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Thread: Jeffrey Phillips sentenced to LWOP in Murder of James Leeson

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    Jeffrey Phillips sentenced to LWOP in Murder of James Leeson



    Drugs and sex are part of case against Phillips in murder trial

    Jeffrey Phillips needed a fix, and an Alliance retired firefighter was a romantic rival and a means to an end.

    That is the crux of the state of Ohio’s case against 43-year-old Phillips, who faces the death penalty for the murder of James Leeson.

    Case in a Nutshell

    During opening statements, Assistant Prosecutor Chryssa Hartlett said James Leeson’s life was worth “less than a couple hundred bucks worth of crack.” She reminded jurors that Phillips, who was a “tough guy known as Fat Boy with a lot less polish” back on March 10, knew of the sexual nature of his intended wife Tammi Goodwin’s relationship with Leeson. In exchange for a hot shower and Vicodin, Goodwin periodically would provide Leeson, a single man with a healthy libido, with oral sex, Hartlett added.

    Phillips, also known as “Fat Boy,” is charged with aggravated murder, burglary, robbery, arson and tampering with evidence after allegedly going to Leeson’s home around 10:30 p.m. March 10 in search of cash. When Leeson wouldn’t give the money up, Hartlett said Phillips allegedly severely beat, strangled and stabbed Leeson with a sword before pouring bleach on Jim’s midsection and groin area to destroy any possible DNA evidence.

    After rifling through Leeson’s bedroom, Phillips then allegedly poured ammonia on items in there to destroy evidence, before fleeing in Leeson’s convertible with two flat-screen televisions in the trunk.

    Defense attorney Derek Lowry explained there is no evidence placing Phillips at the home of Leeson and accused prosecutors of “attempting to toss a bunch of stuff against the wall and see if something sticks.” He also explained that Phillips would have no reason to pour bleach on the genitals of the victim, who enjoyed the company of women.

    The lack of any evidence to any of these crimes will become abundantly clear and result in a not guilty verdict, Lowry said.

    Discovery of a Crime

    Stark County Deputy Michael Lowry was the first witness, explaining how he responded to the scene of Leeson’s fully engulfed car in Lexington Township. After Leeson’s neighbor David Kline, who also testified, let Lowry in the house with a spare key, the two men discovered Leeson dead in a utility room in his basement and called Alliance police.

    Both Tyler Sinkovitz and David Slusser, who had seen Leeson in his final hours, were called as witnesses. Sinkovitz had stopped by Leeson’s home and enjoyed a beer and cigarette in the basement recreation room just before 3 p.m. Later that night, Slusser, a longtime friend of Leeson’s, met him at the Elks Lodge, where they enjoyed a game of pool and left around 11 p.m.

    “I never saw (Jim) again after that night,” Slusser said, adding he learned about Leeson’s death after the discovery of his body.

    Two neighbors, Kline and Jennifer Hall, would testify that they were disturbed by a loud noise between 11 and 11:30 p.m. Hall said she was watching the 11 p.m. news, when she heard a door slam and ran to the window.

    Kline said, “I jumped up, startled, and ran to my back door because I was afraid someone was breaking in my house. It sounded like a storm door caught in the wind.”

    Hall, who lived next door to Leeson, explained she saw Leeson’s Chrysler Sebring Convertible at the end of his driveway, then headed west toward Liberty at a high rate of speed, which was very unlike Leeson.

    Brian Peterson from the state Fire Marshal’s Office told jurors that his investigation revealed gasoline had been poured on the front passenger seat floorboard and in the trunk of Leeson’s vehicle before it had been set on fire.

    Murder Investigation Begins

    The bulk of Monday’s testimony was given by Alliance police Detective Jim Jones, who said a deceased James Leeson was discovered clad only in a T-shirt, socks and a bathrobe. With significant physical injuries, it was obvious that Leeson hadn’t died of natural causes and both the Stark County coroner and crime lab were notified.

    A Knights of Columbus commemorative sword, which was used to stab Leeson, was found lying on a nearby ironing board, according to Jones. His bedroom had been ransacked, and two flat-screen televisions had been removed. While searching the scene, city police found some photographs at the Leeson house and recognized Goodwin.

    After speaking to Slusser, who confirmed Leeson had a relationship with Goodwin, Alliance detectives returned to Leeson’s brick bungalow to do an additional sweep for evidence and found the two TV boxes with serial numbers in the basement. A message also was found on Leeson’s answering machine with a 3 p.m. March 11 time stamp from Goodwin.

