Legal Defense Fund Launched To Support Curtis Hill

A nonprofit legal fund, Fairness for Curtis Hill, announced Monday will help defend Attorney General Curtis Hill against sexual misconduct allegations.

Prominent Republican lawyer James Bopp Jr. and retired Indiana Court of Appeals Judge Linda Chezem say the legal fund establishes a single source for Hill’s legal defense. It gives Hill’s supporters a way to donate money, and it makes it clear public money isn’t spent on Hill’s defense.

READ MORE: Holcomb Says No Choice But To Call For Hill's Resignation

“We will accept contributions from private individuals and entities – but not from the government,” Bopp says. “No taxpayer money will ever be used to defend these accusations against Curtis Hill.”

Chezem, who is also serving as the nonprofit’s chairwoman, says she was warned in 2015 that “powerful Republicans did not want Hill in a statewide office.”

“Political lynching and character assassination are not new in politics. But Indiana can and should do better,” she says.

Chezem says an unfair standard has been placed on Hill which goes beyond the definition of Indiana law, which defines sexual battery as “touches another person's genitals, pubic area, buttocks, or female breast when that person is unaware that the touching is occurring.”

“So an important question to be addressed is what standard defines sexual harassment at a shoulder-to-shoulder, elbow-to-elbow crowded legislative party after midnight?” Chezem says.

Chezem also echoed Hill’s attorneys’ criticism of a leaked report containing the sexual misconduct allegations.

“Make no mistake. There was nothing investigative about that report,” she says.

Chezem says all legal costs from the sexual misconduct allegations will be paid for by private donations to the nonprofit legal fund. The fund was established after Indiana Democrats filed a public records request to learn if Hill used taxpayer money to defend himself against the allegations.