By Fred Guarino
The Lowndes Signal

Mosses Mayor Walter Sylvester Hill filed a motion in Lowndes County Circuit Court Monday to have the indictment against him in connection with his role as former Lowndes County Emergency Management Director dismissed and agreed to postpone his case to the next trial docket in October.

Hill appeared before Lowndes County Circuit Court Judge Terri Bozeman Lovell Monday with his attorney Julian McPhillips.

Hill was indicted by a Lowndes County grand jury on Jan. 13 in connection with his role as former EMA director on charges of forgery second degree, a Class C felony, and use of official position or office for personal gain, a misdemeanor.

Hill previously pleaded not guilty and waived his arraignment.

Monday, March 24 was a day for motions to be heard in Lowndes County Circuit Court. Cases unresolved were set to be tried on April 7.

When asked for comment, McPhillips said, “We just agreed to put the case off till the next court docket because one, we’ve got a motion to dismiss that we think ought to be granted. And we’ve given the Attorney General’s Office respectfully the time to respond to it.”

McPhillips said, “Beyond the technical grounds of the improper indictment form and everything, we’re also saying that he (Hill) hasn’t done a thing wrong.”

He said everything Hill did in terms of doing identification IDs were “fully authorized.”

McPhillips said, “It’s just we think… a travesty to put it mildly. We don’t blame the Attorney General’s Office at all or even the Ethics Commission per say. We just think they were misguided… and that maybe there were some local rivalries here and there that might have been behind pushing this thing.”

McPhillips said if the motion to dismiss is not granted, the case would go to trial in mid October.

According to a copy of the motion provided by McPhillips, dismissal of the indictment is sought because “it includes two unrelated offenses.”

Also, “Simply stated, the indictment provides no notice to the defendant of what exactly the state alleges Mr. Hill did that constituted the use of his position for personal gain.”