had arrived. a child killer was in their midst. >> was a an adult or children? >> we don't know. it's under investigation. >> news this big traveled fast in a timer so many people knew the emts and the nurses. the cops, mark murray, was a lifelong resident. >> at the hospital, it looks like he had been beat up. he had injuries. the injuries on the knees indicated a significant struggle with this boy fought for his life did >> fingers around the neck? >> a combination of being sat upon and smothered and asphyxiated. it was not an instant death. >> a chilling headline. his death was ruled a homicide. police told family that garrett phillips was strangled. >> from every indication, this

was a tense scene. it doesn't happen in a place like this. >> an intruder who kills children. >> absolutely. is there someone is going to kill again? >> rumor took flight. >> in the fog, a story was gaining traction. unsubstantiated reports that garrett was killed by another kid. attorney for the police -- >> who was he with, did he have issues with other kids? >> calls continued to come into the police hotline. townspeople, egging for reassurance from the school principal. >> we are meeting with staff, right now. the news that one of our students has died is heartbreaking. >> police were beginning to pick up clues that suggested

another possibility. that the killer had to be an adult. >> one of the things i see is that in the back bedroom, there is a window that has been pushed out. the screen is ajar. >> whoever is in their has to leave and there's only one way out and that the second story window. there's no fire escape. >> the developing theory was that when a cop knocked at the door, that window became the killers only exit. police surmised that a fit adult, not a kid, to make the leap. >> not an easy jump. >> the cracked tile was a big clue that the killer ricocheted on his way down to the ground were police picked up another crew. >> they found a gash in the grass below. >> so this is describing where the intruder was. >> basically, they argue he jumped out of the window, down to the shed, into the grass.

>> police wondered if the killer injured himself on the way down, possibly limping away from the crime scene, but no one reported seeing someone flee, so police called, looking for fingerprints, shoe prints, dna. evidence was collected and sent to the crime lab. investigators began talking to those who knew garrett best. >> so, tandy's partners. >> absolutely. >> that included the ex-husband, john jones, and her most recent ex, nick hillary. collins and jones were with sandy at the half will and even sat next to her during her interview with pd. john jones is to her left. collins was quickly eliminated as a suspect because he had a solid alibi that placed them nowhere near garrett's apartment on october 24th, but john

jones, the local sheriffs deputy , got a different perspective. >> so something might be going on but you don't know what. >> he told police he got home about 5:00 and lived two blocks from the apartment. police say this is jones on a grainy security video across the street from where garrett passed by. he was asked to roll up his shirt and pants to check for possible wounds and ligature. tandy was talking to police and had some thoughts. strong thoughts. coming up. >> they asked if there was anyone we knew of that would want to hurt garrett and there was only one person that came to mind. >> the cheap of police indicated to another investigator that they had a suspect and they were lining up whatever evidence they could. when "dateline" continues.

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tandy cyrus had lost her 12-year-old son. now she had to pull yourself together to talk to the potsdam police. who sandy cyrus had lost he- year-old son. she now had to pull herself together to talk to the police. >> did they ask you who could possibly have something in for garrett? >> yes. >> what did you say? >> make. >> nick hillary, soccer coach, recent ex-boyfriend. >> there seems to be discussion of who would want to harm garrett. >> nick was raised almost instantaneously, and whether or not that was justified or not is another case. like the videotape attendees interview with police is hard to hear but she described a different side of "the general", the nickname given to him in his glory days. she reflected a more controlling nature and that is

what she told the cops. >> is they started and ended with his planner. very structured. >> did he bring that into your life? becky tried. >> it was not well received. >> especially not by garrett, a spontaneous kid. but, according to tandy, nick was increasingly testing the boy and his mother. >> if i didn't get him on a more strict schedule and when he got older i wouldn't be able to control him. >> was he asking too much? >> very much. that's not how i am and it's not how my kids were and he wanted them to change. >> she said this inflexibility brought it all crashing down. she said garrett told her about one incident with one of nick's children. >> there was an argument between

garrett and his daughter that turned into an argument. he took garrett aside and took my. -- took his daughter aside and i chose my son. >> with nick out of town, tandy had a heart-to-heart with garrett. >> he didn't like being in the same house of nick and his kids but he wasn't happy. >> that was it. tandy told nick she was moving out. according to tandy, it was nick's turn to be unhappy. >> there was an argument, he told me i was letting garrett make my decisions for me, and he was blocking me and picked me up and carried me away from the door and wouldn't let me leave >> was that aside you hadn't? >> yes. >> you put me down and put his hands up and stepped back and i left. >> soon after that incident, she and her boys moved into that i can apartment at 100 market street.

