CANTON -- Oral Nicholas Hillary today pleaded not guilty to a charge of second-degree murder in the death of an 12-year-old Potsdam boy in 2011.

Hillary was arraigned today before County Court Judge Jerome J. Richards on a single charge of murder in the second degree.

The indictment alleges that between 4:56 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. Oct. 24, 2011, Hillary murdered Garrett Phillips by suffocation and strangulation in the apartment he and his mother lived in at 100 Market St. in Potsdam.

“Consistent with the May 2104 grand jury and Judge Jerome J. Richards ruling of October 16, 2014, a second grand jury found sufficient evidence to indict Oral Nicholas Hillary for murder in the second degree,” St. Lawrence County District Attorney Mary Rain said.

Hillary was arraigned with counsel and entered a not-guilty plea. His $150,000 bond continues, along with additional provisions under the supervision of probation.

Motions were filed in court with a return date of Feb. 17.

This indictment is the result of a second grand jury that heard the case. In October, Judge Richards dismissed the first indictment on grounds of prejudicial questioning of witnesses that might have unduly influenced the grand jurors.

Hillary was initially indicted in May, two and a half years after the strangulation death of 12-year-old Phillips.

No suspects were ever specifically named by police, but Hillary was named by Potsdam police as a person of interest, the only person so identified.

The investigation appeared stalled until an indictment last May by St. Lawrence County District Attorney Mary Rain, who had been elected the previous November.

Hillary, a former assistant Clarkson University soccer coach, is alleged to have had a relationship with Phillips’ mother.

Hillary was eventually released on bail after several months of wrangling over the value of property he wanted to put up as collateral.