    A prescription bottle for generic Vicodin, which had been filled on March 10, was missing 10 of the 30 tablets when discovered by police on March 12, Jones testified.

    The next morning, Jones said Alliance police executed a search warrant at 11414 Pettit Ave., where Phillips and Goodwin resided with Goodwin’s sister and husband. Among the items taken from the residence were a pair of Phillips’ boots as well as a brown bag of letters exchanged between Phillips and Goodwin, as well as a letter from Phillips to another male. Investigators also subpoenaed cell phone records for Phillips, Goodwin’s sister Billie Jo Orzo and Leeson.

    In his cross-examination of Jones, defense attorney Anthony Koukoutas inquired of two handguns discovered in the Leeson home after the murder and if there were signs of forced entry into the residence. Jones acknowledged finding two handguns each with ammunition nearby — one in the bedroom and another atop kitchen cabinets. Investigators found no signs of forced entry.

    Jones confirmed that there was no physical evidence at the scene linking Phillips to Leeson’s murder.

    During interrogation by city police, Phillips told investigators that Goodwin was his “soul mate” and he would “always love her,” according to Jones. However, Phillips denied ever leaving his home between Leeson’s death and the discovery of the burned up car as well as any part in the crime. “Very few people have actually ever confessed to murder,” Jones concluded during redirect by Assistant Prosecutor Dennis Barr.

    Area pawn shops were notified about the televisions, and Alliance Loan reported back to police that the girlfriend of Philips’ alleged drug dealer, Waylon Hillman, who had allegedly traded Phillips between $150 and 200 worth of crack for the electronics, had pawned one of the televisions in her name on March 17. Hillman shortly after was picked up for driving under suspension and admitted to receiving the televisions, although he testified Monday afternoon that he was unaware of the source.

    Hillman testified after the deal was struck, his then-girlfriend, Kristen Carli, followed Phillips, who was driving Leeson’s convertible, to the Lexington Township site and dropped him off after he disposed of the car. Hillman said he then sent Carli to pawn one of the televisions at Alliance Loan, which store manager Dawn Dennis confirmed during her testimony for the prosecution. After all, Hillman explained that he needed money to refill his drug inventory so he could make his sales, since that was his sole source of income.

    The prosecution continues to present its case to jurors at 8:30 a.m. today.

    http://www.the-review.com/news/article/4919282

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    Crime lab experts testify in Phillips murder trial

    Kristen Carli just didn’t want to get anyone in trouble, so when Alliance police first questioned her about the murder of a retired Alliance firefighter, she lied to them, she testified in court Tuesday.

    Carli, 22, of Alliance, testified Tuesday afternoon that when she drove her boyfriend, Waylon Hillman, to meet Jeffrey Scott Phillips in front of the College Plaza, Phillips was driving a red Sebring convertible — a car later identified as belonging to murder victim James Leeson.

    It was in the midst of the second day of testimony in the case against Phillips, who is charged with aggravated murder, burglary, robbery, arson and tampering with evidence through Stark County Common Pleas Court.

    In the trunk of that convertible, which Carli noticed had veterans’ plates, were two flat-panel televisions that Hillman agreed to take in exchange for drugs.

    After the transaction was completed, Hillman asked Carli to follow “Fat Boy,” Phillips’ nickname, and give him a ride home after he dropped off the convertible. Following Phillips to state Route 619 and Florida Avenue in Lexington Township, she observed him pull over on the side of the road. As she was told, Carli said she drove past Phillips and turned around in a driveway a couple miles down the road before coming back.

    She said that she observed Phillips standing several feet from the car when it caught fire, after he allegedly lit a piece of paper and threw it in the convertible. “I picked him up and took him home,” Carli continued, as Phillips told her that she may hear some bad things.

    Assistant Stark County Prosecutor Dennis Barr asked if Carli requested specifics. “No, I really didn’t want to know. I already had a bad feeling,” she said as she appeared to fight back tears.

    Upon returning home, Carli said she was told by Hillman to pawn the televisions.

    Defense attorney Anthony Koukoutas challenged Carli about her evolving stories, which initially started with a man waving her down outside a downtown liquor establishment, to the story she now cites is true.

    “(Phillips) instructed me to keep quiet because I didn’t know the whole story,” Carli said, adding that she was attempting to keep Hillman, whom she married one month later, out of trouble.

    She is now attempting to get the marriage annulled.

    Prosecutors noted that the one constant from the beginning in Carli’s story was that the TVs came from “Fat Boy.” “I twisted up a lot of stories trying to keep people from getting in trouble,” she concluded.

