Inspector general fights AG Hill’s subpoena in discipline case

As the disciplinary action against Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill proceeds, a key player in the investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct against Hill is claiming her records from the investigation are privileged.

Indiana Inspector General Lori Torres on Wednesday filed a motion to quash a subpoena   sought by Hill in his disciplinary action, In the Matter of: Curtis T. Hill, Jr., 19S-DI-156. Hill subpoenaed the IG’s Office earlier this month for:

• “All statements, whether recorded or not, taken during the course of the IG’s investigation of Attorney General Curtis Hill”;
• “All photos or videos collected, preserved or taken during the course of the IG’s investigation of Attorney General Curtis Hill”, and;
• “Any documents, digital included, collected during the course of the IG’s investigation of Attorney General Curtis Hill.”

After allegations that Hill drunkenly groped four women at a March 2018 party became public in July 2018, the Inspector General’s Office began an investigation alongside special prosecutor Daniel Sigler into whether Hill’s conduct was criminal or unethical. The investigation did not result in charges against Hill, but Sigler said he believed the accusers, and the IG’s report pointed to eyewitness accounts of Hill acting “creepy.”

In her report, Torres said she interviewed 56 witnesses and obtained a video-recorded statement from Hill, who has consistently denied the allegations. In the motion to quash, Torres says she has given Hill’s legal team the names and contact information for those witnesses.

Torres argues that under Indiana Code Section 4-2-7-8(b), the investigative records Hill is seeking are privileged. Under I.C. 4-2-7-8(c), those privileged records can only be compelled by a court order after a showing of particularized need and proof that the information cannot be obtained elsewhere.

“Given that Respondent has the identity and contact information for each witness and can contact or depose each witness, the Respondent has no particularized need and has not shown that the information is not readily available from any other source, e.g. the witnesses themselves,” the motion says.

Under those statutes, Torres said she has declined to produce the documents requested in the “blanket demand.” The subpoena sets an Aug. 2 deadline for the records.

The disciplinary action against the AG is set to go before the hearing officer, former Indiana Supreme Court Justice Myra Selby, Oct. 21 through 25. Hill is being represented by former Indiana Supreme Court Disciplinary Commission chief Donald Lundberg and Indianapolis attorneys James Voyles and Jennifer Lukemeyer of Voyles Vaiana Lukemeyer Baldwin & Webb.

The disciplinary case is in addition to the civil lawsuit against Hill and the state filed by his four accusers — Rep. Mara Candaleria Reardon and three legislative staff members. The case, Niki DaSilva, et al. v. State of Indiana and Curtis T. Hill, Jr., 1:19-cv-2453, accuses Hill of sexual harassment, battery, retaliation and defamation.