X

Defense team in Potsdam murder trial attacks credibility of sheriff who used to date mother of boy who was killed

Posted 9/19/16

John E. Jones, left, a St. Lawrence County sheriff's deputy, leaves the witness stand Monday. Jones previously dated Garrett Phillips' mother and at one point had briefly been considered a suspect in …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

Defense team in Potsdam murder trial attacks credibility of sheriff who used to date mother of boy who was killed

Posted

John E. Jones, left, a St. Lawrence County sheriff's deputy, leaves the witness stand Monday. Jones previously dated Garrett Phillips' mother and at one point had briefly been considered a suspect in the child's murder, but was never charged. Pool photo by Brit Hanson, North Country Public Radio.

By ANDY GARDNER

Updated Sept. 26 at 10:25 a.m. to clarify John Jones says he never had a key to Tandy Cyrus Collins' apartment.

CANTON -- The Oral “Nick” Hillary defense team attacked the credibility of a St. Lawrence County Sheriff deputy who used to date Garrett Phillips’s mother after he denied his involvement Monday in the boy’s 2011 death.

Later in the proceedings, the prosecution began playing a 2014 deposition video that they say is indicative of Hillary’s guilt in the murder.

The day ended with the defense airing concern that a member of the St. Lawrence County District Attorney’s Office is talking about the case online using a pseudonym.

Hillary is on trial in St. Lawrence County Court in 2011, accused of killing 12-year-old Phillips on Oct. 24, 2011 in Potsdam.

 Deputy Takes the Stand, Credibility Attacked

The prosecution called John Jones to the witness stand after noon recess. Jones, a St. Lawrence County Sheriff’s deputy, dated Phillips’s mother, Tandy Cyrus Collins, about from 2007 to 2010.

Prosecutor William Fitzpatrick immediately asked Jones if he was the killer.

“Did you kill, on Oct. 24, 2011, Garrett Phillips?” Fitzpatrick asked.

“I absolutely did not,” Jones replied, later testifying that he voluntarily gave police a sample of his DNA not long after Phillips died.

Prosecutors, with Jones on the stand, played a 23-minute video that showed four Canton-Potsdam Hospital cameras that captured Jones around the time Phillips died.

The tapes show him pull into his 17 Cottage St. driveway, just minutes away from where the murder took place at 100 Market St., and sit for several minutes. Jones said he was on his cell phone.

The cameras are focused on CPH parking lots and buildings and catch Jones in the corner of their view.

He’s not actually seen exiting his vehicle, but after several minutes his taillights flash and Jones testified that was him getting ready to get out of his car, go inside and change his clothes before walking his dog.

“You won’t see me exiting the vehicle because the vehicle is taller than I am,” Jones said under defense cross-examination.

“As far as you know, Mr. Jones, where are you throughout this tape?” Fitzpatrick asked.

“Inside my residence changing my clothes,” Jones answered.

“How long did that take?” Fitzpatrick asked.

“Approximately 10 minutes,” Jones answered.

“We don’t see you exit the vehicle or walk in the house in this video?” defense attorney Peter Dumas asked.

“No sir,” Jones replied.

He is later seen in the second half of the videos walking his dog around Cottage Street and some of the CPH lots and then returning home.

The prosecution has claimed that Hillary may have had a key to Phillips’s home, allowing him easier access if he was the killer.

A state police investigator earlier in the day said there were no signs of forced entry.

The defense brought up purchase records from Evans and White hardware in Potsdam that they say indicate Jones also may have had a key.

“You went to Evans and White and made a copy of the key?” Dumas asked.

“Absolutely not,” Jones replied, emphasizing the word “absolutely.”

At the end of the testimony, Dumas handed Jones a business record from Evans and White showing on John Jones on Sept. 14, 2011 had a key copied.

“It says John Jones, but you can’t say that was me,” Jones said.

An earlier version of the story indicated Jones had a key to 100 Market St., but he has since contacted North Country Now to say he wasn't given a key.

"I never had a key to her apartment," Jones wrote via email.

Dumas got Jones to admit that he doesn’t like Hillary and that the Potsdam police asked him for input on the investigation into Phillips’s death, even though he wasn’t part of the investigation.

“They asked me questions with what I would do in that situation,” Jones said. Cyrus Collins testified that Jones was with her when she gave statements to the police as part of the homicide investigation.

Cyrus Collins had said when she dated Jones, they went out as couples with members of the Potsdam police, including Mark Murray, who is now acting chief, and Sgt. Mike Ames.

