By ANDY GARDNER

CANTON -- The former Clarkson University soccer coach who in September was acquitted of murdering a Potsdam boy intends to sue more than 40 people.

On Wednesday, Oral “Nick” Hillary, formerly of Potsdam and now of Brooklyn, filed the notice with St. Lawrence County and the Village of Potsdam alleging “false arrest, investigation, malicious prosecution, fabrication of evidence, falsification of evidence, concealment of exculpatory evidence,” the document says.

A notice of claim is not an actual lawsuit, it reserves the right to sue. He has a certain amount of time to file the actual suit, which is determined by statute of limitations.

Hillary was on trial in September for the Oct. 24, 2011 killing of 12-year-old Garrett Phillips in Potsdam. He was found not guilty after a bench trial.

Among Hillary’s grievances in the notice are that there were no eyewitnesses to Phillips’s murder. It also cites Hillary’s detainment “without his consent” for about 10 hours two days after the boy died “where he was forced to undergo, and was subjected to, a strip search.”

“Mr. Hillary was immediately targeted as a suspect without any legal or rational basis to do so,” the notice of claim says. “The police investigation by the Village of Potsdam police and state police failed to uncover any evidence linking Mr. Hillary to this horrible death. Instead of conducting an investigation into the death, a boy’s assailant remains at large because investigations covered up actual evidence, leads, and information.”

The document accuses District Attorney Mary Rain of using the case for political gain.

“Mary Rain, with political aspirations, ran for office on the promise of bringing criminal charges against Mr. Hillary without any basis to make such a claim other than her political aspirations of becoming the next district attorney of St. Lawrence County,” the document reads.

In the notice, Hillary also accuses Rain, special prosecutor Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick and former New York State Police Crime Lab Assistant Director Julie Pizzaketti of fabricating and falsifying evidence, as well as withholding exculpatory evidence.

Those named in the claim include:

• St. Lawrence County District Attorney Mary Rain

• St. Lawrence County Sheriff Kevin Wells

• St. Lawrence County Sheriff Deputy John Jones

• Former Potsdam Police Chief Edward Tischler

• Former Potsdam Police Chief Kevin Bates

• Acting Potsdam Police Chief Mark Murray

• State Police Investigator Gary Snell

• State Police Investigator Theodore Levison

• State Police Investigator Timothy Peets

• Former New York State Police Crime Lab Assistant Director Julie Pizzaketti

• Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick

• 10 unidentified St. Lawrence County employees

• 10 unidentified St. Lawrence County District Attorney’s Office employees

• 10 unidentified St. Lawrence County Sheriff’s Department employees

The claim is also against St. Lawrence County, the county District Attorney’s Office, Village of Potsdam, Potsdam Police Department, Onondaga County, State of New York and New York State Police.