>> we had a couple different conversations, trying to make it work, but living in separate households, garrett said he was okay with that, he just didn't want to live in the same house with him. >> but nick was not okay with the new arrangement. >> you showed up at my apartment in the middle of the night. >> when you were sleeping? >> he had a key. i woke up and he was standing in my bedroom. >> that was it. the final straw. >> i was angry. i told them that made me want my key back. >> when you give a girlfriend a key back, that the end. >> over and out. it was september. garrett had one month to live. stories about nick made police suspicious, but what did they make of her account? >> she tells a story about

looking up for her bed and there he is. the mac that is what she says but that's not a substantiated account. that's her saying this happened. >> investigators began knocking on doors all over to get the lowdown. tandy did not pull punches. >> family friends, relatives, the immediately thought, there's only one person we can think of that might do something to garrett and that was nick hillary. >> did he have a reason to have a grudge? >> essentially. >> candies parents gave statements to police. setting that garrett -- nick had called her a factor. >> he went to her parents to lobby them. i'm good for garrett, good for her, help them see the light. >> as investigators continue to target nick, they still have the other ex-boyfriend on their

radar. >> there was a dna swab, fingerprints, pretty much whatever. >> police say his timing checked out. he was seen walking his dog around 5:13, about the time the officer arrived at garrett's apartment. >> no one goes to someone's house to strangle someone with a dog and jumped out the window with the dog. >> the police dropped jones as a suspect and even though tandy had a bad breakup with jones, she told police that garrett and jones were close. for tandy, it was always nick and only nick. police would continue investigating but pressure seemed to be mounting for a quick resolution. >> even the next morning, the

chief of police indicated to another investigator that we had a hot sauce packed and they were lining up whatever evidence they could to make an arrest. >> that conversation was recorded by police. a routine procedure for calls in and out of the department. >> we have a strong set backed. we are trying to get the ammunition that we can. >> the lieutenant, working his first homicide's lead investigator, observed on the sideline. police believed the killer may have sustained a leg injury jumping from the second floor window. would nick be limping? coming up. >> were you aware that the cops had the camera on you? >> i had no idea.

>> coach hillary, secretly taped. >> i observed the lamp at halftime. >> a man was treated like an animal and that's not allowed in the united states. >> when "dateline" continues. clammy if you have wet amd, you never want to lose sight of the things you love. some things should stand the test of time. long lasting eylea hd could significantly improve your vision and can help you go up to 4 months between treatments. if you have an eye infection, eye pain or redness, or allergies to eylea hd, don't use. eye injections like eyla hd may cause eye infection,

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♪ now's the time to ask your gastroenterologist how you can take control of your crohn's with skyrizi. ♪ ♪ control is everything to me. ♪ ♪ learn how abbvie could help you save. we have a news update. president biden in atlanta today, set to deliver morehouse college commencement speech. this has received criticism from students and alumni at the college over the administration 's stance on the israel hamas war. german rudy giuliani was heard indictment papers and arizona's fake electors ks and for his 80th birthday party in palm beach, florida, that notice game hours after he made a post mocking the state attorney general on social media. for now, back to "dateline".

not long after garrett phillips was strangled, his mother told investigators that nick hillary was the killer and police were urgently investigating. the night after the murder, a team led by mark murray aimed a video camera at nick as he prowled the sidelines while coaching a soccer game. they were looking for a limp to match the theory that the killer may have been injured while leaping from the second story window. >> police interviewed other individuals that he's known to be active on the sidelines and he's not doing that. >> after videotaping him throughout the game, police were convinced they saw what they came to see. >> did you think you saw a hitch? >> definitely. i observed a significant limp, i observed what i observed. >> were you aware the cops were pointing a camera on you as you coached? >> i had no idea.

>> nick said he was focused on beating their rivals in the big game. >> this is a game we must win. >> he said he had nothing to do with garrett death and had no reason to think he was a suspect that night or the next morning, when police asked him to come down to the police station. >> for what purpose? >> to see if i could identify garrett's friends. >> then, the conversation veered away from the list. >> if you could help me with something i'm clueless about. >> you seem surprised by the questioning >> we would like to eliminate you >> am i a suspect? eliminates a big word. >> everyone is a suspect.

>> he now realized he was being accused. he shut down. what is practice? >> i have no comment. >> you can't tell me when practice was? >> jesse mckinley covered the story for the new york times. >> i think his argument would be, i was scared. this is a scary situation, i seem to be 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. >> he said no comment i remember thinking, everyone is giving us information. if the roles were reversed, i would do anything in my power to figure out what happened. the mckee was then read the miranda rights. >> the officers barred the door and told me i wasn't allowed to leave. >> but you were not arrested. >> i was being held against my will. >> police were zeroing in and

asking tough questions to his assistant coach. he told them he had seen nick shortly after 5:00 the afternoon of the murder and was at normally. >> this was supposedly 10 minutes after you strangled someone to death. >> i know you are buddies. i'm going to be honest, it looks like did it. do you believe he's capable of something like that? >> i absolutely don't believe it. >> meanwhile, nick asked for a lawyer. he was detained but had not been arrested. police took his phone, wallet, and car while they waited for a judge to sign the search warrant. from a proud army veteran and proud member of the community, he said his treatment was humiliating. >> they took pictures of you naked? >> as the day i was born.