    Carli’s testimony followed that of Larry Mackey and Michele Foster of the Canton/Stark County Crime Lab. Both testified that they were unable to link Phillips as being at Leeson’s home or in Carli’s vehicle through DNA and fingerprint analysis.

    Mackey, who was the responding crime scene investigator, addressed the evidence collected at the scene and fingerprint analysis, while Foster addressed the DNA results during the three-hour morning session.

    Both crime lab experts testified that the dousing of Leeson’s body with bleach and his bedroom with ammonia may have led to some of the inconclusive results.

    In addition to identifying some blood spatter and fingerprints in the residence as belonging to Leeson, several samples were inconclusive or couldn’t be linked to Phillips or the other sampled parties, which included Tammi Goodwin, Waylon Hillman or Tyler Sinkovitz.

    After a lunch break, jurors also heard testimony from Goodwin’s sister, Billie Jo Orzo, and Orzo’s boyfriend, Russell Inherst, who both testified that sometime before 5 a.m. March 11 they heard Phillips re-enter their Lexington Township residence.

    When confronted, Phillips had told Orzo, according to her testimony, that he had gone out to get a package at the end of the driveway.

    Phillips had resided there since early March, shortly after Orzo invited Goodwin, who was having difficulty with her heat, to move into the Pettit Avenue home.

    Days after Phillips’ alleged early morning mail trip, Inherst testified that Alliance police investigators were kicking down their door to search the home for items taken from Leeson’s home.

    Jurors also heard lengthy testimony from Goodwin, Phillips’ 38-year-old “soul mate.” However, although she acknowledged her relationship with Phillips turned somewhat romantic at the end of January, Goodwin said Phillips was aware that he wasn’t the only man in her life.

    Philips knew that Goodwin was seeing Leeson, whom she said treated her “very well.” “Jim was always there when I needed a friend” — even with she would ask for financial assistance.

    In fact, Goodwin said, Leeson had bought her the suit she was wearing in court.

    She knew him for around eight years, and Leeson would frequently pick her up and take her to his College Street home, where he would allow her to grab a hot shower, treat her to lunch and allow her to watch her soap operas. However, it was more than friendship, as Goodwin testified that they had a sexual relationship.

    That morning, before his death, she said the day went as usual — except for Leeson stopping at a city drugstore to fill his prescription for generic Vicodin. He gave her 10 tablets: five, which she took right away, and the remainder that she chased with two prescribed Ativan for anxiety before going to bed that night.

    Goodwin had told Phillips upon returning from Leeson’s home that Leeson had invited her to follow him to Florida, which really drew little reaction from Phillips.

    When Leeson failed to show up for their standing date the next morning, she phoned his home and left a message later found by Alliance police.

    During cross-examination by defense attorney Koukoutas, Goodwin acknowledged Phillips never forbid her from seeing other guys. However, Hartlett noted that in some letters exchanged between Goodwin and Phillips, he had told Goodwin, “It will be you and me forever.”

    Goodwin expressed surprise to learn about some of Phillips’ communications to other suitors, telling them to “back off.”

    The prosecution will continue to present its case today with testimony from Alliance police detectives and Stark County Coroner Dr. P.S.S. Murthy, starting at 8:30 a.m.

    If convicted, Phillips faces the death penalty.

    http://www.the-review.com/news/article/4920249

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    Stark jury deliberating Phillips murder case

    A Stark County jury has begun deliberations in the capital-murder trial of Jeffrey S. Phillips.

    Phillips, 43, of Mahoning County, is accused of killing 66-year-old retired Alliance firefighter James Leeson on March 10.

    Phillips has pleaded not guilty to aggravated murder, aggravated robbery, aggravated burglary, tampering with evidence and arson.

    The jurors and their alternates will be sequestered until a verdict is reached.

    If Phillips is convicted of aggravated murder with a death-penalty specification, the trial will enter a second phase where Phillips could receive a death sentence.

    http://www.cantonrep.com/newsnow/x12...ps-murder-case

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    Phillips guilty of murder; jury to consider death penalty

    A Stark County jury has convicted Jeffrey S. Phillips of killing an Alliance man in March.

    Phillips, 43, was charged with aggravated murder, aggravated robbery, aggravated burglary, tampering with evidence and arson.

    A Stark County Common Pleas jury ended the weeklong trial by convicting Phillips on all charges and the death penalty specifications.

    Friday’s verdicts mean the jury will return next week for a second trial phase. The panel will recommend to Judge Taryn Heath whether Phillips should get the death penalty or one of three life terms in prison.

