Former Rep. Katie Hill, ex-husband inch closer to TRO settlement

Lawyers for former congresswoman Katie Hill and her ex-husband told a Los Angeles County judge they are close to settling her allegations of harassment and years of abuse, which led her to obtain a temporary restraining order against him in December.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Anne Richardson previously ordered Kenneth Heslep to stay at least 100 yards away from Hill, as well as her mother and sister.

A hearing was scheduled Jan. 26 on whether the order should be extended, but lawyers on both sides said at that time that they were trying to resolve the issues without the need of a trial. Then, on Wednesday, the attorneys said they had nearly resolved the issues and asked for another week to finalize their agreement. The judge set another hearing for March 2.

The ex-couple officially divorced in October.

Heslep has denied allegations of abusing Hill, who resigned her seat in 2019 after nude photos of her were published and news emerged that she had a three-way relationship with her husband and a campaign staffer. She was also accused of having an affair with a member of her congressional staff.

The 33-year-old blamed her husband for the public release of the photos. Speaking in Congress in 2019, she decried a “misogynistic culture that gleefully consumed my naked pictures, capitalized on my sexuality and enabled my abusive ex to continue that abuse, this time with the entire country watching.”

The 25th Congressional District includes the Antelope Valley, Santa Clarita Valley, and portions of the northern San Fernando Valley and eastern Ventura County.

The seat had long been held by Republicans until Hill’s 2018 victory over then-Rep. Steve Knight, R-Palmdale. After Hill’s resignation, Republican Rep. Mike Garcia defeated Democratic Assemblywoman Christy Smith in a May 12 special election to fill the final 7 1/2 months of the term. Garcia then beat Smith again by a razor-thin margin in November’s election for a full two-year term.

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