LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The criminal trial of a man accused of a 1993 murder in Louisville is underway. Percy Phillips is on trial for killing 25-year-old Brenda Whitfield nearly 30 years ago.
Whitfield was shot and killed inside a Chevron on Newburg Road in 1993, while working a night shift. The man wrongfully convicted for her murder, Edwin Chandler, was exonerated from charges and released from prison in 2009, after serving nearly a decade in prison.
That year, a new investigation found police made major errors in the case and that Chandler was innocent. Also in 2009, a grand jury indicted Phillips for those same charges, after a remaining fingerprint on a piece of evidence was linked back to him.
And now, years later, Phillips is on trial.
On day four of testimony in front of a jury, defense attorneys brought Phillips' mother to the stand, Abigail Taylor.
Attorney Julie Mudd for the Public Defender's Office wasted no time asking Taylor what her son looked like back then and having her compare that description with images captured on surveillance video years ago.
Taylor kept her answers mostly brief, mainly yes or no answers. The defense had her describe the man caught on video committing the crime.
"Maybe a thin build, but not real thin," Taylor said.
When asked if Phillips was ever that thin, Taylor responded, 'No.'
Mudd also focused on skin tone, based on their previous claims that Phillips is lighter-skinned than sketches from the 90s showed.
Taylor then talked about her son being left-handed, as well as being neither skinny nor heavy-set back then -- rather, somewhere in the middle.
Taylor also recalled a car accident she says her son suffered in May of 1993, before the incident, where he fractured his hip. She says Phillips had a noticeable limp for some time after.
"They had his leg up in traction," Taylor said.
Mudd also showed Taylor a snapshot of the surveillance video, asking if she recognized the man in the photo. Taylor responded, 'No.'
The prosecution only asked Taylor a few questions, confirming Phillips' height and physical rehab time after the injury.
The defense also brought up Ralph Brown, a man who talked to police that night but couldn't recall many details.
Meanwhile, Louisville psychiatrist Dr. Nasiruddin Siddiqui, also called to testify, said Phillips was a patient in 2004. He confirmed Phillips is left-handed based on old records, but defense attorneys left it there -- choosing not to pursue any further questions with the doctor.
On the prosecutors' side, several witnesses have taken the stand since last Wednesday, describing what happened that night. John Gray, a witness who appears on surveillance video from inside the gas station the night of the murder, said he tried to prove Chandler's innocence while he was in prison.
On the second day of the trial, Chandler took the stand himself and told the court about Det. Mark Handy's role in his false confession back. Handy, who was accused of framing several innocent people for crimes they didn't commit, plead guilty to perjury and tampering with evidence in 2021.
"Officer Handy got upset about it, he told me I was lying," Chandler testified. "He said my mother wouldn't appreciate the fact...that I was lying and trying to wiggle out of the situation."
Prosecutor for the Office of the Commonwealth's Attorney Jim Lesousky's opening statement focused on John Gray, a witness who was pumping gas that night when he told police he saw the gunman run out of the store. Years later, in 1996, Gray told police he believed Phillips was the man he saw.
"He wrote a letter to the homicide office, saying you got the wrong guy," Lesousky said.
With Gray set to testify later, the prosecution called witnesses to the stand, including retired police officer Alvin Farris.
Ex-police detective Mark Handy, who in 2021 was convicted of perjury and tampering with evidence charges in the case, also testified. So did the owner of the gas station at the time, Edward Zeller.
Zeller spoke while attorneys in the courtroom played security video from inside the store that night. Prosecutors focused in on key pieces of evidence: a beer bottle, a stocking cap and sunglasses.
"Use your common sense when you're listening to John Gray," Lesousky said. "This case won't be like the TV shows we watch."
Meanwhile, public defender Julie Mudd focused on hair found in the cap, DNA findings, and questioning fingerprint matches.
"If Mr. Chandler didn't do this, that does not mean Mr. Phillips did," Mudd said. "Our understanding has grown about fingerprints and what they mean."
Defense attorneys say they have another witness to call up Tuesday, and prosecutors have one to revisit who couldn't make it last week.
Trial resumes Tuesday afternoon at 1:30 p.m., with a verdict still expected sometime this week.
BACKGROUND:
In 1995, Edwin Chandler was falsely accused of murdering 25-year-old Brenda Whitfield, a cashier at a Louisville Chevron gas station, two years earlier.
Surveillance video from the gas station was a key piece of evidence Louisville Police looked at, however, the security footage had been recorded and taped over by mistake.
LMPD detectives were left with only photos from the security footage.
Witnesses at the scene described the murder suspect as heavy set and about 5’8”. But police still narrowed in on Chandler – despite witnesses not picking him out of a photo lineup and Chandler being over six-feet-tall.
After more than a decade in prison, Chandler was exonerated in 2009 thanks to new evidence and testimony which found LMPD had made major errors in the case.
“I’ve always known it wasn’t me, I’ve always known it wasn’t me,” Chandler told reporters after he was released. “So, to me the photo never looked like me.”
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