    County prosecutors said Phillips beat and stabbed 66-year-old James Leeson, a retired firefighter, to death on March 10 to remove a romantic rival and to get money for drugs. Both men were involved with the same woman.

    No physical evidence tied Phillips to the murder scene at Leeson’s E. College Street house, and the defense said the case against Phillips was full of holes.

    However, prosecutors had two witnesses who said Phillips had televisions belonging to Leeson and was driving Leeson’s car on the morning after the murder. A friend of Phillips testified that he told her he was going to rob Leeson several weeks before Leeson’s death.

    Although Phillips told police he didn’t leave his then-residence in Lexington Township on the night of the murder, phone records showed that his cell phone was used to make calls around the Alliance area and in Canton.

    The jury will recommend one of four sentences: Death, life in prison without parole, life in prison with parole eligibility after 30 years and life in prison with parole eligibility after 25 years.

    http://www.cantonrep.com/news/x19287...-death-penalty

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    Phillips pleads with jury to spare his life

    Jeffrey S. Phillips let drug addiction control his adult life. How he spends what’s left of it is now up to a Stark County jury.

    During the sentencing phase of his capital-murder trial Wednesday in Common Pleas Court, Phillips asked the jury to spare his life.

    “I take responsibility for what I’ve done and I’m not asking you to forgive me because I know you can’t,” Phillips said. “... I know that I’m going to die in prison. It’s inevitable. I just want a chance to do some good.”

    The same jury convicted Phillips on Friday of aggravated murder and other charges for the March 10 killing of James Leeson, a 66-year-old retired firefighter from Alliance.

    County prosecutors said Phillips, 43, of Mahoning County, beat and stabbed Leeson inside Leeson’s home on E. College Street, then tried to cover his tracks by torching the victim’s car and pouring bleach and ammonia around the crime scene.

    Included in the verdict were two specifications that make Phillips eligible for the death penalty.

    The jury can recommend a death sentence, or one of three life sentences with or without the possibility of parole. One juror voting against a death sentence means Phillips will receive a sentence of life in prison without parole, life with parole eligibility in 30 years or life with parole eligibility in 25 years.

    The jurors and their alternates will be sequestered during deliberations.

    Judge Taryn L. Heath will impose the final sentence. She is not bound by the recommendation of a death sentence, and she can’t sentence Phillips to die if the jury chooses a life sentence.

    PHILLIPS’ STATEMENT

    “I would not have done the things I did, if not for crack cocaine,” Phillips told the jury.

    His statement wasn’t given under oath and Phillips wasn’t subject to cross-examination by the prosecution. At times he became emotional.

    Toward the beginning of his statement, Phillips addressed Leeson’s family.

    “I am truly sorry and I want them to know that,” he said.

    Phillips briefly told the jury that he had raised three children and once had his own business, but he didn’t elaborate. He wasn’t going to waste time on the good things about his life because he was in court because of the bad things, he said.

    “That’s what brings me here today, my drug addiction,” Phillips said.

    He first used crack cocaine when he was 19, after this mother died, he said. He also said he abused alcohol and marijuana.

    He used crack when he was feeling down and the drug made him “numb-dumb,” he said.

    “It causes me not to care about anything,” he told the jury.

    Phillips, while dwelling on the influence of crack cocaine over his life, said he wasn’t using his addiction as an excuse.

    He also expressed a desire to help younger prisoners while he’s incarcerated, “so they don’t destroy their lives, their families’ lives or the lives of their victims.”

    FAMILY PORTRAIT

    The jury also got a picture of Phillips’ childhood through the testimony of his sister, one of his brothers and Jeffrey Smalldon, a psychologist retained by the defense.

    At several points during their testimony, Phillips became emotional.

    Phillips was the youngest of six children. According to the testimony, his home life was chaotic and unpredictable. His mother was in and out of hospitals for psychiatric treatment. His father was aloof and uninvolved. Both parents are deceased.

    When Phillips was around 5, his family moved from the Beloit area to a neighborhood on the outskirts of Alliance.

    “There was a lot of drugs and alcohol, a lot of sex going on,” Tonya Phillips said of the new home. “Kids were allowed to run the streets.”

    Phillips’ sister also said her father sexually abused her, although Phillips denies that he was ever abused.

    In school, Phillips had a learning disability and was placed in special education classes. He got bad grades and was described by educators as a lazy student, but also as a needy kid, Smalldon said.

    Phillips dropped out in the 12th grade, and found a sense of belonging in drug culture, Smalldon testified.

    The psychologist also diagnosed Phillips with a personality disorder, not otherwise specified, with narcissistic and anti-social features.

