Melvin Richard Phillips Jr., 64, was found guilty of voluntary manslaughter and of use or presentation of a firearm during commission of a felony, both felonies.

The jury deliberated for approximately three hours and 45 minutes on Friday before returning its verdict at about 3:20 p.m. The trial began Wednesday.

Phillips’ sentencing has been set for Oct. 20 in Randolph County Circuit Court.

Phillips was charged with one count of murder and one count of use or presentation of a firearm during commission of a felony. He is accused of shooting Mark Wirth, 67, during a dispute on May 6, 2024. Wirth was discovered on the porch of his Heavner Acres residence suffering from a gunshot wound to the head. Wirth was transported to Davis Medical Center by Randolph County EMS, where he later died.

Randolph County Circuit Court Judge David Wilmoth listens as closing arguments are given by the prosecution and the defense.

On Friday morning, Randolph County Prosecuting Attorney Michael Parker gave his closing remarks to the jury, saying that, on May 6, 2024, Phillips made the decision to murder Wirth.

“(Phillips) repeatedly told (Wirth) he was going to blow his brains out, told him he would shoot him if (Wirth) stayed right where he was at, even though right where (Wirth) was at was on his own porch,” Parker told the jury. “And then 40 seconds after the first time (Phillips) told (Wirth) he was going to shoot him, (Phillips) took multiple steps to carry out exactly what he said he was going to do.”

Parker told the jury that the evidence they had been presented since Wednesday “proves beyond any reasonable doubt” that Phillips was guilty of first-degree murder and use or presentation of a firearm during commission of a felony.

The jury was reminded by Parker that they had just been instructed by Randolph County Circuit Court Judge David Wilmoth that premeditation, a key facet of first-degree murder, meant “any interval of time between the forming of the intent to kill and the execution of that intent, which is of sufficient duration for the accused to be fully conscious of what he intended, is sufficient to support a conviction of first-degree murder.”

Parker explained that the jury was aware of what Phillips was intending before the time of the murder because, in a surveillance video taken from Phillips’ porch, Phillips can be heard “telling us” what he was thinking.

“When (Phillips) told Mr. Wirth, ‘Stay right there. Stay right there and see if I don’t shoot your g-d a–,’ is when (Phillips) formed the intent to kill on May 6, 2024,” Parker said. “(Phillips) executed that intent to kill 40 seconds later when he shot Mr. Wirth in his head, and that was clearly a sufficient duration for (Phillips) to be fully conscious of what he intended. There’s absolutely no doubt about that because in that 40 seconds before (Phillips) did it, he said twice, twice, ‘I’m going to blow your g-d brains out,’ and then went and did it.”

Parker added that, when looking closely at the evidence, it was clear that Phillips made his intention to kill Wirth in the fall of 2023 after an altercation with Wirth. Parker replayed part of an interview with Phillips’ long time fiancee that the police conducted after the May 6 shooting.

In the video, Parker points out that Phillips’ fiancee told officers that, after the incident in the fall of 2023, Phillips said, “‘The son of a b**ch (Wirth) is a threat to everybody. (The police) won’t do nothing because the cops left him here,’ and (Phillips) was pissed. He was worried.”

Parker asked the jury to also consider what Phillips was recorded saying after shooting Wirth, while Wirth was “actually lying on his own porch, dying.”

“Twenty-five seconds after (Phillips) shot Mr. Wirth, the defendant says, ‘Ain’t nobody threatening my f-ing life again,'” Parker quoted. “Minutes later, even while in the presence of multiple law enforcement officers… Patrolman Goux inquires who shot Mr. Wirth, and the defendant coldly stated, ‘I did. He ain’t threatening my g-d life again, worthless m-fer.’ The fact that that keeps coming up… that’s something that (Phillips) had been stewing on since fall of 2023, which is exactly why he keeps saying it.”

Parker also reminded the jury of another instruction Wilmoth gave regarding self-defense, as “…in order to reduce the offense to killing in self defense, two things must appear.” The first thing, Parker reminded the jury, is that the person who committed the offense must have initially attempted to retreat, and the second is that the person who committed the offense must have done so to “protect himself from great bodily harm.” Parker said nothing Phillips did on May 6 could be considered retreating or defending himself or his fiancee, as Wirth was stated to have been 12 to 14 feet away.

“What (Phillips) did on May 6, 2024 is clearly not self-defense in the least,” Parker said. “Watching the defendant on that surveillance video, it’s crystal clear that the defendant was on offense the entire time and was never on defense that tragic day.”

In his closing statement, Alex Harclerode, Phillips’ attorney alongside James Hawkins Jr., told the jury that Phillips is a “salt of the earth guy” who doesn’t want to get bothered by anybody, but was “thrust into an unwinnable situation.”

“Premeditation is ‘I’m plotting, I’m planning. I want to get this guy. I’m going to lie in wait. I’m going to poison him. I’m going to get him.’ That’s obviously not what happened here,” Harclerode told the jury. “It’s obvious that’s not what happened here. (Phillips) didn’t want to be there, he told you that himself. He didn’t want an altercation.”

Harclerode said that a possible verdict of first-degree or second-degree murder against Phillips would be “bogus,” explaining that for either verdict there would have to be proof of malice. He re-read the definition of malice given to the jury, which stated that malice is “action flowing from a wicked or corrupt motive, a thing done with wrongful intent under circumstances as carried in them the plain indication of a heart heedless of social duty and fatally bent on mischief.”

Harclerode then asked the jury if that definition “sounds like anything they’re heard” about Phillips and if they thought there was any malice in Phillips’ heart.

“(Phillips) just wants to go to work and enjoy his life and take care of his family, until he’s accosted by a madman,” Harclerode said. “I’ve given so many adjectives during the period of this case about Mark Wirth. There’s no other way to describe (him but) as an absolute madman… You’ve heard enough about (Phillips) and you’ve heard enough about Mark in this case to know that there was no malice done in this case.”

Harclerode also addressed the possibility of the jury finding Phillips guilty of voluntary manslaughter, which would mean the killing was “without just cause.” Harclerode said, however, that Phillips was justified in killing Wirth because Phillips was acting in self-defense and in defense of his fiancee. He added that self-defense is also applicable to first- and second-degree murder.

Harclerode addressed the issue of “duty to retreat” in regard to self-defense that Parker mentioned before, emphasizing the part of the definition that states, “where there is a quarrel between two or more persons and both or all are at fault…” Harclerode told the jury that he had seen no evidence during the trial that Phillips was at fault for the initial altercation on May 6.

“Again, they (the prosecution) want you to find (Phillips) guilty of first (degree murder), if not first, second (degree murder), if not second, voluntary (manslaughter). It’s not there. Don’t find it. You don’t have to find it,” Harclerode said. “The circumstances that we presented to you, evidence that’s been presented to you has been clear that the state hasn’t proved beyond a reasonable doubt that (Phillips wasn’t) acting in self defense… (the prosecution) can’t do it. They can’t do it, and because they can’t do it, you must, you must acquit (Phillips) in this case.”

Randolph County Circuit Court Judge David Wilmoth presided over the trial.