CRAWFORD CO.—A strange case originating last September with a Stalking/No-Contact Order in Crawford County has gotten stranger with the filing of a Small Claims case against a circuit judge in late July.
To add to the intrigue of the situation, the complainant in the small claims case is the son of a local, well-liked retired judge…and it appears that while this complainant might have some significant problems, he seems to know his way around the legal system.
Gregory J. Hill, 38, of Robinson, son of retired Second Circuit Judge James V. Hill, was charged with a Violation of an Order of Protection (the Stalking/No-Contact Order, hereinafter referred to as an OP) in June, the OP having been taken out against him in September of 2013…and resultant of that alleged violation, and the misdemeanor filed against him, the younger Hill has taken it upon himself to file suit against the judge handling the case, David Overstreet.
Unfortunately, it’s unclear what Hill is requesting, exactly, in his small claims case.
However, the mess that’s been made of the OP—in which it appears there’s a legitimate concern about Hill’s behavior, if court documents filed last year are to be believed—is quite evident.
And how it’s all going to be sorted out remains to be seen, since the OP is now on appeal in Mt. Vernon, an unusual circumstance in and of itself.
Alleges bizarre behavior
The matter started with a complaint for OP issued by one Kate Maurer of Robinson, filed Sept. 25, 2013.
Maurer wrote in her petition about strange circumstances surrounding Hill, which she encountered while employed at his business, Coffee Cottage in Robinson, the previous year.
“I am requesting a Stalking No Contact Order because of many inappropriate occurrence committee by my ex-employer, Greg Hill,” her complaint began. “I began working for Greg at the Coffee Cottage in the summer of 2012 for some extra money, as I am a middle school teacher during the school year. While working there, Greg asked me if I wanted to work during the school year; once school started, I worked from 6 a.m. until 7:30 a.m. during the weekdays and on some Saturday mornings.
“While out of town on vacation in the fall of last year (around October), Greg was constantly texting me very bizarre messages to which I did not respond. When I returned to work, I explained to him that I was not comfortable with him texting me, especially since it did not concern work. He proceeded to tell me that he hadn’t slept in days and that I was the ‘voice in his head’ telling him what to do and where to go (I later found out he visited my parents’ shop and that he said I was the one telling him to go to their shop during the same weekend I was on vacation.) He continued to explain that while I was gone, he had stripped naked in a field in West York upon ‘my request (in his head),’ and he explained that I, of course, ‘knew this, because [I] was the one who told him to do it.’ At this point, I was quite startled and uncomfortable. He then explained to me that he was in love with me. Then, he asked me if he should take some pills that he was holding in front of him because he was only going to listen to me, his ‘voice in his head.’ That’s when I explained to him that he needed to get some help. I immediately left work and I later found out that he informed his parents and was taken for evaluation at Regional Hospital.”
Continued contact
The lengthy document continued, outlining Maurer’s assertion that Hill had contacted her several times even after being told not to.
“Right after this episode at the coffee shop, his parents requested information from me regarding the incident, and when I would not return their phone calls, they sent a letter to my place of work,” she wrote, noting Greg Hill texted her multiple times after that, apologizing and asking her to come back to work, to which she explained via text that she would not be returning.
She then stated that Hill sent her “letters in the mail, and stuck notes on” her front door, in some of the notes apologizing, “sometimes the letters making no sense,” she wrote. “I shared some of these with a police officer.
“Following the last letter and a visit from him at night, I asked a police officer to request he stop. Greg was contacted as was his parents, to leave me alone. But this hasn’t stopped him,” Maurer wrote. “Over the Christmas holiday last year, Greg delivered Christmas presents to my parents’ small business, Clover Field Market (in Marshall, Ill.), for me, which included CDs of a band he knew I liked, home décor, an umbrella, and home-made cookies. I did not respond to the gifts.”
She outlined that in Spring and Summer of 2013, Hill had been by her house at night, knocking on the door/ringing the doorbell, sometimes not leaving until many minutes had passed; she stated she hadn’t answered the door during those random visits.
