Sean Phillips, 25, of Scottville has been found guilty of second-degree murder in the “Baby Kate” murder trial.\u00a0\u00a0Phillips was acquitted of 1st-degree murder at the direction of the judge.<\/p>\n
The judge on Tuesday said there wasn’t enough evidence for a first-degree murder charge, leaving the jury with lesser charges to consider. A second-degree murder conviction could carry a sentence of life or any term of years in prison, but allows for the possibility of parole.<\/p>\n
Phillips is the father of Katherine “Baby Kate” Phillips who was 4-months old in 2011 when she went missing.\u00a0Numerous searches around Mason County were conducted by both police and members of the public but her body was never found.<\/p>\n
“Today\u2019s conviction is a measure of justice for a child who will never grow up and a family that has been ripped apart by her murder,” said Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette.<\/p>\n
Prosecutors said Phillips, 26, had a turbulent relationship with Kate’s mother and didn’t want the baby.\u00a0Kate “was a financial burden and an impediment to the defendant’s lifestyle,” Assistant Attorney General Donna Pendergast told jurors.<\/p>\n
A key piece of evidence was a note written to Kate’s mother, Ariel Courtland, by Phillips. He described how in a fit of anger Kate somehow was thrown from her car seat when he yanked the seat.<\/p>\n
He wrote that he “held her for a long time” and that she was in a “peaceful place.” He didn’t elaborate.\u00a0Pendergast said Kate’s clothes were found with Phillips.<\/p>\n
“A peaceful place? Out in the wild, so animals could eat her in the wild?” Pendergast said in court. “Babies don’t just end up naked in the woods. Someone has to put them there.”<\/p>\n
Phillips currently is serving a 10-year prison sentence for unlawful imprisonment in the child’s disappearance. Sentencing for this conviction will most likely take place in mid-November.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"