Neosho man sentenced 11 years in domestic assault case

May 16--NEOSHO, Mo. -- A Newton County judge sentenced a 60-year-old man to 11 years in prison Monday for shooting his wife in the eye with a pellet gun in Neosho.

Circuit Judge Tim Perigo assessed Michael Phillips concurrent terms of seven years for second-degree domestic assault and 11 years for armed criminal action at a sentencing hearing in Neosho. A jury convicted Phillips of the two counts on March 28 in a single-day trial held in McDonald County on a change of venue.

The state sought a conviction of Phillips for first-degree domestic assault at the trial, arguing that he knowingly caused serious injury to Donna Phillips, 51, during an alcohol-fueled argument Feb. 23, 2016, inside their room at a Neosho motel where they were resident employees. A jury of nine men and three women convicted the defendant of second-degree domestic assault instead, believing the evidence showed that he acted recklessly but not knowingly.

Police found Donna Phillips lying on the floor of their room wrapped in a blanket. Michael Phillips was sitting in a chair with blood all over him from a self-inflicted wound to his neck, a bloody knife on the table next to him and a pentagram drawn in blood on the floor of the room.

An officer testified that Phillips told him that he had an argument with his wife and shot her and asked the officer to shoot him.

The pellet that struck Donna Phillips in an eye affected her ability to walk and perform various tasks. She now wears a brace on one foot and requires a cane to get around. Left with limited range of motion in her arms as well, she testified at her husband's trial that she remains in physical therapy, is unable to work and requires some in-home assistance to get by.

Prior abuse

Donna Phillips testified at her husband's trial that he had been physically abusive with her prior to shooting her in the eye a year ago with an air rifle. She said he had hit her with an umbrella, struck her on the head with the air rifle and shot her with another gun on previous occasions.

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