Final straw: Home fix-up
“Recently, about a month ago,” she wrote in the September 2013 petition, “I was washing my car in my driveway and he stopped by. This made me very uncomfortable because it’s difficult for me to tell someone to leave, especially when I know he’s not mentally well and I don’t know what he’s capable of. While he was at my house, he noticed some things I was working on and had yet to complete on my house. One example is that I have a swing in my gazebo that had not been hung since (I) moved here a year ago. I also had a tube from my sump pump that just sits in my backyard and was never dug underground. I never asked him to help me with any projects at my house. However, he asked me if I’d go to the hardware store with him because he wanted to get materials to hang my swing, and he wanted to have lunch with me. I declined multiple times before he would understand I wasn’t going to go with him anywhere.
“Last week, I came home from being gone over the weekend, and my swing was hanging in my gazebo.
“On Monday night (September 23rd), I went outside to give my dog a bath. I noticed that my hose was not hanging outside like I normally hang it. I looked around the backside of my house, and holes had been dug and the tube from my sump pump was now underground and my down spout had been fixed.
“I now knew he had been at my house at separate times without my permission, messing with my property.”
The OP was granted on an emergency basis on that day, Sept. 25, with a plenary order hearing set for October 11.
The next step…a mess
What happened from there, however, remains very difficult to describe through court documents, as most of that paperwork amounts to statements submitted by Hill, either typed, or handwritten in very florid, hard-to-decipher cursive…and several of them making little-to-no sense.
However, in context, it appears that Hill took great offense to the practice of the issuance of a civil Stalking/No-Contact Order…and once the plenary order was entered, he determined that he was going to appeal the OP, taking it to the appellate court in Mt. Vernon.
Along the way, his filings were largely diatribes outlining his opinions of the court system—that of which his father was a large part for such a long time—and it’s evident that he understands how things are supposed to work. However, it’s more evident that he believes things shouldn’t work the way they do, and throughout the filings, Hill continues to issue his opinion that common law should be carried out instead of civil law…and he took extreme steps toward this when, upon a misdemeanor Violation of OP being filed against him, Hill began an all-out assault on the court system in the form of complaints, which culminated in the aforementioned small claims suit against Overstreet, the judge to which his misdemeanor case was ultimately appointed.
In one of the pages in Greg Hill’s filing after taking his OP to the appeals court, his temperament is displayed clearly in handwritten eloquence: Despite being raised in it, it appears he has little regard for the process or decorum that goes with proper procedure through the courts. This is one of a huge stack of handwritten filings in the local court case, having moved up to the appellate court in Mt. Vernon.
Weber out, Overstreet in
The court record shows that upon issuance of the emergency order, Judge Chris Weber recused himself, and Overstreet was the one who took up the plenary hearing on Oct. 11.
It then shows that on November 6, 2013, a Motion to Reconsider the OP was filed by Hill.
This was the first hint that something was seriously amiss.
In the filing, Hill wrote his reason for the motion to reconsider was “When initially presented with the temporary order, according to the definition of term #2 entitled ‘Course of Conduct,’ I read it to say ‘…acts in which a respondent…indirectly…by any…means communicates…about, a person…” In other words, I took it to intend I not discuss the matter with anyone prior to the hearing in court. For this reason I did not seek counsel with knowledgeable advisers or fair witnesses in preparation for court.”
At a December 20, 2013 hearing on the matter, at which Maurer did not appear, Overstreet denied the motion to reconsider.
On January 17 of this year, the notice of appeal was filed.
In a February 2 filing in the appeals case, Hill explained how the October plenary OP hearing went…according to his view of it.