>> looking for what? >> i didn't know. >> how long did that last? >> it seemed like an eternity. >> after nine hours inside, police released him. >> this was from early in the morning to about after 5:00, when i was released in a hazmat suit. >> you didn't get your clothes back? >> nothing. i didn't have keys to my apartment. i didn't have my wallet or any identification if i should get stopped in the street. it's an inhumane way to be treated. >> he felt branded in his own community. >> there was a big spread in the newspaper, stating the police had questioned me. the thing he was the prime and perhaps only suspect, nick started to fight back with the help of the happened to be a

lawyer, a former teammate. >> this was tunnelvision bid the powers that be wanted to get ahead of this. >> he said that he was not at garrett's apartment and denied the accusations made to police. >> was the >> thing and surprising. >> you did you ever have an issue? >> no. >> how are things with you and tandy? >> great. >> but not boyfriend girlfriend? >> no point >> did you want to get back together? mac no. >> did you have a key to her house? >> no, i didn't. the lawyer had also seen the sidelines video from the night after the murder. to them, it was eye-opening did not show up said it did. >> that turned out to be untrue.

>> nick strides off the field at halftime. he does not appear to be limping at all. >> i had no length, i was myself that night with the exception of a heavy heart because of what had happened. to garrett. >> like the soccer champions they were, they were not only playing defense, they went on offense, too, blasting what said to him at the station. >> a man was treated like an animal and that's not a lap >> they vowed to sue the village and its police department for violating nick's civil rights. >> we live in a country where when rights are violated, citizens can stay silent and continue to have those rights violated or you can stand up. coming up did the startling new videotape with 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?

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a little boy was dead, and potsdam was in mourning. schools emptiea memorial service for garrett ex a little boy was gone. schools emptied out for a memorial service for garrett, that sixth-grader so exuberant in his 12 years of life. later that week, the funeral at this church. for his mother, it was a blur. >> i remember being at the church. i remember being at the funeral home. a lot of people. >> garrett was laid to rest in the nearby town where his mother grew up. he is buried next to the father he barely knew. >> is it true that you buried him with his rib steak? >> yes.

what do you think that says about who that little boy was? >> that and his lacrosse stick where his prized possessions. i wanted him to have them. >> she said goodbye to her boy, but now is police continue to zero in on nick hillary, she hoped to get answers for him. >> did you know that nick was brought in for questioning? did you think there would be an arrest? >> i thought so, very quickly. >> nick hillary was just as adamant that he was an innocent man, hunted by a rush to judgment investigation that didn't turn up evidence because he didn't do it. >> why were you the person of interest? >> i wish i knew. >> police were trying to make a case against him but search warrants on his home, phone, and car yielded nothing. forensics came back and did not match nick for hair or fibers. they did find fingerprints around the window but they matched no one known to the

case. imprints in the grass below were useless. initial test on dna taken beneath the boys fingernail proved inconclusive. what's more, two people were vouching for nick's whereabouts around the time of the murder. >> i was with my daughter and my assistant coach at that time. >> so they are your alibi witnesses. >> exactly. >>'s teenage daughter set a deposition that her dad was with her at their appointment -- apartment on the way street from 5:00 to 5:15. the assistant coach said he came to his house on garden street around 5:21. that makes it impossible for nick to be on market street at 5:00 when garrett was being attacked. >> there was no arrest, no grand jury, no indictment, nothing. they were kind of at their wits end, in a sense. >> police pulled up security video and noticed the car that

looks like nick's honda cr-v creeping through the high school parking lot around the time garrett was to skate by. the camera shots were too far away to i.d. plates or the driver. despite the continuing lack of hard, physical evidence, in the court of public opinion, nick was a murderer. >> being out and about in the community, figures are being pointed, conversations are being whispered. people would drive past our house and call me a murderer. my house has been egged. >> that is something he maintains to this day, he has been made a pariah in that community which he felt part of. >> a black man being singled out in a white community. >> to some extent, nick's case fits that narrative of a black man falsely accused. >> unlike the stalled criminal investigation, nick's lawyer was moving ahead with a civil

lawsuit against lieutenant murray and the police. a lawsuit, filed for detaining nick all day without arresting him and allegedly degrading him by taking photographs of him naked. >> mr. hillary could have held his head down and ran away. he believes in civil rights, he believes in his rights as a man and he is going to stand up for those rights. >> i did not violate his rights in any way, shape, or form. i executed a lawful search of his person. >> lieutenant murray and the police department deny the allegations in the civil suit and the insurance company hired a lawyer to defend them. believing that the best defense is good offense, they decided to turn the tables on nick and his lawyer. >> what's the strategy? >> to prove that nick killed garrett phillips. >> and your clients were justified in doing everything they did. >> bottom line, yes.

