District Attorney Mary Rain and attorney Thomas Mortati speak with the press following Wednesday’s not guilty verdict in the Oral ‘Nick’ Hillary murder case. North Country Now photo by Andy Gardner.

By ANDY GARDNER

CANTON -- The St. Lawrence County district attorney says there will be no new investigation into the murder of Garrett Phillips because she is certain Oral “Nick” Hillary is the killer, despite Wednesday’s not guilty verdict.

“I am 100 percent certain Nick Hillary committed this crime,” District Attorney Mary Rain said at a press conference following the trial. “Just because he was found not guilty doesn’t mean he was innocent.”

Hillary was acquitted of second-degree murder, clearing him of accusations that he strangled to death 12-year-old Garrett Phillips in Potsdam on Oct. 24, 2011.

Thomas Mortati, who is representing the Village of Potsdam in a civil suit brought by Hillary, said race had nothing to do with the prosecution or investigation.

“Race had nothing to do with this investigation,” Mortati said. “Mr. Hillary didn’t make that claim in his civil case.”

“There were hundreds of leads developed,” Rain said.

Mortati said the civil case “is still going on and we’ll move forward.”

A video tape of Hillary being questioned by Mortati was a centerpiece of the prosecution’s case. The recording was from a Jan. 20, 2014 deposition Hillary gave as part of the civil suit.

“You are going to be convinced beyond any shadow of a doubt that the person who is speaking is lying,” prosecutor William Fitzpatrick said of the video in his opening statement. Fitzpatrick is the Onondaga County district attorney, who assisted Rain as a special prosecutor. He gave their opening and closing statement, as well as questioned and cross-examined many of the key witnesses.

Rain said a bungled initial investigation by the Potsdam Police Department may have weakened her case. The agency’s lead investigator on the case, Mark Murray, is now acting chief, which puts him in a position to be named permanent chief.

“They missed theories in that case, made assumptions Garrett fell out a window during horseplay and climbed back upstairs,” Rain said. “I think they forgot that their police training is you treat every death as a homicide and work your way back to natural causes.”

A reporter questioned if the acquittal means Rain didn’t live up to her campaign promises. She campaigned at times with Tandy Cyrus Collins at her side, Garrett Phillips’s mother.

“When I ran I didn’t say I was going to bring justice for Garrett,” she said, adding that she told Collins and her family that she would make the case “a top priority.”

“You don’t make promises you can’t keep,” Rain said.

None of Garrett Phillips’s family attended the prosecution’s press conference. Rain said she had spoken with the family and they were “devastated” by the verdict.

“They saw the man who killed that 12-year-old boy smile and walk out of the courtroom,” the DA said.