A judge has acquitted Sean Phillips of first-degree murder charges in the case of the disappearance of \u00a0Katherine (“Baby Kate”)\u00a0Phillips.<\/p>\n
Judge Peter Wadel issued a directed verdict on the first-degree murder charges midday Tuesday, Oct. 11. Judge\u00a0Wadel said there is not “at all” enough evidence to support first-degree murder charges.<\/p>\n
However, Judge Peter Wadel said he will allow the jury to deliberate about second-degree murder charges. Specific information will be put into the jury instructions about considering second-degree murder.<\/p>\n
The prosecution rested its case Tuesday morning after calling a lead detective in the case back to the stand. He told jurors the day Kate went missing all of the trash in Mason County was segregated and searched before it went to the landfill and that there were numerous searches for Baby Kate, which were unsuccessful.<\/p>\n
During the prosecution evidence the jury also heard from\u00a0John Long, a corrections deputy for the Mason County Sheriff\u2019s Department. Long said he escorted Phillips to the shower facility and then watched as Phillips put his dirty clothes into a hamper.\u00a0But after Phillips got to his cell he wanted to get a piece of paper.<\/p>\n
Long refused to let him return but the guard went and got the paper out of Phillips\u2019 pocket and made a copy of it. That note would claim that he took the baby to \u201ca guy\u201d who would bring Kate to a family wanting to adopt her.<\/p>\n
But it was a note intercepted more than a year later by Craig Smith, a former employee at Ionia\u2019s Michigan Reformatory that would become a main piece of evidence used to demonstrate what Phillips did, according to prosecutors.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt appeared to be a confession letter,\u201d Smith testified.<\/p>\n
In the letter, Phillips said he was trying to move his seat when it was blocked by Kate\u2019s car seat. He wrote he became angry, pulled out the seat roughly and Kate was thrown from the seat.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t know. I\u2019m so sorry,\u201d Phillips wrote.<\/p>\n
He went on to write \u201cHeld her for a long time. Seemed like forever. Maybe an hour, maybe a minute. Might not have been long. I can\u2019t explain a lot. Some things can only be lived.\u201d He also wrote that he panicked and did not get help.\u00a0He denied that he left her in a swamp or a lake, but in a \u201cpeaceful place.\u201d<\/p>\n
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