Convicted murderer Phillip Tillet will spend the rest of his life in prison. In March of 2005 Tillet was given a life sentence for killing a man inside a jail cell at the Hattieville prison in June of 2003. Tillet appealed the sentence, and on Wednesday the Court of Appeals affirmed the life sentence. Tillet was charged for stabbing to death Kirk Belisle on June 17th of 2003. At the time, both men were inmates at the Hattieville Prison. A jury convicted Tillet on February 24th of 2005. After his conviction, Tillet vowed to appeal and told us he was only helping out a fallen prisoner.
Phillip Tillet,
[February 24th 2005] "Yes I will appeal because it's no justice. If somebody is trying to help on a crime scene why would they convict that man."
Leo Bradley represented Tillet at the Appeals Court. Bradley argued that while witnesses did see Tillet with the knife, no one actually saw Tillet stab Belisle. The argument to the Appeals Court was that trial Judge John Troadio Gonzalez should have stressed that point to the jury. But the Appeals Court disagreed. Bradley was Tillet's court-appointed attorney. For the murder trial, Tillet had been represented by another legal aid attorney, Oswald Twist.
