10-12-2016, 01:22 PM
(09-17-2014, 02:38 PM)IroningBroad Wrote: That poor baby and her poor mother not being able to at least have some closure in all of this.
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The prosecution tried again to get a first-degree murder conviction against the father, but the judge issued a direct acquittal at trial today due to lack of evidence.
However, Mason County Judge Peter Wadel said he will allow the jury to consider a second-degree murder charge that doesn’t include premeditation and allows for parole.
Judge Wadel said there’s not enough evidence to support a first-degree murder charge in the disappearance of his 4-month-old daughter, Katherine Phillips, known as “Baby Kate.” She disappeared in 2011 in the Ludington area, about 80 miles northwest of Grand Rapids, and her body has never been found.
The baby's father, Sean Phillips - 26, is already serving a 10-year prison sentence for unlawful imprisonment in the disappearance.