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This collection holds documents related to the criminal court case, USA v. Hill et al (3:07-cr-00289), including correspondence, government exhibits, receipts, personal documents, an original personal financial statement from Don Hill and other related materials.

On September 27th, 2007, a 31-count indictment was filed against former Dallas City Council member and Deputy Mayor Pro Tem, Don Hill, as well as his wife Sheila Farrington-Hill and fourteen other former public officials and associates in connection to a bribery and extortion scheme involving government-subsidized housing development projects from approximately 2003-2005 in the city of Dallas, Texas. 

Following a three-month trial, a jury deliberated from September 23rd to October 5th, 2009 and convicted Hill on seven out of nine counts of public corruption charges. Sheila Farrington-Hill and other associates were also convicted on several accounts. Among these associates were Darren Reagan, the chairman of the Black State Employees Association of Texas (BSEAT) as well as D’Angelo Lee, who was an appointee on the City Plan Commission of Dallas.

Hill and the defendants were charged with cooperating in bribery, extortion and money laundering schemes involving two housing developers, Brian Potashnik and James Fisher, in exchange for political support for their development plans in Dallas. Hill, Farrington-Hill, Lee, and Reagan appealed several of their convictions, however, the U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed the judgements from the district court in 2013. Hill was sentenced to 216 months in prison but was released early following an order filed by the United States and the Director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons on May 8th, 2017, which asserted that Hill’s terminal cancer prognosis served as an extraordinary and compelling reason to reduce his sentence. Hill was to serve a previously agreed upon three-year term of supervised release upon his deposition, however, he died several days following his release from prison. Farrington-Hill was also granted an early release in 2016 due to declining health.

Donald W. Hill, known as Don Hill, was a practicing attorney in Texas from 1978, hailing from the City of Austin. He attended Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas where he received a Bachelor’s in History, followed by a degree from the Texas Southern University School of Law in Houston. Hill served on the Dallas City Council for four consecutive terms, in 1999, 2001, 2003 and 2005. He was appointed Mayor Pro Tem on February 20th, 2002. 

Dallas -- Texas -- History

Dallas (Tex.). City Council

Political corruption--United States.

Money laundering--Texas.

Texas--Politics and government--21st Century.

Court records--Texas--Dallas county.