Drunken driver found guilty of murder in 2009 crash

It's the third drunken driving conviction for Phillips, 56. A DUI charge in a fourth case, from March 2009, is pending. Her first drunken driving charge in 1983 was pleaded down to a traffic offense.

The jury handed down the verdict after deliberating about four hours over two days.

Superior Court Judge Philip Volland set sentencing for March 4. A second-degree murder conviction carries a minimum sentence of 10 years in prison.

Phillips, who once worked as an accountant for BP, stood stone-faced as Volland read the verdicts in court. Defense lawyer Rex Butler, who had urged jurors to consider a lesser offense of manslaughter or criminally negligent homicide, said he would appeal.

Phillips was driving a Ford Explorer the wrong way on the highway Nov. 5, 2009, when she slammed head-on into a small Toyota sedan, killing the driver, Louis Clement, and critically injuring his passenger, Joyua Stovall. Phillips' blood-alcohol level was more than four times the legal limit for driving.

Jurors also found Phillips guilty of assault, driving with a revoked license and reckless driving.

Prosecutors Clinton Campion and Sharon Marshall said the state Supreme Court already has ruled in a similar case that such reckless behavior amounts to second-degree murder.

Stovall's family came to the trial every day, as did Phillips' mother and brother. So did victim advocates.

Clement's mother, who lives in Iowa, listened in by phone Wednesday as the verdicts were read.

"It's been a long time and now I get to put my kid to rest," Brenda Clement said later in an interview.

In court, Nancy Bidwell nodded her head, both smiling and tearing up when Volland announced guilty of murder. Her daughter was killed by a drunken driver in 1983, and she and her husband, Royal, have created the Forget Me Not Foundation to fight drunken driving and help victims.

"It's sending a message that we are getting sick and tired of it, finally. People are outraged," Nancy Bidwell said after the trial.

The guilty verdicts are a step toward healing, said Jamin Stovall, Joyua's brother.

Clement and Stovall were engaged and had a child together, Janiece, who is just turning 2.

"You can't change everything. She'll never get Louis back," Jamin said of his sister. "But it will give her some type of feeling of justice out there for Louis, and for his daughter, also."

Lashall Stovall, one of Joyua's sisters, said she felt sad in court. Clement is dead, and Joyua, who suffered numerous broken bones, will never be the same. Lashall said she also felt for Phillips' family, her mother especially. They've lost someone too. Joyua's family wants Phillips to meditate on what she did, to acknowledge it, to say she's sorry.

Butler, the defense lawyer, said the case was a difficult one in a community with so many alcohol issues.

He said he didn't want to make excuses for Phillips, but "she's had to deal with a lot of tough issues in the past couple of years." Some of the troubles concerned her daughter, Whitney, who was a heroin addict and died earlier this year while her mother was in jail.

"People sometimes turn to the bottle to deal with it," Butler said, "and it's unfortunate, because of the consequences."

Find Lisa Demer online at adn.com/contact/ldemer or call 257-4390.