February 10, 2022 at 11:51 a.m.
Local man changes plea hours before child sexual assault trial was set to begin
Local man changes plea hours before child sexual assault trial was set to begin
Malachi K. Hills, 22, was set to face a jury Feb. 9 and 10 in Branch II of Oneida County Circuit Court on charges of first-degree sexual assault of a child under 12 and repeated sexual assault of the same child, both Class B felonies. However, in a rather quickly scheduled hearing Monday morning, he changed his pleas from not guilty to no contest.
Judge Michael Bloom accepted Hills' pleas and found him guilty of repeated sexual assault of the same child, a Class C felony, and child enticement, a Class D felony. Because the first charge was downgraded from the more serious version, there is no mandatory minimum sentence.
District attorney Mike Schiek explained that there would be no sentencing recommendation made as a condition of the change in plea.
"Each side would be free to argue on an appropriate sentence, and neither party is bound by any specific recommendation," Schiek said, adding that Hills would be eligible for credit for the time served in jail since his arrest March 5, 2021.
After public defender Elizabeth Svehlek confirmed the terms of the deal, and neither attorney requested a pre-sentence investigation, Bloom scheduled a sentencing hearing for March 24.
Hills faces up to 25 years in prison and 15 years extended supervision on the Class C felony and 15 years in prison and 10 years supervision on the child enticement charge.
Hills was originally charged with first-degree child sexual assault (intercourse with person under 12), repeated sexual assault of the same child (at least 3 violations of first degree sexual assault), exposing genitals to a child, child enticement (expose genitals) and causing a child under 13 to view/listen to a sex act) on March 15, 2021. He waived his right to a preliminary hearing on March 15 and he entered not guilty pleas to the two charges that the district attorney brought forward in the information at a separate arraignment April 5.
Pretrial conferences were held in June, August and October, at which time Svehlek and Schiek said negotiations had not yielded a resolution short of trial. At a Oct. 26 hearing, Bloom scheduled a two-day jury trial for Feb. 9 and 10.
At a pretrial conference on Dec. 28, both attorneys reiterated they were in trial posture, and a resolution remained unlikely. Bloom said the final day to call off the trial would be Feb. 7.
According to the police report attached to the criminal complaint, a detective with the Rhinelander Police Department received a report from social services on March 3, 2021 regarding a possible child sexual assault case.
In the report, the detective sergeant stated the child alleged the assaults began in November 2017 and ended in February of 2021.
Jamie Taylor may be reached via email at [email protected].
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