Indiana attorney general disputing bill in discipline case

Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill is disputing tens of thousands of dollars in expenses a state commission wants him to pay in the disciplinary case stemming from allegations that he groped a state lawmaker and three other women during a party.

The state’s attorney disciplinary commission asked the Indiana Supreme Court in September to order that Hill pay about $57,000 toward expenses in the case. That includes about $8,000 in investigation and litigation costs and nearly $49,000 for former Supreme Court Justice Myra Selby’s work as the case’s hearing officer.

But Hill’s lawyer filed a response this past week proposing that he pay a total of about $17,400 and calling into question about $39,000 of costs and expenses the commission wants him to pay, The Journal Gazette reported.

Among other things, Hill’s filing said he shouldn’t have to pay five hours of consulting time between Selby and a colleague at the Ice Miller law firm, noting that the state Supreme Court appointed Selby, not the law firm, to hear his case.

He also said he shouldn’t have to pay for about eight hours of Selby’s time dealing with media matters.

“The respondent did not turn this case into a media circus. The complaining witnesses and their counsel did,” Hill said in his filing.

The Indiana Supreme Court will ultimately decide how much Hill must pay.

Hill completed in June a 30-day suspension of his law license after the Supreme Court found “by clear and convincing evidence that (Hill) committed the criminal act of battery” against the women. The women say Hill drunkenly groped them during a March 2018 party at an Indianapolis bar marking the end of that year’s legislative session.

Hill has denied wrongdoing. His reelection bid failed when he lost the Republican nomination in June to former U.S. Rep. Todd Rokita, who faces Democrat Jonathan Weinzapfel, a former Evansville mayor, in the November election.