Although the Bryan courthouse hardly ever makes national news, its employees have been promoting the name Kory Gill throughout its corridors for the better part of four years. He used to practice sports medicine. On the sidelines of Texas A&M games, he is a familiar figure that student-athletes are taught to blindly trust. He had long since moved on from that aspect of his life. All that remains are prison transports, paperwork, and a civil lawsuit that has yet to find a courtroom.
A Brazos County jury found 48-year-old Gill guilty last December of sexually assaulting two patients, and he is currently serving four years in a state facility. December 2027 is when he will be eligible for parole, which seems both near and far off. He was returned to Brazos County this past week for a civil hearing, which is a short-term process that involves a few deputies and a lot of waiting. The trial was scheduled to start on Monday, May 11. It didn’t. Gill admitted to the court that he had no legal representation and had not been informed of the date. It seems like no one in that courtroom was taken aback.
Compared to earlier times, the civil case is now more limited. At one point, the Health Science Center, Texas A&M Health, and the A&M System were listed as defendants. Since then, they have been removed from the schedule. Gill is now the only one facing a plaintiff who wants damages and compensation for injuries. It’s the type of case that doesn’t make headlines by itself, but it has significance because the criminal verdict already did the most work. He was found guilty of this by a jury. The cost is the subject of the civil lawsuit.
By most accounts, the criminal trial itself was unpleasant. Prosecutors outlined a pattern, including patients enticed to the clinic after hours with the promise of free medical care, a drink given to a woman who subsequently testified that she was immobile, DNA evidence found on a dress, and a third woman who came forward only after the conviction to claim to have had a similar experience. Investigators were informed by Texas A&M that Gill’s resignation prior to the completion of their administrative procedure precluded them from firing him. That particular detail has stayed with me. These stories are often followed by a bureaucratic shrug, with the institution claiming to have done what it could while the timeline presents a more subdued narrative.
It’s more difficult to predict what will happen next. Gill is still facing three felony charges and a misdemeanor related to events in 2020 and 2021. There are no scheduled trial dates for those. The civil suit will be rescheduled, most likely after the court appoints an attorney or Gill finds one. The plaintiff will wait; their identity has not been disclosed. The length of the waiting period and how little justice appears to be served during this time are aspects of these cases that are rarely discussed.
Every few months, Gill’s name appears in court documents; it’s difficult to ignore, like a watermark that won’t go away. The conviction was supposed to be the ending. It’s beginning to look more like a midpoint.
