Attorneys representing a number of St. Lawrence County defendants have filed a motion in federal court to dismiss a lawsuit brought against them by acquitted murder suspect Oral “Nick” Hillary.

The defendants include St. Lawrence County District Attorney Mary Rain, St. Lawrence County Sheriff Kevin Wells, St. Lawrence County Sheriff’s Deputy John Jones, 10 unidentified St. Lawrence County employees, 10 unidentified St. Lawrence County District Attorney’s Office employees and 10 unidentified St. Lawrence County Sheriff’s Department employees, among others.

Hillary, a former Clarkson University soccer coach, accused of strangling to death 12-year-old Garrett Phillips on Oct. 24, 2011, was tried in September 2016 for second-degree murder. He was acquitted after a bench trial that lasted about three weeks.

The motion seeks to have the lawsuit dismissed against all of the county defendants, except Rain and Jones.

The motion was filed Nov. 13 in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York by attorneys John L. Murad Jr. and Christina M. Verone Juliano of the Syracuse-based Hancock Eastabrook law firm.

“Plaintiff's Complaint asserts thirteen causes of action in total, each directed in general to ‘Defendants’, and many of which fail to identify or articulate which of the numerous party defendants they are directed to,” the lawsuit reads. "Nevertheless, in addition to issues of expired statute of limitations and failure to meet basic pleading requirements, which are outlined in detail below, there can be no question that Plaintiff's claims as against the St. Lawrence County Defendants are quite simply unfounded, meritless, and should be dismissed.”

The motion discusses specific arguments for dismissing the counts against St. Lawrence County, the DA’s and sheriff’s offices, Wells and the 30 unnamed employees.

The motion asks for the counts to be dismissed against the sheriff himself because “Plaintiff fails to allege any personal involvement by Sheriff Kevin Wells, who has not been named anywhere in the Complaint other than the caption.”

The motion alleges Hillary’s lawsuit doesn’t have an adequate reason to sue the 10 unidentified St. Lawrence County employees.

“Plaintiff's Complaint must show a sufficient official policy and that the policy caused a constitutional claim. Plaintiffs Complaint does neither,” the document reads. “Plaintiff makes the conclusory allegation that the County of St. Lawrence, amongst others, has an ‘unwritten but long standing’ policy of treating individuals differently based on their race resulting in the defendant, a black man of Jamaican decent, being treated unfairly. It also states that the County of St. Lawrence, amongst others, has ‘a policy permitting its employees and/or agents to arrest and prosecute individuals without any legal justification.’ Beyond factual allegations relating to the Plaintiff s experience, the rest of the Complaint is simply devoid of any facts that could support that St. Lawrence County has affirmatively adopted a specific policy of discriminatory behavior based on the color of an individual's skin, or to otherwise arrest and prosecute without legal justification.”

The motion says Hillary is not legally entitled to sue the district attorney’s office.

"The Eleventh Amendment bars a suit by a citizen of a state against that state or one of its agencies, absent the state's consent to such a suit or an express statutory waiver of immunity,” the motion says. “Plaintiff has failed to mention any direct participation of the unidentified Jane/John Doe county district attorney employees #ll-20 … plaintiff's failure to identify any action or personal immunity on behalf of the unnamed parties, at any point in the lengthy complaint is basis for dismissal.”