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 's Deborah Gianoulis and Ray Lane will report live from Bartow in every newscast from Daybreak to Nitebeat for the duration of the trial.
Review Day One of the Phillips Trial
 A Snapshot of Maddie
...a memorial to Maddie
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Trial goes to jury
 After the defense took less then 30 minutes for their closing arguments, State Attorney Harry Shorstein spent well over an hour trying to convince the jury that the three separate, purposeful attacks should constitute first-degree murder. |
BARTOW, Fla. (AP) - There's no question that a teen-ager planned to fatally beat and stab his 8-year-old neighbor and he should be convicted of first-degree murder, a prosecutor said Thursday.
Fifteen-year-old Joshua Phillips "made a conscience decision" to kill Maddie Clifton, State Attorney Harry Shorstein said in closing arguments of the boy's murder trial. "That's premeditated murder."
Maddie disappeared Nov. 3, 1998, prompting a search of her Jacksonville neighborhood involving hundreds of volunteers. Her decomposing body was found seven days later stuffed in the frame of Joshua's water bed across the street from her home.
Joshua's attorney argued that the Maddie's murder wasn't premeditated and urged jurors to convict him of manslaughter.
"We're not here to act out of some form of vengeance," defense attorney Richard Nichols told jurors. "We're not here to act as a bunch of well-dressed vigilantes."
The 12-member jury began deliberating at 11:40 a.m.
Detectives testified during the trial that Joshua confessed to the murder.
According to Joshua's story, he accidentally hit Maddie in the eye with a baseball while they were playing in his backyard. She began screaming.
Joshua told detectives that he panicked because he feared being punished by his father and dragged Maddie into his bedroom. When she wouldn't stop screaming, he hit her in the head with a bat. When she kept moaning, Joshua grabbed a knife and stabbed her in the neck.
He then stuffed her body into the frame of his water bed and went to wash up. After Joshua heard her moaning, he pulled her from the bed and stabbed her again until she stopped breathing, according to Joshua's story.
An autopsy showed Maddie was beaten over the head and stabbed at least nine times in the chest and twice in the neck, he said.
"The evidence shows us there was an accident that deteriorated into panic and then murder," Nichols said.
Shorstein said Joshua's story was unlikely and suggested that the murder may have been sexually motivated. There was no blood on the ball, no blood in the yard and no dirt on Maddie's body or clothes.
He said Maddie's pants and underpants were removed from her body and Joshua had previously talked to Maddie and her sister about sex.
Even if jurors believe Joshua's story, he should still be convicted of first-degree murder since he intended to kill her, the prosecutor said.
Joshua, who was 14 at the time, is being tried as an adult. Since he is under 16, he cannot be sentenced to death in Florida if convicted. He could be sent to prison for life with no chance of parole.
His trial was moved 200 miles from Jacksonville to the central Florida town of Bartow, about 40 miles southeast of Tampa, because of intense news coverage.
(The Associated Press contributed to this report. All Rights Reserved.)
's Deborah Gianoulis and Ray Lane will have full details 
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