>> a preliminary step before the lawsuit is actually filed is a proceeding called a 58 hearing in which the defense attorney gets to question the plaintiff. >> does he have to answer? >> no. he can assert his but the amendment privilege. >> april, 2012. tom picked a nondescript conference room in the municipal building. he chose not to videotape it. >> i wanted to keep it low-key. if you stocking, i want him to keep talking. well, mr. hillary was talking. >> the main goal was to get nick to admit that he was in the car seen on that security camera video. up until then, please have suspicions but no proof. >> you can't zoom in on the license plate or the guys eyeglasses and that so-and-so behind the wheel. it doesn't work that way. the number one question at that time was, is that nick hillary in his car in that parking lot?

>> tom asked a series of question and to his surprise, nick readily answered. mr. hillary, at any point, october 24th, were you at the high school? yes. how did you get there? i drove. did you drive the honda? yes. and why was nick at the high school on that rainy day? he said it was to watch a soccer game but notice the yellow school bus blocking his view. >>'s vision of the soccer field is up skewered by a giant yellow school bus, the concession stand, and the stands next to the field. coming up, admission under oath. >> you can take the fifth and police are ecstatic. >> and, make way for a new d.a. >> she was going to do everything she could to get justice for garrett. >> what did that mean? >> i was alarmed. >> when "dateline" continues.

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dennis murphy: attorney tom mortati was defending the potsdam police department in a civil lawsuit brought by nick hillary. an attorney was defending in a civil lawsuit brought by nick hillery. at a preliminary hearing, nick had just confirmed that it was him in this car seat on security camera video at the high school. nick said he was there to watch the game, but in the footage, a school bus seems to block his view. the honda slowly moves, settling into this parking lot, red tail lights on. from there, nick still can't see the game, nor does he try to get a closer look. >> he never shuts the vehicle off. >> why was he really there? the answer, according to tom, was about to skate interview. or: 52, here comes garrett at the bottom of the screen. using down the sidewalk,

blissfully unaware that in just a few minutes, he would be viciously attacked and left for dead. after about 16 seconds on camera, he states out of frame, turning left on his way home. >> next brake lights come on within a second of garrett coming into view, and he backs his way out. >> he did not admit the following garrett. he didn't admit to even seeing garrett. >> i went home. i went straight home, i didn't stop anywhere else. >> which nick acknowledged. on his honda reached the intersection, nick didn't go right. instead, he turned left, going in the same direction as garrett. six months after garrett's death, the civil lawyer had breathed new life into a dormant murder investigation, extracting what seemed like powerful new evidence from the prime suspect. >> he didn't take the fifth, and the police arcs attic with what they've got.

>> with the person he needed to convince was nicole dubay, then district attorney for st. lawrence county. tom center the transcript of the deposition, wherein nick admits to being in his car in the high school parking lot, which police say seemed to be tailing garrett shortly before he was killed. the d.a. said it still wasn't enough. >> she believed there simply was not enough evidence to convict knit calorie, let alone convict him. >> the d.a. met with handy and told her the same thing. >> she used a scale as an example, and it was one little pebble at a time. >> she couldn't get enough pebbles to tilted this way? >> right. >> the case went into a deep freeze and it looked like it might stay there. >> this sort of crime is so out of the ordinary, so unheard of, at 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. >> what is your word about 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 justice 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 his brother, robbie, garrett's dad. so he lost robbie, and then losing garrett the way that we did, brian never stopped. >> he wouldn't let this become a cold case. >> never. >> in 2013, a former cop and decided to run for district

attorney. >> her prime campaign theme is, there's a murderer running around and nobody has done anything about it. >> the only thing i would promise is, that would be my top agenda as soon as i got into office. i spoke with handy the next day and we spoke for about two hours. >> you didn't promise or results, you promised are your professional interest? >> exactly. >> tandy took to the stump to campaign for mary. >> she was going to do everything she could to bring justice for garrett. >> 10 days before election day, mary knew she still had ground to make up if she had any hope of becoming the new d.a.. >> you know, help from up above never hurts. >> she calls it her campaign miracle. >> i was in church one morning. i said, god, i need some help. >> help came that same day, one according to tandy, the incumbent campaign walked up to

her house. >> yeah, she saw my sign 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 incensed, because she said the d.a. refused an invitation to eke with her and instead just walked away. tandy took to facebook to vent. someone just left a visit to my house it left me feeling like my family is very unimportant. >> how did that feel to hit send? >> i'm not the type to rant on face book. i generally stay away from the drama side of it. but i was angry. >> once i read that facebook post, i thought, who does that? i immediately private message tandy and i said, this just makes me cry. she said, there's no crying. but that's hard to get past.

