Joshua Earl Patrick Phillips (born March 17, 1984) is an American convicted murderer from Jacksonville, Florida. He was convicted in July 1999 of murdering an 8-year-old neighbor, Maddie Clifton, in November 1998, when he was 14 years old. He is currently serving a sentence of life in prison without parole. The murder was the subject of national television coverage, including a documentary on 48 Hours titled "Why did Josh Kill?"
Video Josh Phillips (murderer)
Early life
Phillips was born in Jacksonville, Florida, on March 17, 1984. Josh's father, Steve Phillips, a 6 ft 6 in (198 cm) man, dominated his wife and son and had a violent temper. In Too Young to Kill: 15 Shocking Crimes, Josh recalls that at one point in his life, he walked into his parents' room to see his father's fist smashed through a wall, which made him terrified of his father. Steve gave his son strict rules and was a drug addict and alcoholic.
Maps Josh Phillips (murderer)
The disappearance
On November 3, 1998, around 5:00pm, Maddie Clifton disappeared. The first suspect named in the case was neighbor Larry Grisham. Grisham had been arrested twice in the past, both times between 15 and 20 years earlier, in sexual battery cases, but in both incidents, charges were dropped. Grisham failed a lie detector test in relation to Maddie's disappearance, but provided an alibi.
Police called off the search for Maddie, but the community, including over 400 volunteers, persisted. A reward was offered, initially $50,000 but later doubled. One of the volunteers was Phillips.
The FBI became involved in the case. Flyers were distributed around town, including at a local Jaguars-Bengals game. Television series America's Most Wanted also offered to broadcast the story.
Murder case
The search ended a week after the disappearance when Phillips' mother Melissa went to clean his room and found that his waterbed seemed to be "leaking". Upon further examination, she discovered Maddie's body hidden inside the base of the waterbed. She promptly ran outside her home and went across the street to get the police.
Phillips was arrested that day at his school. He was held in maximum security as he made his first court appearance. It was determined that Clifton's cause of death was due to stabbing and clubbing with a baseball bat. Phillips claimed the event happened one afternoon when he was home alone, that Maddie came to his house asking him to come outside and play baseball, and that Phillips agreed even though he was not allowed to have friends over while his parents were not home. As the two were playing baseball, Maddie threw the ball at him and he hit it, which caused the ball to strike the 8-year-old's eye, causing her to bleed, leading Clifton to cry and scream. Phillips panicked, fearing the reaction that his father would give when he got home and saw the aftermath. Phillips proceeded to drag Clifton into his home and then into his room and strangle her with a phone cord for approximately 15 minutes. Soon after, he hit her again with the baseball bat and stashed her under his bed. Not long after Josh's father entered the house, Phillips went to interact with his father for a short moment and then went back to his room and found that Clifton was still alive moaning under his bed. He then removed the mattress and stabbed her 11 times, killing the 8-year-old.
Phillips was charged with first-degree murder. His trial was held in Polk County due to the massive amount of media coverage. He was convicted and sentenced to life in prison, with no possibility of parole. Because he was under 16, he was not eligible for the death penalty under Florida's law at the time.
While the autopsy did not reveal any sexual assault, Maddie's body was found nude from the waist down.
The murder appears to have been motivated by Phillips' fear of his abusive and alcoholic father, who would have been very angry had he found Maddie inside their house. Phillips stated on the TV program Too Young to Kill: 15 Shocking Crimes that if he could take it back, he would, subsequently breaking down into tears.
Phillips attended Blackstone Career Institute, a distance learning program, graduating with a paralegal degree in 2007. He works as a paralegal, helping other inmates with their appeals.
Sometime after the trial, Maddie Clifton's parents, Steve and Sheila Clifton, divorced after 25 years of marriage.
In 2000, Phillips' father, Steve, was killed in a car accident.
Appeals
In 2002, an appeals court upheld Phillips's conviction. In December 2004, Melissa Phillips began to seek a new trial for her son, noting that his young age at the time of the murder should have carried more weight in his sentence.
In 2005, new hearing dates were set for Phillips.
In 2008, two of the officials behind his sentence, States Attorney Harry Shorstein and Sheriff Nat Glover, confirmed their belief that Phillips deserved a jail sentence, but admitted having second thoughts about the no-parole life sentence for the 14 year old.
In 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that sentencing juveniles to mandatory life without parole is unconstitutional. It was unclear at that time if Phillips' attorney would seek re-sentencing.
In November 2015, Phillips' attorneys were considering the Supreme Court ruling as a basis to file a re-sentencing hearing.
In September 2016, after Phillips' attorneys successfully appealed the court, he was granted a new sentencing hearing as a result of retroactive application of the Supreme Court's ruling which declared his current sentence, mandatory life in prison without parole, unconstitutional for juvenile offenders. A resentencing date was set for February 2017.
In February 2017 Phillips's lawyer asked for more time to prepare and subsequently a new sentencing hearing was set for June 2017. At the June hearing, the victim's mother requested that his sentence be upheld. On November 17, 2017, Phillips was re-sentenced to life in prison.
In the media
The murder of Maddie Clifton was featured on the Season 2 premiere of Killer Kids.
Phillips was interviewed by British journalist Susanna Reid for the ITV documentary Children Who Kill.
See also
- Lionel Tate
- Joshua Rosa
- Rachel Wade
- Mary Bell
References
Source of article : Wikipedia
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