Hickenbottom wants early release from parole in drug case
A former Uniontown man who sued state police and won a multimillion-dollar verdict in his son’s 2000 death wants a Fayette County judge to release him from probation early.
Michael Hickenbottom, 40, is supposed to remain on probation until Sept. 14, 2013, but his attorney, James T. Davis, indicated in a court filing that his client has complied with his parole and probation, and has paid court fines due in the 2006 drug case.
The motion came several days after Hickenbottom returned from a trip to Nassau, Bahamas, where he was from Sept. 22 to 29. Judge Steve P. Leskinen gave Hickenbottom, who now lives in Westmoreland County, permission to take the trip in August.
Hickenbottom was released from prison, where he was serving a probation violation in a possession of marijuana case, on June 14.
The probation violation dealt with a positive drug test for marijuana.
Hickenbottom initially failed to appear for a hearing in that matter.
While he did so before he was to board a plane to go to Jamaica in May, he was still flagged as having an active warrant at the airport and detained.
At a hearing in June, Leskinen noted that Hickenbottom did not seek court approval for the Jamaica trip, and ultimately sentenced him to serve additional jail time on the drug case. Hickenbottom also told the judge that he had been drug free since January.
In 2007, Hickenbottom was sentenced to 11 ½ to 23 months in prison in the case, plus an additional term of probation. Hickenbottom violated his probation in the case once before, in 2010, also with a positive test for marijuana.
Davis will present the motion on Thursday.
Hickenbottom’s son, Michael Ellerbee, was 12 when he was shot and killed by a state police trooper on Dec. 24, 2000, in the East End section of Uniontown. Hickenbottom sued police and initially won a $24 million verdict.
After the appeal was filed, the case was settled for $12.5 million.