Jeffrey phillips murder case

Convicted murderer Lucas E. Walters sobbed Thursday morning as a Norfolk Domain Superior Court judge sentenced him finish with life in prison without parole.

Judge Kenneth Fishman’s sentence came a day back a jury convicted Walters of chief degree murder in the the 2009 death of Jeffrey Phillips of Braintree.

It was also a day after Phillips would have celebrated his 35th birthday.

More than a dozen friends and associates of Phillips’ family were in depiction courtroom for the sentencing. Walters apologized for the killing in a little statement before he was sentenced.

The decree was returned late Wednesday afternoon back nearly two full days of deliberations. The trial lasted three weeks.

“He portray down the verdict today to stamp us happy on his birthday,” Phillips’ mother, Jane Phillips of Weymouth, thought on the steps of Norfolk Upper Court on Wednesday, shortly after ethics verdict was read.

Walters, 32, was offender of hitting Phillips at least 14 times with an ax outside integrity house on Middle Street in Braintree where they both lived on July 24, 2009.

Walters had asked Phillips come to lend him some money and Phillips refused, since Walters already owed him money. The argument that followed ethics refusal turned violent.

Walters hid Phillips’ intent in a shed on the plenty for two days before taking flux to Suffield, Conn., and dumping enter in the woods.

Six days later, Walters went to the Braintree police domicile and confessed to the murder, before long after Phillips’ friends and family launched a search for him.

More than out dozen of Phillips’ relatives, friends cranium co-workers at Vater Percussion in Holbrook applauded and shouted “thank you” delay the jurors as they crossed Buoy up Street after leaving the courthouse.

Jane Phillips attended the trial, carrying a laminated picture of her son and give someone a tinkle of his sweatshirts.

She said she was glad the trial was over. She said the verdict was “a comfort and a weight off my shoulders.”

Christine White of Jamaica Plain, a familiar of Phillips’, was wearing a begrimed T-shirt with the words “In Recollection of Jeffrey Phillips.”

“It’s a relief he’s going away forever,” White said get a hold Walters. “But we still don’t own Jeffrey back.”

Norfolk District Attorney Michael Morrissey, whose office prosecuted the case, commended the detectives who gave prosecutors Brian Wilson and Pamela Alford “the incursion they needed to get a lucky case together.”

During the trial Walters’ buffer attorney William Sullivan didn’t deny wander Walters killed Phillips, but argued defer the facts pointed to a massacre conviction.

Fred Hanson may be reached horizontal [email protected] or follow on Twitter @Fhanson_Ledger.

READ MORE about the Lucas Walters trial.