>> tandy let mary repost the incident to her facebook friends, and from there, i went viral. a big newsflash in the county. >> kind of a political stumble. it makes nicole dubay look like she didn't have a handle on things. if she didn't even know where the victim's mother lived, how could she find the victims killer? >> on election night, the voter spoke. mary came from behind to win the d.a.s job, 52% to 48. the two voters with perhaps the biggest moving interest in the outcome had opposite reactions. >> i felt relief. i felt like something was finally going to happen. >> i was alarmed a little bit. not surprised. >> the new d.a., as promised, immediately plunged into this confounding case. and she'd soon get lucky again and come up with something her predecessor never had -- the prime suspect under oath, but this time on video.

coming up. nick hillary's hazy memory . >> when people remember why they broke up with her high school girlfriend, and you can't remember where this relationship broke up? >> investigators wanted to know. did he have something to hide? >> did garrett like you? >> he said he disliked me. >> when dateline continues. ne the test of time. long lasting eylea hd could significantly improve your vision and can help you go up to 4 months between treatments. if you have an eye infection, eye pain or redness, or allergies to eylea hd, don't use. eye injections like eyla hd may cause eye infection, separation of the retina, or rare but severe swelling of blood vessels in the eye.

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mary rain took office as the county's new da in january 2014, and the first file she cracked open, >> mary raymond took office january 2014, and the first file she cracked open, she promised in the campaign, was a garrett phillips case. >> i'm disheartened to see a loan folder sitting in the office which is about this thick, and i realize this is a murder investigation. it is deficient. >> but the file was about to get a huge addition. tom moore taught a was just weeks away in the civil lawsuit he brought against police. >> i prayed for some guidance and to help in whatever way i can. >> this time, lieutenant murray and his chief who both happen 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. >> what's the strategy? >> i wanted to reaffirm all the things he had previously told me under oath. i want him to be saying it on camera, because the whole purpose of videotaping, 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 de facto prosecutor, tom would be mary raines best chance to get justice for garrett. tom off-camera asked the questions. he was raising objections to protecting appeal. still, nick didn't want to answer almost everything. >> at some point, did that relationship and? >> but when the questions turned personal, nick seemed to get a case of amnesia. >> did you approach miss silas and raise the probability of

raking up? did ms. cyrus ever respect as a basis for ending the relationship? >> i don't recall. >> if she had told you that's what she wanted and the relationship, is that something you would have remembered? >> people remember why they break up with her high school girlfriend. you can't remember why this relationship with a woman he lived with for 7 or eight months broke up? >> tandy had said she broke up with nick because garrett hated his rules. >> garrett is dead because nick hillary believes he was an obstacle in the way of him ever being with tandy, that the boy had caused the breakup. >> right. it goes to motive, what is his underlying state of mind? >> can you describe to me relationship with garrett up until the point you and ms. cyrus broke up? >> we had a positive relationship. >> you know if garrett liked you?

>> tom also probed nick about his behavior after tandy moved out. >> did you ever show up at ms. cyrus's apartment in the late evening hours, letting yourself in on your own? >> no. >> if ms. cyrus has provided a sworn deposition to police indicating that that did in fact occur, was she lying when she gave that testimony? >> yes. >> the police had a theory that the killer was injured in an escape, and they claim they had video of nick limping at the soccer game the next night. when tom asked him about it, he admitted he had injured his ankle, but said it had happened before nick was killed. >> prior to october 24, 2011, did you suffer an injury to either one of your legs? can you tell me the circumstances under which that was occurred? approximately when the deck occur? what kind of piece of furniture was it?

>> i cannot recall. >> to trip over that piece of furniture, or drop something? >> i cannot recall. >> he 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 linking mr. hillary to this, and we do not. as in the first deposition, tom asked nick to explain his route home on the night of garrett's murder. if you turn left, it would have been to visit his assistant coach. >> typically, if i make a left at the parking lot, i'm checking on my assistant coach, who lives on garden street. i cannot recall. >> you don't recall whether or not you stopped into mr. fairley's apartment on garden street that afternoon? >> that is correct. >> i interrupt and say, wait a minute, you already told me previously under oath a year and a half ago that you didn't

go anywhere else and you did make any other stops anywhere after leaving potsdam high school and going to your apartment that afternoon. >> that's what i said. >> if you turned left out of the parking lot to go home to your apartment, what route did you take? >> i cannot recall. >> when it was over, tom mortada had a gift for the new d.a., mary rain. after more than six hours of nick on tape under oath, everything he said, everything he couldn't recall. so rare for a crime suspect who is not linked to police. >> i described this as the oj case backwards. oj had a criminal trial, and then there was a civil case. here, the exact opposite happened. >> you had regrets of going the civic route in the midst of this case. >> i regret that mr. hillary was targeted due to his race. and i have no control over that. that is the only regret i have

in this entire situation. >> d.a. 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 pothole. coming up. a bold new strategy. >> you take the samples of dna that previously would've been cast aside an attempt to make sense of them. >> prosecutors wonder, could nick's dna really be at the crime scene after all? when dateline continues.