    CLOSING ARGUMENTS

    Defense attorney Derek Lowry asked the jury to allow Phillips “to atone as he asked for.”

    During his time in jail awaiting trial, Phillips has had no disciplinary problems and life imprisonment is still “a severe and harsh penalty,” Lowry said.

    Assistant Stark County Prosecutor Dennis Barr urged the jury to impose a death sentence.

    Phillips didn’t take responsibility, he blamed the crime on drugs, and he has a propensity for engaging in criminal behavior, the prosecutor argued.

    “He doesn’t want to live by our rules,” Barr said. “He doesn’t think he has to. He doesn't want to be a normal member of our society.”

    http://www.cantonrep.com/stark/x1348...ffrey-Phillips

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    Jury spares Phillips from death

    Jeffrey S. Phillips will spend the rest of his life in prison with no chance of parole for the aggravated murder of an Alliance man.

    A Stark County jury Thursday spared Phillips from a death sentence, choosing instead the most serious life sentence available.

    After Common Pleas Judge Taryn L. Heath read the verdict, Phillips smiled and nodded toward the gallery, where his sister and some former teachers were sitting.

    On the advice of his attorneys, Phillips didn’t make a statement before the judge imposed the sentence. He intends to appeal his conviction for aggravated murder and other charges in the March 10 killing of James Leeson, a 66-year-old retired firefighter from Alliance.

    “The important thing is he’ll never be able to do this to anyone else,” Joe Leeson, the victim’s brother, said outside the courtroom.

    CASE RECAP

    County prosecutors said Phillips, 43, of Mahoning County, beat and stabbed James Leeson inside Leeson’s home on E. College Street, then tried to cover his tracks by torching the victim’s car and pouring bleach and ammonia around the crime scene.

    Phillips later traded two televisions he stole from Leeson’s home for about $175 worth of crack cocaine, according to testimony. While asking the jury to spare his life on Wednesday, Phillips said, “I would not have done the things I did, if not for crack cocaine.”

    MAJORITY FAVORED DEATH

    The 12 jurors deliberated for several hours Wednesday afternoon, before heading to a hotel for the night. They returned to the courthouse Thursday morning and deliberated for another hour before informing the court that they had a verdict.

    One juror, who spoke on the condition that his name not be used, said that eight jurors favored the death penalty, while three were opposed and one was undecided.

    In a capital-murder case, if the jury can’t unanimously agree on a death sentence, it must choose one of three life sentences.

    After some discussion, the opposed jurors held to their views and the group selected life in prison without parole, said the juror, who had favored a death sentence.

    The life sentences with parole eligibility after 25 or 30 years weren’t really discussed, he said.

    And the juror didn’t find Phillips’ statement to the jury very credible.

    “I think the guy’s an animal,” he said.

    PHILLIPS RELIEVED

    Defense attorney Anthony Koukoutas said Phillips was relieved by the jury’s decision.

    “He was grateful the jury gave him one last shot at being a productive member of society, even though he is behind bars,” Koukoutas said.

    On Wednesday, Phillips told the jury that he wanted to talk to other prisoners “so they don’t destroy their lives, their families’ lives or the lives of their victims.”

    “My hope is that he will follow through with what he asked the jury for, the opportunity to atone and work with others,” defense attorney Derek Lowry said.

    To the life sentence for aggravated murder, the judge added 25 years for counts of aggravated burglary, aggravated robbery, tampering with evidence and arson.

    “I’m very satisfied with the sentence that the jury recommended in this case,” said Assistant Stark County Prosecutor Dennis Barr, who handled the case with Assistant Stark County Prosecutor Chryssa Hartnett.

    The lack of eyewitnesses or physical evidence placing Phillips at the crime scene made the case a challenge, but if anyone questioned whether Phillips was the killer, his statement to the jury should erase that doubt, Barr said.

    BROTHER REMEMBERED

    After the trial, Joe Leeson praised Alliance police and county prosecutors, and thanked the organizations that helped with his brother’s funeral.

    Leeson was in the courtroom throughout the trial and on Thursday finally had his chance to tell the judge and Phillips about his younger brother.

    James Leeson loved people and helped those in need, his brother said. He was a veteran and a retired firefighter. He had a “tremendous” sense of humor.

    “Gosh, $175 worth of crack cocaine for the life of my brother,” Joe Leeson said to Phillips. “Unforgivable, yet you have the audacity to ask us to forgive you.”

    Still, Joe Leeson said he would try to forgive the man who killed his brother, explaining, “My faith requires that I work on that.”

    http://www.cantonrep.com/news/x47987...ps-murder-case

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