“Present at the hearing were Judge Overstreet, Kate Maurer, Bill Maurer and Greg Hill,” he wrote. The judge explained he and Kate had met previously to receive/request the emergency order of protection. I said I had written a response. He asked what I wanted to do with it. I said I wanted to hand it to her. That request was denied. I wanted to pursue some questions about my parents. The judge denied that pursuit, something about the case being about me, not my parents. I said something about differences between my understanding and Kate’s recount. The judge confirmed we were not having that discussion. I said the petition was written like I’m terrorizing her. The judge said something about associating a word having social stigma. I rambled something about my un-medicated attention deficit, high blood pressure, needing to believe in my own value, and I acknowledged they were receiving everything I said as nonsense. They seemed to confirm I sounded nonsensical. I said I didn’t mean to make her feel vulnerable. The judge asked her if that was an apology. I think she indicated to the affirmative. The judge said something like she needed to be able to come home without worrying I had done something to her house. I said yeah or okay, a casual affirmative. He went into some pre-programmed explanation that the court finds the order of protection necessary, I am to stay 300 feet from Kate, her home, work and parents’ home. I asked whether I could use the roads passing her work and parents. He said he understood them to be main thoroughfares and permission was granted on the condition I not drive back and forth for the purpose of harassment. I think I said something about not even looking in the direction of the school for almost a year already. A train whistled. I said the train haunts me too. The judge completed his paperwork and told us it would be available in the Clerk’s office in a few minutes.
“Notes: I am certain I do not recall the entire hearing. I know Kate spoke. I did not know a court reporter was within my power to request, nor was I aware a court reporter was not always present for a hearing.”
Hill termed it a “Bystander’s Report” and indicated that Maurer could submit her own, also indicating that the appeals information would be “delivered” to Maurer by mail.
Verbal abuse toward judge?
Inexplicably, next in the file was ostensibly an email from Hill to an address reading “marcus@bangbangdesigns.com” …however, it appeared to be to Judge Overstreet:
“Overstreet,” it began, “Of course I know she’s afraid to mislead me by encouragement and discouragement isn’t her style. I’m going to a family-friendly high school Christian rock concert alone Friday, which sounds boring, but its in direct violation of your order of protection so how could I resist? Coffee Cottage LLC dba Coffee Cottage is sponsoring crowd participation by hearding me and Kate if she is woman enough to show her face. The last ho crossed me I dragged her ass across a parking lot in my underwear and that was my loving mother, slat of the earth. Now I have to endure church to break the order of protection because a buddy dared me. Weber recused himself. Whatshisname, the other judge prolly knows (since I told him) to read this letter in the case file or coffee shop window. Time to Willie Lynch you hierarchical, codependent, special-interest, civil law fools.
“Which judge do you want to set up to sign an arrest warrant to put a limited liability company in jail? I dare you.
“Faithfully, Greg Hill, Manager
“ps, please let me know whether the stripper I arranged to get an order of protection against you shows up to create a big scene in front of your family right after the police arrive in the middle of church Sunday. She’s been going through some stuff lately so play along, it’ll help her self esteem.”
In handwriting, the filing reads at the bottom of this bizarre email, “I approved this message,” and it was signed by Hill.
It’s unclear whether this was made part of the appellate court file or not, nor whether it actually went to Overstreet…or if this is simply what Hill wished to send to Overstreet, but sent it to “marcus” instead, perhaps for opinion.
Objections to appeals court procedure
Apparently, however, the appeals court was less-than-impressed with Hill’s filings, if his responses to their requests for information are any indication.
Calling the local court the “2nd Illusionary Circuit Court” and the appeals court “5th Illusionary Appellate District,” on May 12 he apparently fell behind in fulfilling their requests for more information on his appeal.
“I’ve been on break from this thing because it’s a hassle,” he wrote in a status report. “Anyone who thinks an unusable judicial system is acceptable is fired immediately and I’m guessing lack of extradition treaties will not help you evade my violations.”
He went on to note that he’d heard Maurer was getting married and moving away. “I do not know that to be true, but if that is the situation and I do not have a forwarding address, I intend to send required notifications to her parents’ address. This case is no longer about her. This case is about reminding the court of the necessity of hearing both sides.”
He went on to mildly slam at Maurer, stating “If she is getting married, I want her to get married. Maybe now she can get over me and edit this book, provided her husband or wife is open to it. Her job is available at Coffee Cottage until July 1 when the laws change. 6:02a, sharp, Verizon time. Regarding the supposed STRICKEning appellate court document dated April 21, 2014, I must assume it is a form letter sent to deter pro se appeals because 341(g) Please see the enclosed print out of the website Il.us…showing AUDI ALTERUM PARTEM ‘hear the other side’ cited website. It is a prehistoric precept of our society. It is too simple to fit the format of an appeal. I hope we figure out what to do about this situation before this cottage-industry likes metube twits on the innerblog.”