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may 2014, two and 1/2 years after garrett phillips shell. skated home for the last time, da mary rain >>ef may 2014, 2 1/2 years afte garrett phillips stated home for the last time. d.a. mary rain was finally putting the case before a grand jury. her key piece of evidence, nick hillary's own words from his video deposition for his lawsuit against the pot stand police. >> anyone can talk about grand jury arguments, but the deposition was very important. >> very important. we couldn't have put him in the places he put himself. >> nick hillary was indicted and arrested . charged with second-degree murder, he was led away in handcuffs by a lead investigator. >> no ruckus, no to do. just walking nick into the station. nothing has been ordinary

in this extraordinary case. five months later, the judge throughout indictment on the grounds of prosecutorial misconduct. >> the judge in the case decides that mary rain acted inappropriately, that she injected opinion, that she obviously was not pursuing justice, per se, but was pursuing nick. >> the judge read transcripts of the proceedings and believe that the d.a. bullied nick's daughter, and allied witness, asking her the same question 13 times. >> it was cross-examination. he's not there, he doesn't know my tone of voice. he is surmising something that just did not occur. >> mary rain had taken a legal roundhouse blow to the chin, but she got up to fight again. >> there is no question you are going to refile? >> absolutely no question at all. >> using the same evidence, the d.a. won an indictment. tandy felt finally vindicated.

>> you believe nick hillary killed your boy? >> yes. >> for what reason, tandy? >> me. for whatever reason, he did not like my son. he was a problem for him. he was in his way. >> meanwhile, nick hillary was gearing up for his biggest match ever. is very freedom was at stake. >> i have stated that since day one. i am 100% innocent. >> nick's old friends and supporters that help to make bail, but in part stale, he faced visible reminders of how they felt about him. >> there everywhere. >> they are everywhere. for my own sanity, i have told myself, justice for garrett sign is a good thing. because i need justice for garrett.

>> the 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 siegel, a civil rights lawyer, and earl warren, a celebrated criminal defense attorney. >> for people like that involved in the case, it shows you that the cases echoing beyond. >> is the shaping up as another test of racial injustice? >> i think for the defense team, they don't believe that nick did this, and they believe he's being railroaded, and they feel that part of this has to do with his race. i think for mary rain and the prosecution team, that is the last thing that they want. 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 hounds of a killer. >> nick supporters, including his former teammates, remained adamant that their friend was innocent. >> it's not possible. he's just such a caring and compassionate and loving person. he's been around kids his

entire life. >> even on the worst day of his life, he couldn't get there. >> not a chance. >> these teammates are among countless friends and's of orders behind the website true for nick hillary. they dipped into their pockets to help fund his defense and also paid his everyday bills once he was fired as soccer coach after his arrest. >> and you are now putting your money where your sentiments are. >> yeah, all these guys are. we've had hundreds of people donate to the site itself, contribute whatever they can. >> a trial date was set for september 2016. nick's teammates would stand by him in open court. >> it's championship season again. >> this is more than a ring. this is life-and-death. >> but first, both sides braced for a summertime fight the could tilt the balance. it was over dna. did it exist? was it next? and whatever it was, wasn't 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 neither include or exclude nick hillary. >> 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've been cast aside because they were too small or they were too difficult to analyze properly. you take those samples and attempt to make sense of them using a computer algorithm. >> prosecutors say the next test came back as a match for nick. not so fast, argued the defense. too unorthodox, too reliable. >> after a reputable organization or testing site told him, look, there's nothing connecting this guy, they went to a different continent, to

new zealand, to get something to nick. and it didn't stick. >> in the end, the judge agreed with the defense. pretrial, he ruled the prosecution could not use the newfangled analysis. a major setback. >> used to have a case absent that science? >> we still can do it based on the other evidence we have. >> to 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 it is 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 inside of me to fight. >> nick and tandy, face-to-face. >> you're going to go up to the stand, and there's going to be

nick hillary. are you ready for that? >> i am. >> the showdown begins. >> i am 100% innocent. of the accusations that i am facing. >> you could have heard a pin drop in the courtroom. >> when dateline continues. and tough to keep wo ndering if this is as good as it gets. but trelegy has shown me that there's still beauty and breath to be had. because with three medicines in one inhaler, trelegy keeps my airways open and prevents future flare-ups. and with one dose a day, trelegy improves lung function so i can breathe more freely all day and night. trelegy won't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking it. do not take trelegy more than prescribed. trelegy may increase your risk of thrush, pneumonia, and osteoporosis. call your doctor if worsened breathing, chest pain, mouth or tongue swelling,

