GUILTY
Phillips sentenced to life for burning man to death
By TIM GULLA Ledger Staff Writer tim@gaffneyledger.com
Technically, Assistant Solicitor Michael Morin of the Seventh Circuit Solicitor's Office had no duty to provide a Cherokee County jury with a motive for the murder it was pondering.

Yet he provided one nonetheless, a motive he described as perhaps the worst of all. Jeremy Phillips, 29, the Cowpens resident on trial for burning another man alive inside a trailer on Aug. 30, 2006, committed murder simply because he could, the prosecutor alleged.

A jury of seven women and five men spent about four hours in deliberations Friday before agreeing that prosecutors had proved their case. Phillips was convicted of murder and arson for the death of Juan Roman.

Phillips, who had nothing to say after the verdict, was sentenced by Circuit Court Judge J. Derham Cole to spend the rest of his natural life in prison.

"I never thought a verdict could bring me to tears but I was close to it," Morin said after the trial. "I don't know what it was about this case. I just felt like (Phillips) was the ringleader and if there was going to be justice done, I had to start with him."

Phillips was one of three people charged in connection with Roman's death. Police allege that Roman was badly beaten inside his Oakstone Road, Cowpens, trailer before it was set on fire. A forensic expert who conducted an autopsy on Roman's badly burned remains determined he still was alive when the fire broke out and that he was killed by heat, flames and carbon monoxide.

Also charged is Jesse Curtis Willis, who was 21 at the time of the fire, and Nakia Moss Gossett, who was 28 at the time of the fire.

Gossett, who testified for prosecutors, said she didn't actually see who set the blaze but saw blood on both Phillips and Willis before the fire. She also placed the accelerant used in the fire - gasoline - in Phillips' hands.

Prosecutors had no deals with Gossett for her testimony.

Morin often pointed to an old saying during his closing arguments Friday, that idle hands are the devil's playground. Phillips, Willis, and Gossett had no jobs at the time and had little to do all day in an atmosphere of alcohol and drugs, the prosecutor said.

"That was a breeding ground for reckless disregard of social duty," he said.

Phillips had denied all of the allegations against him from the witness stand on Thursday, claiming he was asleep at the time of the blaze.

Phillips' attorney, Wade "Chip" Weatherford III, said Phillips had no history of violence and was honorably discharged from the U.S. Army. The allegations against Phillips did not fit his history or character, Weatherford told the jury.

Moreover, Weatherford attacked the case against Phillips as lacking hard evidence and credible witnesses.

Neither Phillips' fingerprints nor DNA were found on any of the pieces of evidence introduced at trial, he said. Some of the scientific evidence, such as determinations on where the fire started, contradicted the witness testimony, he said.

Roman's family, who spoke little English, declined through a translator to speak with reporters after the trial but did offer comments to the court in a written statement.

"We are devastated not only that Juan was murdered, but murdered in such an inhumane way," they wrote. "No one deserves to die the way Juan did. No one."

Claiming Phillips showed no remorse and was a danger to society, the family asked that he be punished to the fullest extent of the law.

"Jeremy Phillips thought he could get away with killing a Hispanic. We are relieved to know that the judicial system has proved him wrong," the family wrote.

Weatherford had sought a delay of the trial earlier in the week and also sought a mistrial once it was underway. Judge Cole denied both requests.

It was unclear if an appeal would be filed.