Updated 10:22 a.m. Sept. 13, 2016

By ANDY GARDNER

CANTON -- Monday’s proceedings in the murder trial of Oral “Nick” Hillary ended with Garrett Phillips’s mother testifying under cross-examination more about her relationship with the defendant.

Phillips’s grandmother also took the stand and recounted three encounters she had with Hillary while working at Clarkson University, where the defendant also coached soccer.

Hillary is facing a second-degree murder charge, accused of strangling to death 12-year-old Phillips in 2011 in Potsdam.

Under-cross examination, Garrett Phillips’ mother, Tandy Cyrus Collins, testified that Hillary was never violent with her or her son, and that Hillary and another of her former lovers had an adversarial relationship.

Collins testified that Hillary never hit, spanked or put his hands on her son. She also testified under direct and cross-examination that Hillary, during a dispute over Phillips, refused to let her leave the house, picked her up and carried her to another room, then set her down.

“He let you leave afterward?” defense attorney Peter Dumas asked.

“Yes,” Collins said.

During opening arguments, prosecutor William Fitzpatrick said part of their case involved Hillary’s supposed knowledge of Phillips’s schedule, but Collins said during cross-examination that he may have only known his schedule before they broke up.

“He wasn’t there on a day-to-day basis to see what that schedule had evolved into? When you say he knew the schedule, you’re kind of guessing, right?” Dumas said, to which Collins answered affirmatively.

During direct examination, Collins talked about two incidents where she awoke to find Hillary in her apartment uninvited.

Under cross-examination, she said she and the defendant were still intimate on occasion and that he had a key to her apartment she had given him after they broke up.

When talking about a September 2011 incident where she woke up in the night with him in her apartment, Dumas asked Collins, “Did he ever say to you ‘I need a place to sleep tonight?’” Dumas asked Cyrus.

“No,” Collins replied, adding she knew he was moving at the time.

“He told you ‘I just need a place to sleep, right?’” Dumas said.

“Yes,” according to Collins.

“He left in morning, didn’t take anything … didn’t do anything to alarm you?” Dumas asked.

“No,” Collins answered.

Dumas also called into question the influence of John Jones, a St. Lawrence County Sheriff’s deputy with whom Collins had a relationship before being with Hillary.

Collins said she and Jones would be social with members of the Potsdam Police Department and that Jones was with her during at least one written deposition she gave in the aftermath of her son’s death.

“In your dealings with Potsdam Village Police and New York State Police, at no time did they suggest another suspect other than Nick Hillary, did they?”

“No,” Collins said.

Dumas also brought up a letter Cyrus wrote to the St. Lawrence County Sheriff and other county officials after her break-up with Jones.

She said she wrote it “basically on the instruction of Nick,” but also testified she came up with the wording, signed and delivered it to county officials herself.

Was it “accusing John Jones to use his position as a sheriff’s deputy to harass you?” Dumas asked Collins.

“Yes,” she answered, later saying “John had stopped at Nick’s house and confronted him about he and I being together.”

Collins testified that someone vandalized Hillary’s car with what they believed was a set of keys, and Hillary later opined Jones may have done it.

She also said Jones put hands on her toward the end of their relationship when she decided to end things.

The next witness on the stand was Janet Paul, Collins’s mother and Phillips’s grandmother.

She testified about three separate instances in the months before her grandson’s death when Hillary approached her at work to talk about his relationship with Collins.

At the time, Paul was a custodian in the Clarkson University freshmen dormitory and Hillary was the men’s soccer team head coach.

She said he came to her three times, once in June and twice in August 2011.

“He was fine at first … as the conversation went on, he began focusing on the boys and their behavior and their lack of structure in their life, and he felt he could provide that structure,” Paul testified.

“He was upset with my daughter because he did not like the fact that she was letting a 12-year-old and a seven-year-old influence her decision to leave him.”

She said his tone of voice and hand gestures made her uncomfortable, which drew objections from the defense team.

“He became agitated and was gesturing with his hands,” she said.

“Objection your honor. It’s been testified Mr. Hillary is from Jamaica. He has an accent. He has different speech pattern, just like us French folk from over in Malone, we talk with our hands a lot,” Dumas said.

Part of the prosecution’s argument is that Hillary got his motive to kill Phillips because he blamed him for Collins ending their relationship.

“Did he indicate anyone else was responsible for the break-up?” District Attorney Mary Rain asked.

“No,” Paul answered.

Under cross-examination, defense attorney Earl Ward tried to establish that the motives for the three conversations were not hostile.

“He spoke to you in a way that he wanted you to know he had these concerns, correct?” Ward said.

“Yes,” Paul answered.

“When he first started to speak to you, he was calm, yes?” Ward said.

“Yes,” Paul replied.

“He wasn’t moving his hands in a violent way, am I right?” Ward asked.

“I wouldn’t say violent, but,” Paul answered, not finishing her sentence.

Paul later testified under cross-examination that she began to fear for her the safety of her daughter and their children.

She said at Canton-Potsdam Hospital on the night Phillips died, she and her husband, Joseph, concluded Hillary was the killer, but said at the time no one knew Phillips had been murdered.

“You concluded that Nick Hillary must have been the person that committed this horrible act,” Ward said.

“I was in shock. I don’t remember what was said,” Paul answered.

“At the hospital, the events of Garrett’s death were somewhat unknown?” Ward asked.

“Yes,” Paul replied.

“No one came to you and said he was killed by another individual, yes?” Ward asked.

“I recall the doctor telling my grandson Aaron that someone had hurt his brother,” Paul answered.

“No police officer had told you this was a homicide?” Ward asked.

“No,” Paul replied.

Testimony resumes at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday with more witnesses from the prosecution.

View earlier story about initial testimony by Tandy Collins.

View earlier story about opening arguments.