We then griped about the standard of review the appeals court has, complaining “Common law is simply the golden rule. I realize Law Schools teach that Civil Law is Common Law. Sorry if you’re disappointed you’ve done it wrong your whole career, don’t take it out on me, just fix it.”
Complains about spit
In subsequent filings, Hill complained about the limitations on time to submit, mentioning how filing by mail—and making the others involved aware of said filings by a certain due date, Maurer included—would put him on a time crunch, therefore “It is unclear how Rule 312 (a) is possible. Who cares, right?
“The envelope arrived unsealed,” he wrote of correspondence from the appeals court. “Presumably a tongue sealing envelopes may only seal as long as spit is available. Kindly provide your office staff with a method of sealing not dependent upon secretion of bodily fluid.”
Apparently, the mailing of the appeals court’s correspondence pertaining to Hill’s case was what prompted the complaint to be issued by Maurer. She reported to officer Natalie Unkefer that on May 27, Hill violated the OP in that he “maintained personal correspondence through legal documents that had no bearing in court proceedings which violated the order.”
Hill was arrested June 13 and booked at Crawford County jail; his father the retired judge posted his bond and he was immediately released. As terms of release, Greg Hill was to have no contact with Maurer. The criminal misdemeanor charge was filed June 16.
If Hill submitted personal correspondence in with documents he was, by law, allowed to send to Maurer regarding his appeal, what exactly they were is unknown, as nothing appears in the court file indicating such.
That in and of itself is spurious, as a pro se litigant can of course submit valid, legal documents to any other party in a proceeding, even if there is an existing OP. Nevertheless, the charge proceeded through the court system.
‘A sustainable Crawford’
This of course prompted a new onslaught of complaints on Hill’s part with the appellate court and the process.
In a July 2 correspondence regarding a proposed settlement to the case, he waxed loquacious about how the criminal case was unfounded, and how he had “more important things to do and you are wasting my life.”
‘Towards those ends, I propose this. New York began getting a handle on political corruption when large false-arrest settlements began to be awarded in the early 1980s. It appears $5,000 per hour is a fair price.”
Hill proceeded to explain his beliefs about the insurance industry, and how Crawford County will suffer from any claim against them he might make.
He then again veered into the bizarre.
“I designed a sustainable Crawford County in the ten days between the appellant brief and the false arrest and detainment,” he wrote. “It was boring. Sustainability is boring, trying to scare the government awake is sexy, sustainability is boring. I missed the drama, but I’m bored with this drama because its all so overly-controlling.
“The false arrest timer began September ??th when my freedoms were reduced by Judge Weber. Looking at the request for emergency protection, Judge Weber had to sign the order, only having one side of the story, and he wisely recused himself, passing the case along to Judge David Overstreet of Mt. Vernon. I did not receive notice until September 30th. At $5,000 per hour the settlement is somewhere over $34 million, and I expect it to be tax-free because the government has not earned a penny in this process. Managing the utilization of those moneys for the purpose of growing resources and industry and innovation will keep me busy. Think zeppelins delivering modular emergency housing and fuel and water (thank you hydrogen), and eventually, if successfully adopted by the 62 farmers in the county, terraforming 75% of a county to accommodate the average global density by 2050 as a replicable example.
“I like that solution. I can propose real change as a private industry. Of course the government oversight is going to have to deal with me pushing boundaries to find out where the boundaries are. I don’t really care about money, I just love to make stuff, but the money buys the freedom I need to innovate our way towards a new world. Here in Crawford County think redneck amusement park but without the racism. And of course I would try to remain somewhat anonymous, though I realize this scale of innovation requires I be comfortable with a camera. In jail urinating required I expose myself to the camera. Maybe not that comfortable.
“Continuing to inhibit my ability to contribute to society is such a waste of resources. I need to renovate my house, change cars and modify my business all without resources. This stalker nonsense needs to go away. File the claim. This case can sit unanswered, on the record or get reversed unanswered, remaining on the record.