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five long years after garrett phillips was killed, the case of new york state versus nick hillary

went to trial. nick and tandy, former lovers, would be together in the same courtroom. five long years after garrett phillips was killed, the case of new york state versus nick hillary went to trial. nick and tandy, former lovers, would be in the same courtroom. >> you to be going up to the stand, and 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 came face-to-face with the possibility of a conviction. >> and there you will given another jumpsuit, put in a band, and taken away. >> i would fight, and i would 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 season, successful attorneys. the venerable team of earl warren and norman siegel for the defense. for the state, d.a.

mary rain and a renowned prosecutor from another county to take the lead in court. >> you bring in fitzpatrick from down in syracuse for what reason? >> bill fitzpatrick has over 75 homicide prosecutions. is been a prosecutor for over 24 years and i've been a prosecutor for over 2. >> almost immediately, a bombshell. 10 jurors had all been quickly selected, all-white, when they made a shocking announcement. they were opting for a bench trial, letting judge felix catena decide his future. >> i think their calculation was, were better off going with a legal mind, someone that knows the law. >> you will be the judge and jury. >> absolutely. >> good morning, everybody. please be seated. mr. fitzpatrick, your opening statement. >> bill laid out the state's case, painting a picture of nick hillary as a scorned lover and a liar . he said nick's own

words from his video deposition given under oath would mail him. >> the only reason he has to lie was because he was killing garrett. >> siegel 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. >> 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 removed 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 with her breaking up

the relationship. >> she was absolutely cool as a cucumber. she rarely let emotion get to her, she was very controlled, a very competent witness. >> and she testified about the time, she said, nick let himself into her apartment undivided. >> i was getting very annoyed that he wouldn't leave me alone. >> he obsessed about the breakup. >> next, the prosecution presented evidence it garrett died of a chokehold, a ghastly combination of strangulation and asphyxiation. red marks on his neck pointed to a desperate struggle. it was a crime of passion, 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. >> it 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 make their case. a 12 punch. they played for the judge the security video of nick's honda in high school parking lot as a side, stocking garrett. >> that's the most important witness in this case. a neutral camera sitting on top of the school. >> the state also presented that critical video of nick under oath from his deposition in his double case. >> something happens, which 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. members during his deposition, nick said he heard it before garrett's death. >> at any point prior to october 24, 2011, did you suffer an injury to either one

of your lower legs? can you tell me the circumstances under which that occurred? >> i was moving furniture around in my new apartment. >> prosecutors attacked that story when the medical examiner took the stand. he commented on photos they took of his ankle just two days after garrett was killed. >> his ankle is swollen, and they say the cut is 24 to 24 hours old. >> a fresh cut, prosecutors theorize, caused by nick's desperate attempt to leap from the 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. >> he went straight home after

he left potsdam high school that afternoon. >> yes. >> straight home would've meant turning right, but nick turned left, just like garrett. prosecutors laid it out with dramatic flair. there was nick, under oath, caught in a lie confirmed by the video. >> mr. hillary doesn't turn right . he turns left, because he's hunting garrett phillips. >> would be the prosecution's best evidence is this videotape . the journey to the field to look at the soccer team. >> the prosecution says it's her most conclusive piece of evidence. >> when they were playing that tape, which was about five minutes long in that courtroom, you could've 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 killed. how conveniently forgetful, said prosecutors, highlighted by three simple words. >> i cannot recall. i cannot recall. >> watch him as he answers, without even the slightest reflection or effort to try to recall. >> if you start to take these things in total, the have a guy who is not telling the truth, a guy who does not have an ironclad alibi. >> the proof is beyond compelling. every single fact in this case point ahead. and at some point, coincidences stopping coincidences. >> it was a circumstantial case, and now the defense would get its turn and they would make the aggressive case in court that nick hillary had been making for himself and stay one. >> i am 100% innocent of the accusations that i am facing. >> coming up. >> you searched his house twice. what did you find? >> nothing.

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the defense now acknowledged nick had in fact visited tandy twice at her new apartment, but they got tandy to admit those visits were not so scary after all. >> these episodes prosecutors try to portray some kind of nefarious behavior on nick's part. but tandy made it clear 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 as if nick was this demon, this awful person who snuck into this woman's bedroom. 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. during cross-examination, it came out that that wasn't the case. >> tandy and other family