Jones in his testimony downplayed the characterization that they went out socially.

“The only ones you went out with socially were Mark Murray and Michael Ames?” Dumas asked.

“Can you define going out socially?” Jones answered.

“Going out for dinner, drinks. Going out socially,” Dumas said.

“We played hockey together … (or) It would have been in a hockey function from the establishment that sponsored us,” Jones said. “I was an acquaintance with Michael Ames. To meet socially I think there might have been one gathering where we were at the same location.”

The defense also went after Jones’s credibility by bringing up an incident from 1991 where Jones later admitted while working as a law enforcement officer, he lied to another law enforcement officer while he was suspected of a crime, but no one actually said what he alleged crime was.

“When you were asked on the stand during that probable cause hearing if you admitted making a false oral statement as a law enforcement officer to another law enforcement officer when you were a suspect in a crime, what was your answer?” Dumas asked.

“In 1991, yes,” Jones replied.

The defense also made much of Jones’s feelings toward the defendant.

“Can we agree that you don’t like Nick Hillary?” Dumas asked.

“At this point, no sir I don’t,” Jones replied.

“September of 2010, you didn’t like him back then, right?” Dumas asked.

“Define dislike,” Jones answered.

“You’re a sheriff’s deputy, you’re a smart guy. Dislike,” Dumas answered.

“I didn’t like that he doesn’t tell the truth,” Jones said.

A state prison inmate has claimed that he saw Jones entering the apartment on the day Phillips was murdered. Jones denied seeing Phillips that day. The defense interviewed the inmate last week and decided not to put him on the witness stand. They said he recalled little of what he told police when they interviewed him last year.

 Two Different Explanations of Injury

After Jones left the witness stand, the prosecution began to play a two-hour tape of Hillary giving a deposition in a civil defamation suit against the Village of Potsdam and members of Potsdam police.

The video played for about an hour before the judge called recess for the day. In that hour, the tape showed Hillary quickly answering most the questions he was asked with “I cannot recall.”

Those questions included why his relationship with Cyrus ended, if she ever discussed her children’s unhappiness while they were together, if he ever approached her friends to talk about helping him get back together with her, what he did at home the afternoon of the murder before the killing took place, the route he took from his apartment to Potsdam High School shortly before Phillips died and when he injured his ankle back around Oct. 24, 2011.

Earlier in the day, the prosecution showed a picture of a small scrape on Hillary’s ankle. The photo was taken two days after Phillips died.

In the video deposition, the attorney questioning Hillary, who is representing the defendants, brings up the ankle injury.

“Prior to Oct. 24, 2011, did you sustain an injury to either of your lower legs?” the attorney asks.

“Yes … I was moving furniture around in my apartment,” Hillary answers.

“Approximately when did that happen?” the attorney asks.

“I cannot recall,” Hillary answered.

“Do you recall informing me the injury happened a week before Garrett Phillips’s death?” the attorney asks.

“If that’s what I said, that’s what I said,” Hillary asks.

“You just said you injured it shortly after moving into your apartment?” the attorney asks. “You told us a few moments ago that injury occurred shortly after moving into your new apartment … shortly after the beginning of September 2011?”

“That’s what I said,” Hillary answers.

“I have two different versions of your testimony as to when that ankle injury took place,” the attorney asks. “When was it you actually injured your ankle?”

“The week preceding,” Hillary answers.

“The testimony you gave me … is incorrect? You’re correcting your testimony?” the attorney asks.

“Yes,” Hillary answers.

 Who Is Danny Martin?

After the video was turned off, prior to the judge calling recess for the day, the defense said they believe a member of the District Attorney’s Office is making online comments in a local newspaper through the pseudonym Danny Martin.

“Someone from the DA’s office was using that pseudonym,” defense attorney Earl Ward said.

“About a week before trial started, I got a call from Mr. Ward and (defense attorney) Mr. (Norman) Siegel and they gave me that information … they indicated they thought they knew who this person was. I contacted DA Rain, she spoke with this person, this person denied it,” Fitzpatrick said. “Subpoena to get the IP address? I suggested that as a remedy too.”

The trial resumes at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday with more video footage of Hillary’s civil suit deposition.

View stories about testimony earlier in the day:

• No Hillary fingerprints, DNA at Potsdam murder scene, state police investigator testifies

• Police officer and EMT who responded to scene of Garrett Phillips's death take the stand in Potsdam murder trial