“The empty dissatisfaction you attorneys feel is because you know in your souls you are harming society and you feel helpless to change it, so you perpetuate it. It’s time to rebuild a common law legal system.”
‘Enlightenment’
This rambling missive was followed by a page from the November motion to reconsider OP hearing, which illustrated Hill’s earlier assertion that he was making somewhat nonsensical statements there.
However, in response to those ‘nonsensical’ statements, this was where Overstreet made the comment to Hill that ultimately prompted Hill to file a claim against the judge.
In part, Hill’s utterances in court that day reads:
“You’ve got this web of core beliefs about the way you understand yourself and the way you understand the world and the way you understand yourself relative to the world. And there’s this, you know, we all have internal conflicts where we have conflicting ideals that we try to operate from and cooperate through. You know, they’re internal conflicts. And those conflicts get resolved and by observation, at least from me if I—well, I would call it enlightenment. Others might call it—you know, I can’t remember.”
“Okay,” Overstreet said. “Please enlighten me on why you want, why you’re asking the Court to reconsider—”
On July 25, 2014, Hill filed a Small Claims case against Overstreet, claiming the judge was indebted to Hill in the amount of $10,000 for “enlightenment as requested 12/20/15, Courtroom A.”
Hill did not further explain how the judge owed him for the “enlightenment.”
Official complaints on judge and prosecutor
Following this matter, Hill placed on file complaints against Overstreet with the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission (ARDC). He also filed one against Crawford County State’s Attorney Matt Hartrich.
In addition, Hill filed a complaint with the Judicial Board of Review regarding Overstreet.
In appellate court documents, he outlined the complaints, addressing Overstreet first:
“You owe me $10,000 for enlightenment.
“I have filed an official professional complaint with Judicial Board of Review and disciplinary commission of the Supreme Court.
“The state’s attorney might have invalidated the OP and criminal charges when the arrest warrant was modified from 740 22/220 to 740 21/125 reverting it to your jurisdiction, but I doubt any of that matters now.”
The complaint about Overstreet was disjointed and included under “statement of fact” several exclamations out of Hill in handwritten form, including one that indicated the “kind of case” about which the complaint was issued (“First order of protection appealed pro se as far as I can tell” with a starburst outlined around it) and under the question “What is your relationship to the case?” Hill wrote “I am completely overwhelmed by it! The god damned gov’t is winning the war on justice! Constitution seriously old school”).
Under “other witnesses to the conduct of the Judge,” Hill went out on a limb and mentioned Traci Ackmann, the “court reported/chief of police’s wife. I used to blow her kisses when she drove by because it made her smile, and now she won’t look at me. Most of town won’t look at me. And it has destroyed me trying to clean it up without harming anyone’s reputation.”
Ackmann doesn’t appear to the only public female Hill has shown affection toward during the course of the court mess; in a letter to Robinson police chief Bill Ackmann regarding the surrender of his FOID card, Hill wrote “officer Natalie (Unkefer) is probably my type too, except I prefer leather restraints. Why do I love the crazy ones? Don’t worry, we’re gonna work this thing out. Addressing this letter has cost two hours of my life.”
Disorganized thought, personified
The most recent action in the cases has been to assign Judge Jerry Crisel, in both the small claims and criminal misdemeanor.
The appeals case has, as of July 25, had a motion to move the file to the Supreme Court made.
In his “status report,” Hill wrote “I do not believe the world is ready for my appellant brief to remain on record in its present state. If the Appellate and Supreme Court Judges deem it appropriate to move this case to the Supreme Court, I am open to that. Enclosed are copies of documents describing my preference the executive branch create an organization towards accountability (and by accountability, then caring). The brief asks whether it is mental incapacity to continue to run the state of Illinois as we do. The official executive branch organizational chart proves disorganized thought. Even I see that and I AM disorganized thought.”
Anyone who peruses the file can see that this, above all else, is certainly the case. But whether anyone can stop the time, expense, and effort being put into what’s become something as futile as the pleadings Greg Hill has made since trespassing on the lawn of the object of his unrequited affection nearly a year ago is the greater question; and it doesn’t appear this will be happening any time soon, if it ever does.