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Show Hill Hearing Is Continued PANGUITCH A sentencing hearing for former North Star counselor Mike Hill which was set for Nov. 7 has been continued tentatively to Dec. 5. Hill appeared in court on Sept. 9 where he entered a guilty plea to forcible sexual abuse of a minor, a second degree felony. Hill, had confessed in 1994 to employees of the Utah State (See Mike Hill Hearing Is Continued on Page 4A) Mike Hill Hearing Is Continued From Page 1 Division of Childrens' Justice in Salt lake City to the crime which he acknowledged committing in December 1993. Hill was not charged by the state of Utah until Aug. 9, 1996 although the mother of his victim had complained repeatedly seeking action from the state. Hill made an initial appearance in Sixth District Court in Panguitch on Sept. 9 where he entered his guilty plea to the charge. He was sentenced without input from the victim, his attorney, or his mother who said they had not been present because they had not been notified by the state about the hearing. Utah law requires such notification. Hill was given 36 months probation and told that if he kept his probation, there would be no record of his crime under terms of a verbal plea agreement. A presentence pre-sentence evaluation was then ordered by Judge David L. Mower. He was ordered to appear back in court on Sept. 9 for formal sentencing but fold that the hearing would probably be handled by telephone. Parents of his victim who live in California were planning to attend the hearing on Thursday. They called the court in Panguitch on Tuesday to check on the time of the hearing. They were advised that the sentencing had been continued the same day. Hill's attorney, Keith Barnes, Cedar City, asked for continuance because of a scheduling conflict on a case in Cedar City Fifth District Court. Hill was a prominent witness for the state of Utah at the North Star preliminary in May 1995. He did not appear as a witness at the recent trial in Richfield. |