Phillips

ELKINS — The trial began Wednesday for a Randolph County man charged with murder in a fatal shooting in the Heavner Acres Trailer Court in 2024.

The trial of Melvin Richard Phillips Jr., 63, is scheduled for three days in Randolph County Circuit Court. Phillips is charged with one count of murder and one count of use or presentation of a firearm during commission of a felony.

Phillips 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.

In his opening statement, Randolph County Prosecuting Attorney Michael Parker verbally walked the jury through footage of the May 6 incident from Phillips’ in-home security camera, footage that would be shown later in testimony. Parker stated that comments made by Phillips in the security footage, such as repeatedly saying he was going to shoot Wirth prior to doing so, showed premeditation.

Parker also told the jury to watch for inconsistencies between the video footage from Phillips’ security camera and video testimony from Phillips and his long-time girlfriend, who witnessed the shooting and called 911. One inconsistency Parker mentioned was that Phillips allegedly informed police he had told his girlfriend to call 911, while the security footage allegedly showed Phillips telling her not to call. Parker asked the jury to consider, “Why are these inconsistencies there?”

Parker also noted that, after shooting Wirth, Phillips appeared “calm” and at one point told police, “I did (shoot him). He ain’t threatening my life again, worthless mother****er.”

In his opening statement, Alex Harclerode, Phillips’ attorney alongside James Hawkins Jr., asked the jury to wait for all of the evidence before drawing any conclusions in the case. Harclerode said the evidence will show that Phillips started his day on May 6, 2024 like any other, as a truck driver for a lumber company. He said Phillips was “happy” to come home early until Wirth began to yell at him.

“(Phillips was) not there to hurt anybody. He has no expectations,” Harclerode told the jury. “He’s clear-minded… For all intents and purposes, Melvin is as easy-going and as happy as he’s ever been, and it’s not until a six-foot-three, 227-pound man (Wirth), belligerently drunk on his porch with a deadly weapon, a big knife, confronts (Phillips). Goes out of his way to start yelling at Melvin, telling him all kinds of things. ‘I’m going to kill you. I’m going to gut you like a fish. I’m going to cut your head off.'”

Harclerode said Phillips was “not looking for a confrontation” with Wirth on that day, but that Wirth’s threats to Phillips and Phillips’ girlfriend caused Phillips to verbally respond. Harclerode told the jury that this was the second time Wirth had allegedly threatened Phillips and his girlfriend with a knife.

Parker called First Sergeant Jeffery Chumley with the Bureau of Criminal Investigations with the West Virginia State Police to testify about a video he recorded that showed the footage from Phillips’ in-home security camera on May 6.

The jury was shown the video which Chumley explained he had recorded on his department-issued cellphone. Chumley’s video shows Phillips’ in-home security system playing the footage from May 6. 

The security footage shows Phillips yelling back and forth with Wirth, who is off-camera, as Phillips walks toward his residence. Phillips is seen entering his residence and returning with a firearm before going off-camera. More yelling can be heard off-camera before there is a gunshot. Phillips’ girlfriend can be heard saying she had to call the police while Phillips yelled about Wirth threatening him. Phillips is then seen placing the firearm on top of a lidded trashcan.

Parker then called Sergeant William Butcher with the Elkins Police Department to testify. Butcher took over the case as the investigating officer after the initial investigating officer, Patrolman First Class Ramon Goux with the Elkins Police Department, died in June 2024.

Butcher was called to testify about Goux’s bodycam footage from May 6, as well as about identify photos taken by Goux and other officers at the scene, forensic reports filed by officers, the knife that was found near Wirth, and the gun found on the scene.

The bodycam footage shows that, after police and EMS arrive on the scene and Phillips is detained, Goux speaks with Phillips’ girlfriend, who states that Wirth was “schizophrenic” and had “done this before.” She said that Phillips had just gotten home from work “not even three minutes” before the incident, when Wirth started screaming at both of them. Phillips told Wirth to go back into his house and leave them alone, she told Goux, but Wirth “kept it up and kept it up.” 

In the bodycam footage, Phillips’ girlfriend said that Wirth had been on his porch during the verbal exchange and that she didn’t know Phillips was going inside their residence to get the firearm. She told Goux that, when Phillips came back and again told Wirth to go back inside and leave them alone, Wirth, who was holding a knife, went down two steps from his porch and made more threats. Phillips then told Wirth, “You better lay off her or I swear to God, I’ll shoot you.” Phillips’ girlfriend told Goux that Wirth then “moved his hand up” and that’s when Phillips shot him.

The trial is scheduled to continue until Friday.