Sean Phillips Conviction Affirmed on All Counts in Michigan Court of Appeals

[XLFD]

The Michigan Court of Appeals ruled that Sean Phillips appeal to them had insufficient merit for them to overturn the original court's decision, and affirmed the decision on all counts.  The decision, linked to in the Mlive article and at its end, upheld Phillips' conviction and sentencing parameters.  Phillips was convicted for unlawful imprisonment when his infant daughter, affectionately known as Baby Kate, went missing at the end of June, 2011, and now Phillips faces open murder charges in 2014, with the Attorney General's office assisting the prosecution.

LUDINGTON, MI – The Michigan Court of Appeals has upheld the conviction and unusually tough sentencing of Sean Michael Phillips for the unlawful imprisonment of his infant daughter, Katherine “Baby Kate” Phillips.

In an opinion dated Dec. 17, a three-judge appeals panel unanimously affirmed Phillips’ 2012 conviction of that felony and his sentencing to between 10 and 15 years in prison.

The ruling doesn’t involve the pending murder case against Phillips, 24. He is scheduled for a preliminary examination Jan. 9 and 10 in Mason County 79th District Court on a charge of open murder of his daughter.

Mason County 51st Circuit Judge Richard I. Cooper imposed the 10-to-15-year sentence June 5, 2012, five weeks after a jury convicted Phillips of unlawful imprisonment of the 4-month-old baby.

That was the longest possible sentence allowed by law. The 15-year maximum is set by law, but Cooper radically exceeded state sentencing guidelines by imposing the 10-year minimum. Guidelines calculated by state probation agents called for a minimum sentence of no more than about three years in prison, and the judge tripled that.

The law allows judges to exceed the guidelines if they state "substantial and compelling reasons" for it on the record. Cooper did so, calling the case a “worst case scenario” in which an infant was still missing after nearly a year, with circumstantial evidence indicating the possibility she was dead, and still no word from Phillips about her whereabouts.

Phillips, on July 2, 2012, appealed both the conviction and the sentence. Mason County Prosecutor Paul Spaniola and the Michigan Attorney General’s office fought the appeal.

The appeals court decided the jury and the judge got it right.

In its support for Cooper’s above-guideline sentencing, the panel wrote: “The infant was wholly dependent on others and unable to survive on her own. Defendant not only exploited the victim’s youth, but also exploited her incapacity as an infant when he separated her from her mother, left her in a location where she would not be found, and ensured that she could not communicate her predicament to others.”

Phillips, a Scottville-area resident at the time of his arrest in June 2011, is a close-security inmate at Carson City Correctional Facility, according to the Michigan Department of Corrections website. His earliest possible release date is June 29, 2021.

A Mason County jury on April 27, 2012, found him guilty of unlawful imprisonment of his daughter, who was reported missing in June 2011 by her mother, Ariel Courtland. The baby was never found.

In September 2013, Phillips was charged with open murder. The Michigan Attorney General’s office is prosecuting him in the new case in cooperation with Spaniola.

The appeals court sided with the trial judge and the prosecution on all the claims raised in Phillips’ appeal:

• That the prosecutor failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Kate was “restrained.”

• That the judge erred in instructing the jury that the secret confinement could be from either Kate’s mother, Ariel Courtland, or from the State of Michigan.

• That the judge departed from sentencing recommendations for reasons that were not articulated as substantial or compelling.

The “secret confinement” issue was a crucial legal point argued between Spaniola and Phillips’ court-appointed trial attorney. 

Mlive's Article John Hausman

MI COA Decision- Sean Phillips

[Willy]

I'm sure Phillips will be passed around many times over for the price of a pack of smokes while he is the guest of the prison system.  Young prisoners don't stand a chance in lock up.

[XLFD]

You call it being 'passed around', I think the other inmates would refer to it as civic-mindedly looking for where he may have hid or imprisoned Baby Kate by conducting complete full-cavity body searches on Sean. 

In this season, say a prayer that we can find out what happened to Katherine Phillips, and hope for the best outcome.