State v. Phillips

287 P.3d 245, 295 Kan. 929, 2012 Kan. LEXIS 497
CourtSupreme Court of Kansas
DecidedOctober 26, 2012
DocketNo. 102,282
StatusPublished
Cited by50 cases

This text of 287 P.3d 245 (State v. Phillips) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Phillips, 287 P.3d 245, 295 Kan. 929, 2012 Kan. LEXIS 497 (kan 2012).

Opinion

The opinion of the court was delivered by

Biles, J.:

Michael Phillips directly appeals his convictions for first-degree felony murder, two counts of attempted aggravated robbeiy, and criminal possession of a firearm. His convictions stem from the shooting death of Miguel Moya, who Phillips said rushed at him unarmed during a scuffle. Phillips shot Moya after robbing two people at gunpoint at the same house. Phillips challenges: (1) the district court’s failure to instruct the jury on the lesser included offenses of second-degree murder and voluntary manslaughter and on self-defense; (2) the State’s failure to establish Moya’s murder was committed during the commission of the underlying felonies; (3) alleged misstatements about the law during the State’s closing argument; (4) the admission of evidence showing Phillips fled from police officers at an unrelated traffic stop and his use of an alias; and (5) his sentence imposing lifetime postrelease supervision. We affirm Phillips’ convictions, but we vacate the lifetime postrelease supervision part of his sentence.

Factual and Procedural Background

Moya was shot and killed inside a Wichita home shortly before 7 a.m. on November, 19, 2007, after a late night out with friends. According to the doctor who performed Moya’s autopsy, the shot that killed him traveled downward inside his body while he was in a “recumbent” position or otherwise bending over in some way.

[932]*932Police were led to Phillips after learning he may have called the house numerous times before the shooting. An arrest warrant was issued, but Phillips was not found until about 8 months later during a routine traffic stop. Phillips fled from police at the scene and once apprehended falsely told officers his name was Eric Brown.

During his interview with an investigating detective, Phillips explained that on the evening of November 18 he had planned on robbing another house. He admitted that he was carrying a gun with a potato silencer at the end of it. When that plan fell through, Phillips said he dropped off Tiffany Berry at Aaron Hardgraves’ house (where Moya was shot), left to get ready to leave town, and eventually returned to the house to retrieve money Hardgraves owed him.

Phillips said that when he arrived at the house, he head-butted Hardgraves, who answered the door, and retrieved his money. Phillips said he did not take money from anyone else, though this claim was contradicted by Jose Blanco, who testified at trial that Phillips put a gun to his head and grabbed $450 out of his pocket.

After getting the money from Hardgraves, Phillips said he heard gunshots from another part of the house. He believed Berry, the woman he dropped off at the house earlier, either fired the shots or was being shot at, so he went looking for her. Phillips said he saw Berry and Moya together. He and Moya began pushing and shoving each other before Moya grabbed and rushed at him. Phillips said he started shooting at Moya, and continued shooting as he backed up to leave the house. In response to questioning by police regarding why he fired the gun at Moya, Phillips said, “I don’t know, the dude kind of grabbed me, I probably shot him like three times maybe.” Phillips said he was not trying to kill Moya and did not know where he was aiming. Phillips also said, “It could have been me getting shot at.” But Phillips admitted he did not see Moya with a weapon.

No gun was ever found on Moya or in the house. Phillips said he later sold the weapon he used after the shooting. Investigators collected from the house a piece of potato, as well as gun casings.

Another eyewitness, Juan Lopez, testified at trial that he saw Moya get into a physical altercation with Berry, who shot a gun [933]*933into a door Moya hid behind. As the two struggled, Lopez said Phillips appeared and then Lopez heard Berry say the “Mexicans [were] going to die.” Lopez said Moya began angrily rushing at Phillips and Berry when the two both began shooting at him. Lopez said he did not see Moya with a weapon.

Hardgraves also testified at trial. He said someone called the house asking for Beriy four or five times during the night before the shooting. The Caller ID displayed the caller as “Michael Brown.” But Hardgraves testified that he believed Phillips was the caller because of what occurred later. Hardgraves testified that he did not overhear Berry’s conversation or know the duration of those calls, but “Michael Brown” did not call again once Phillips arrived at tire house.

Hardgraves also testified that he knew Phillips because he had installed a CD player in Phillips’ car, which he recalled was a red Buick Century. During the investigation, officers learned that Phillips drove a red Buick and that he left it parked outside Hardgraves’ house.

Hardgraves said when Phillips arrived, Phillips head-butted him and put a revolver with a potato on the end of it to his head. He said Phillips did not say anything but reached into Hardgraves’ pants pocket and took $40 cash. The next thing Hardgraves recalled was hearing shots fired, seeing Berry with a gun, and Moya coming towards Phillips. Moya stopped within a foot of Phillips before being shot by him. Hardgraves said there was no delay between the time Moya was rushing Phillips and the shots being fired. Hard-graves said Moya never made physical contact with Phillips and &at Phillips was trying to leave as Moya was coming towards him by backing up each time he was shooting. Phillips eventually left through the front door with Berry. As he was leaving the house to get help for Moya, Hardgraves recalled seeing a red Buick Century parked in front of the house after Phillips left and said it was the car in which he had previously installed a CD player.

A jury convicted Phillips of first-degree felony murder, two counts of aggravated robbery, and criminal possession of a firearm. He was sentenced to life in prison, with a mandatoiy minimum of 20 years and lifetime postrelease supervision for felony murder; a [934]*934consecutive 47 months for one attempted aggravated robbery conviction; a consecutive 34 months on the other attempted aggravated robbery conviction; and a concurrent 9 months for criminal possession of a firearm. Our jurisdiction is proper under K.S.A. 22-3601(b)(1) (off-grid crime; life sentence).

Phillips raises five issues on appeal: (1) The district court erred by not instructing tire jury on the lesser included offenses of second-degree murder and voluntary manslaughter and on self-defense; (2) the State failed to establish Moya’s murder was committed during the commission of the underlying felonies; (3) the State committed prosecutorial misconduct during closing argument when it allegedly misstated the law; (4) the district court erred in admitting evidence showing Phillips fled from officers at an unrelated traffic stop and used an alias; and (5) his sentence imposing lifetime postrelease supervision is illegal. We decide all issues against Phillips except his sentencing argument. Additional facts will be provided as necessary.

Jury Instructions

Our initial inquiry is whether the district court erred in not instructing the juiy on the lesser included offenses of second-degree murder and voluntary manslaughter, and on self-defense. At the time Phillips shot Moya, the statute governing lesser included offenses, K.S.A.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
287 P.3d 245, 295 Kan. 929, 2012 Kan. LEXIS 497, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-phillips-kan-2012.