Patrick M. Hill, the former Mattie Lively Elementary School assistant principal charged with simple battery in a case involving a 7-year-old student, is no longer expected to make a court appearance next week but has entered a plea of not guilty and filed a motion for an immunity hearing.

As reported earlier this week, a Board of Education fair dismissal hearing originally slated for Dec. 16 and then rescheduled to Friday, Jan. 13, was cancelled outright after Hill obtained his retirement from the Teachers Retirement System of Georgia, which a Bulloch County Schools spokesperson said made him no longer a school district employee. But to be clear, the misdemeanor charge of simple battery against Hill for alleged mishandling of the child in the Nov. 14 incident is still pending in Bulloch County State Court.

Hill was originally slated for arraignment – a formal reading of the charge and opportunity to enter a plea – Wednesday, Jan. 18, at 10 a.m. before State Court Judge Joseph Cushner. But Hill’s attorney, Ellen Schoolar of the Lowe & Schoolar firm in Savannah, filed entry of appearance and waiver of arraignment documents on his behalf Jan. 5.

The waiver of arraignment states, in writing, “Not Guilty,” as his plea.

“As a result, a not guilty plea was entered and the case will proceed to a pre-trial conference docket at a later date,” Bulloch County Solicitor General Catherine Findley, who is prosecuting the charge, stated in a reply email Friday.

Immunity claim

Also on Jan. 5, Schoolar filed a preliminary motion seeking to dismiss the charge “on the basis of educator immunity” and requesting a pretrial hearing on that issue.

“Specifically, on November 14, 2022, while Defendant was acting within the course and scope of his  duties as an assistant  principal … he  removed an unruly student  from a classroom and was attempting to seat the student  on a bench in the hallway. Defendant was unable to maintain his hold on the student, and the student fell,” Schoolar asserts in the “Statement of Facts” portion of the motion document.

The hearing Schoolar requested would be for argument and the presentation of evidence on whether the court should dismiss the charge and bar the state from prosecuting Hill  on any future indictment or accusation from the same incident. In her motion, Schoolar cites a Georgia law which states that an educator is immune from criminal liability for student disciplinary acts or  omissions “provided that  the educator  acted in good faith.”

The Statesboro Herald obtained the document independently from the case file. Schoolar was not reached with  a phone  call Friday to  her  office. Findley replied to a request for information only on the status of the case.

“There was an immunity motion filed within the entry of appearance and consolidated motions packet, and that motion has been preserved,” she wrote. “When we appear for the pre-trial conference docket, we will determine what if any motions need to be scheduled prior to trial. We will then set a motions hearing date, if needed.”

When phoned in follow-up, Findley confirmed that no action on the case is expected in court next week, since the waiver excused Hill from actually appearing for arraignment. Next the sides will disclose evidence to each other through the discovery process, and a pretrial conference could occur “probably sometime in March,” she said.

Case history

A warrant for Hill’s arrest was sworn Nov. 28 by Statesboro Police Department Capt. Jared Akins and issued by Bulloch County Probate Court Judge Lorna DeLoach. In it, Akins alleged that Hill “did intentionally cause physical harm” to the 7-year-old boy “by throwing him down on a bench causing a small abrasion to the knuckle area of the right hand” in the Nov. 14 incident.

Hill posted bond, set at $2,000, Nov. 28, the same date the arrest report states that he was “taken into custody” at the Bulloch County Sheriff’s Office.

After viewing video of the incident and hearing from witnesses, Superintendent of Schools Charles Wilson took action to terminate Hill’s employment and not renew his contract. It was that effort, separate from the court process, that entitled him to a Board of Education hearing, but Hill, an educator in the local schools for 29 years, retired instead.

He had been assigned as an assistant principal at Mattie Lively just this school year after three years as Statesboro High School’s athletic director and as one of its assistant principals. Before that he served as principal of Portal Middle High School and before that of Mill Creek Elementary School.