Probate Court Judge Josh Queen hears legal arguments from attorney Charles Marchbanks, left, and attorney David Massey, right, during testimony by Gaffney Police Department Det. Sgt. Jott Blackwell, who is seated in the witness chair. Marchbanks represents Julia Phillips and her son against a request to evict Phillips from an Overbrook Drive home owned by the estate of her late husband, Edward Bryant Phillips. Massey represents the estate. Without saying when he would issue a decision, Cherokee County Probate Court Judge Josh Queen took under advisement on Wednesday morning a request to evict Julia Phillips and her son from an Overbook Drive home.
During an hour-long hearing Wednesday, Queen heard a request from the daughters of Julia Phillips' late husband, Edward Bryant Phillips, to dissolve their father's trust and to remove Phillips and her son from their father's home.
Phillips, who currently stands accused of murder in connection with the Feb. 4 strangulation death of York attorney Melvin Roberts, is under court-ordered home detention at the Overbrook Drive home while awaiting trial.
Eviction would cause problems with her bond conditions on the murder charge, and possibly could result in her re-incarceration.
According to legal paperwork and arguments in the Probate Court case, the Overbrook Drive home is owned by the Bryant Phillips Trust and Bryant Phillips'  last will and testament allowed Julia Phillips to live in the home until she died or re-married.
An attorney for Bryant Phillips' daughters, who are trustees of his estate, argued Julia Phillips should be removed from the home for a number of reasons, among them the criminal charges she faces and for what they contend is her failure to maintain the home for the estate.
During the hearing, the estate called upon Gaffney City Police Detective Sgt. Jott Blackwell to testify about the conditions on the interior of the home. Blackwell said he was inside the home on two occasions, the first of which occurred in July 2009 when local authorities were tracking leads on the serial killings that occurred here last year. Blackwell said in court that Phillips' son, Hunter Stephens, was a "person of interest" in the investigation and that's why police went to the home.
He said the interior of the home was in "disarray."
Blackwell said he was back inside the home May 27 during the execution of a search warrant and that there was no change in the condition of the home from when he was there earlier.
Blackwell confirmed that Hunter Stephens was not charged with anything following either of the two police visits.
The estate is also arguing Bryant Phillips' will did not provide for Julia Phillips' son to live in the home. 
Judge Queen heard arguments and testimony Wednesday solely to decide if a preliminary injunction should be granted to have Julia Phillips and Hunter Stephens removed from the home until the matter is fully decided.
Neither Julia Phillips nor her son appeared in court.
Attorney Charles Marchbanks of Greenville, who is representing Julia Phillips in Probate Court, argued there was no reason for the court to have his clients removed from the home.
Not only does she have a right to be there, he argued, but there was no evidence presented during Wednesday's hearing that she was harming the estate's property, the attorney said.
He further argued the court cannot consider Julia Phillips' recent circumstances of being charged in a high profile murder case since she has the constitutional protections of being innocent until proven otherwise. 
Given all of the attention and scrutiny Julia Phillips is receiving from police and the media, he added, "I submit to the court ... the property could not be better protected."
Numerous television crews and media members from Rock Hill and Charlotte, N.C., were in attendance at Wednesday's court proceedings.
The Probate Court hearing is just one of numerous twists in the case in recent days. On Monday, Cherokee County Coroner Dennis Fowler had the body of Bryant Phillips exhumed from Oakland Cemetery in Gaffney so he could take a new look at Bryant Phillips' death in June 1999.
Authorities aren't saying what they're looking for, though samples were sent for testing following a forensic autopsy Monday.
More details will be appear online and in print as they become available.