members also conceded that nick had never laid a hand on garrett while they lived together. >> there is nothing between the two that could be considered danger. nothing between the two that would leave or could leave to murder. >> they have 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. reasonable doubt wins their case. >> nick hillary is not a murder. he's not a violent man. violence is inconsistent 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. >> is been around kids his 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 a pick me up, never yelled at me or made me feel bad about letting a goal in. >> and his lawyers dismissed the prosecution suggestive motive that he killed for revenge. >> this theory is simply not credible on its face. >> there's always been this question as to what this could possibly gain for him. what would be the upside of hurting this kid? >> the defense is biggest point was very simple. it was no physical evidence, none, linking nick hillary to the crime. >> no hair, no fibers. there was no fingerprints 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 print 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. is nearly five year investigation had failed to turn up any physical evidence against nick in any place. >> he brought him forward and said, you searched his house twice. what did you find? nothing. he searched his office two times. what did you find? nothing. >> which made it clear, the defense argued, that the police had tunnel vision. starting with the night of the murder. >> as you heard, i was targeted. would it be fair to say there's judgment? >> the most damning prosecution evidence against nick had been

those videotapes. first, his deposition in the civil suit. 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 gary phillips. it is true, he often said, i can't recall. but does that make him a murderer? >> as for the states centerpiece evidence, that security camera video where nick appeared to follow garrett out of the high school parking lot, it didn't actually show much of anything, argued the defense. >> the prosecution wants to make much of this video, and the prosecution wants you to jump to conclusions. >> the camera doesn't record the end of this. >> there is no videotape that exist anywhere that shows nick hillary pulling up and getting out of his car and walking up those stairs. >> nick's assertion that we went to his home and not garrett's

was bolstered to trial by two alibi witnesses. >> the focus was to show that nick was somewhere else from the period of 5:00 to at least 5:23 and have two alibi witnesses that would hold up. >> the first was assistant soccer coach ian fairley. he testified that nick stopped by his house at 5:21 p.m., about five minutes after garrett was attacked. >> did fairley stick to his guns? >> absolutely. and as he said to me and other people, that that afternoon, when nick hillary walked into that apartment, he wasn't limping, he wasn't sweating, he didn't seem upset. he just seemed like the same old guy. >> but it was nick's daughter whose testimony would be make or break. she testified he was with her at their house in the critical time period of five: 00 to 5:25 p.m..

it was the same time young garrett was losing the struggle for his life. >> she is a strong witness, and she is reasonable doubt. >> and cross-examination, executor bill fitts patrick went after nick started with gusto and got her to admit that she didn't remember very much else about that day except for the time 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. as fate would soon be in the hands of one man -- judge catena would decide. >> coming up. >> we are talking 25 years to life. >> the judges verdict. what would it be? when dateline continues. that was left behind.

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we're talking murder two, you know. we're talking 25 years to life. this is not shoplifting. this is a very serious charge. narrator: the awful question before the court was this. >> we are talking murder, too. l we are talking 25 years to life. this is a very serious charge. >> the awful question before the court was this -- had nick hillary choked the life out of a 12-year-old boy? >> is been lying about it ever since. >> lee prosecutor bill fitts patrick had thundered outrage, channeling the emotion of tandy and her family. >> eric philips 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. >> the defense team it's been three weeks arguing there is simply no evidence against nick. >> i don't judge that you will get it right. i know that after considering all the evidence in this case will find mr. hillary not guilty. >> the defense had wagered on unusual high-stakes gamble. bypassing a jury and asking the judge to decide. judge and jury in one man. phil! tina. ryone back a week went by with no decision, un-excruciating wait for both sides. then, the judge called everyone back to the courthouse to hear his verdict.

for 42-year-old nick hillary and his unwavering legion of truth for nick hillary supporters, it had been a five year long slog to clear his name. >> i been here since day one supporting nick, and you know, stated his corner. i'm not going to stop standing by him now. >> for tandy cyrus, cocooned in a huddle of friends and family, the agonizing weight, with all its fixing starts, was finally over. the moment was at hand. >> as to the charge of murder in the second degree is charged in the indictment, the defendant is found not guilty. >> not guilty. a quick burst of applause, and a cry from nick side of the room. garrett's uncle shouted out in nick's direction, kaarma 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.

d.a. mary ray and said she was devastated, and spoke of tandy's pain. >> i just simply express my condolences, and that was about it. and she said, i know you guys tried. >> tom mortada, the attorney for the potts dam police, addressed the issue of race which had been hanging over the case from the start. >> race had nothing to do with this investigation. if any of you actually had an opportunity to meet with some of the investigators, you would know that. i can tell you affirmatively that race had nothing to do with this from the get-go. >> there's a family that even after five years, still grieves. we are not oblivious to that. but nick hillary did not kill garrett phillips. nick hillary is an innocent man. >> 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 potts dam will also try to put this case behind them. in 2022, nick's civil rights lawsuit went to trial, and a village found 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. >> 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 try to

resuscitate my son and failed. i'm never going to have my son back. >> had he lived, had he gotten extra years, where do you think he would have been ? >> still the fun-loving kid he was, joking and teasing. i think he would be looking ahead at a very bright future somewhere as an athlete. >> but the boy is buried now with the artifacts of his childhood, including that rip stick. garrett exits forever frame left, the mystery surrounding his killer, still abides.