Brandon Hill at the Aug. 3 hearing via Zoom. Photo by Noe Magaña.
Brandon Hill at the Aug. 3 hearing via Zoom. Photo by Noe Magaña.

A San Benito County judge has set a preliminary hearing next month for a Hollister man who was shot by police in December. 

Brandon Hill faces four felony charges—arson, assaulting a peace officer, resisting arrest and making criminal threats in connection with a domestic disturbance.

Superior Court visiting Judge Gilbert Brown will accept witness testimony at the Sept. 24 hearing that he estimates will take two hours.

According to the Hollister Police Department, on Dec. 8, officers responded to a disturbance at a home on Kimberly Court where Hill had allegedly threatened family members. 

A video released by HPD two months after the incident shows two officers entering the home, where Hill is holding a knife and being confrontational with police. After about four minutes, an officer shoots Hill. 

Police said Hill spent about eight days in the hospital before he was booked into the San Benito County Jail. 

Public Defender Harry Damkar told Hill during an Aug. 3 hearing that the district attorney had made an offer but that he wasn’t inclined to accept it. He didn’t provide any details of the offer. 

Damkar said that in order to make progress in the case he wanted to set the preliminary hearing while he discussed the offer with Hill.

 

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Noe Magaña is BenitoLink' content manager, co-editor. He began with BenitoLink as in intern and later served as a freelance reporter and staff reporter. He also experiments with videography and photography....