INDIANAPOLIS — A civil battery trial brought against former Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill by four women has been called off just hours before jury selection was scheduled to begin.
In a statement Monday morning, Hill said the dismissal was a vindication of his longstanding denial of the claims.
“There was no financial settlement. There were no conditions for dismissal,” he said. “The case against me was dismissed with prejudice by each of the plaintiffs, thus ending this odyssey of unfounded allegations that have dogged me for nearly seven years and have served as the fuel for political and personal attacks against me.”
The trial was set to begin Monday when the court announced both parties had reached an agreement, leading to the dismissal.
Hill is accused of groping a lawmaker and three staffers during a party in 2018. His accusers originally filed a suit in federal court, but that case was dismissed. They later re-filed in state court.
In 2020, the Indiana Supreme Court ordered Hill to pay $19,000 and suspended him from practicing law for 30 days in a disciplinary case.
In a statement from their attorneys to the media, Mara Candelaria Reardon, Gabrielle McLemore Brock, Samantha Lozano and Niki DaSilva said they dismissed the case after reaching “the frustrating conclusion that proceeding with the trial cannot provide the relief they sought; namely, Mr. Hill accepting responsibility for his actions and admitting his fault in intentionally touching each of them in a sexual manner without consent.”
The decision to dismiss the case ends years of investigations and litigation surrounding Hill’s alleged actions during an alcohol-fueled party at an Indianapolis bar on the final night of the 2018 legislative session.
The four plaintiffs originally filed suit in the U.S. District Court for Southern District in 2019, but the court dismissed it in 2020. That’s also the year Hill, the former Elkhart County prosecutor, sought reelection to his post, losing to current Attorney General Todd Rokita at the Indiana Republican Party’s convention.
They re-filed in state court that year, alleging three claims: civil battery, defamation and false light invasion of privacy. The latter two claims were dismissed with prejudice in 2023, setting the stage for a civil battery jury trial.
The trial was delayed numerous times over the last two years, most recently in April, coinciding with the end of the competitive race for the Republican gubernatorial nomination. Hill, a candidate, came in sixth, according to the state’s primary election records.
The trial was set to go ahead this week after Marion Superior Court Judge Patrick Dietrick declined the plaintiffs’ request to delay proceedings.
“Ever since these false allegations were first leaked to the press, we have been determined to make our case to a fair and impartial jury, confident in the truth and certain that justice would prevail,” Hill said. “Finally, after several years of needless delay by the plaintiffs, a jury was ready to hear the case, and the plaintiffs folded. The plaintiffs’ action in dropping this lawsuit at the last minute is a further testament to the strength and merit of our case.”