Waynesville, N.C: Families Brutal Slaughter And Their Struggle With Killers Is Detailed At Trial.....

[Slimpickins]

Medical examiner says 3 in family put up struggle
Victims' efforts detailed at trial

By ERICA BESHEARS

WAYNESVILLE -- Three of the five slain Phillips family members tried to
protect or defend themselves before being shot, and two of them may have
been shot twice, according to testimony Friday in the Christopher Wayne
Lippard murder trial.

N.C. Chief Medical Examiner John Butts described how Cora Phillips had cuts
and bruises on her right forearm from where she tried to defend herself. He
said 14-year-old Katie Phillips suffered gunshot injuries to her left thumb
and ring finger because she was holding her hand over her face when she was
shot in the left eye.

And Eddie Phillips was shot as he struggled with Lippard outside the house,
trying with bare hands to defend what was left of his family, prosecutors
and defense attorneys said during opening arguments Thursday.

Statesville native Lippard, 21, is charged with five counts of first-degree
murder in the deaths of Earl Phillips, 72; his wife, Cora, 71; son, Eddie,
40; daughter-in-law, Mitzi, 44; and granddaughter, Katie.

If convicted, he could be sentenced to death. Lippard's co-defendant,
Charles Wesley Roache, 26, of Hiddenite is scheduled to be tried on the same
charges this fall.

About 15 of the Phillipses' relatives quietly left their seats at the front
of the courtroom when Butts took the stand.

Butts first described the wounds to Earl and Cora Phillips. Prosecutors
contend they were the only ones home when Roache and Lippard arrived and
that they were the first killed.

Both Earl and Cora Phillips' hands were bound together tightly in front of
them with duct tape, Butts said.

Earl Phillips suffered a shotgun blast to the right temple area, and he may
have been shot through the soft-palate area of his mouth also, Butts said.
Either shot, whichever was first, would have caused immediate death, he
said.

When prosecutors showed the jury autopsy photographs of Earl Phillips,
several jurors appeared disturbed, covering their mouths with their hands.

Cora Phillips died instantly of a shotgun wound to the left corner of her
mouth, Butts said. He also saw a wound in her soft palate but said he could
not be sure that it was a second gunshot.

Under cross-examination, Butts said again that he could not be sure that the
two were shot twice. The number of shots is important because Lippard
contends he didn't kill anyone, that Roache shot all five people.

In a statement he made to authorities in New Orleans, he admitted shooting
Cora Phillips after she was dead. During the same interview, he recanted the
confession, saying he did not know if he shot her, according to a State
Bureau of Investigation report.

After Earl and Cora Phillips died, Roache and Lippard left started to leave
in Earl Phillips' pickup truck. They wrecked it, and headed back up the hill
to the house. In the meantime, Eddie, Mitzi and Katie Phillips had returned
from the county fair.

Eddie Phillips confronted Lippard in the front yard. As the two men
struggled, Roache shot Eddie Phillips, defense attorneys said.

He did not die immediately from the single shotgun wound to his side, Butts
said. He could have lived for a few minutes, Butts said. "In my opinion, it
would be painful," he said.

Danny Ray Messer, the neighbor who discovered the bodies, testified Thursday
that Eddie Phillips was breathing and tried to tell him something before
dying that night.

After Eddie Phillips was shot, his wife and daughter were shot inside the
house. Mitzi Phillips, in the kitchen, died instantly of a gunshot to her
forehead, Butts said.

Katie had hidden in the bathroom, where she was shot.

Friday was the second day of testimony in a trial that is expected to last
at least three weeks.

The prosecutors will continue presenting their case next week.

After they finish learning about the night the Phillipses died, jurors will
likely hear details about the death of Chad McKinley Watt, 22, a Statesville
man who died the day before the Phillipses in Alexander County.

Prosecutors plan to show that Lippard and Roache left Alexander County
together, planning an escape to California financed by robbery. Defense
attorneys say Lippard was simply following Roache.

http://www.charlotte.com/observer/0708lippard.htm