{"id":17769,"date":"2011-12-16T07:15:59","date_gmt":"2011-12-16T12:15:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/?p=17769"},"modified":"2011-12-17T03:59:52","modified_gmt":"2011-12-17T08:59:52","slug":"phillips-to-serve-minimum-of-30-years-for-mcmillen-murder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2011\/12\/16\/phillips-to-serve-minimum-of-30-years-for-mcmillen-murder\/","title":{"rendered":"Phillips gets 30 years to life for murder"},"content":{"rendered":"

DAVE MOSIER\/<\/strong>independent editor<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"
Chris McMillen's mother, father and two brothers listen as Judge Charles Steele sentences Chad Phillips for the murder of their son and brother. (Dave Mosier\/Van Wert independent)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Chad Phillips received life in prison, but could be freed in 30 years, while Chris McMillen lost his life when Phillips gunned him down in a Fox Road apartment. It\u2019s not a trade-off that suits McMillen\u2019s family — especially his father, Danny.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would like you to be hanged by the highest tree in Van Wert,\u201d Danny McMillen told Phillips during an emotional statement he made prior to sentencing.<\/p>\n

The victim\u2019s father and his brothers, Josh and Casey McMillen, talked about the impact of the loss of their son and brother as part of statements made Thursday in Van Wert County Common Pleas Court.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt hurts so bad knowing there\u2019s nothing I can do to bring him back,\u201d Danny McMillen said. \u201cIt\u2019s the most helpless feeling I have ever had in my whole life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Phillips also made an emotional statement to the court, saying he was sorry to the victim\u2019s family for killing the 24-year-old McMillen.<\/p>\n

\u201cWords can\u2019t express the remorse I feel for what I did,\u201d Phillips said. \u201cI hope one day you will find it possible to forgive me; regardless, I will have to live knowing that I took someone else\u2019s son for the rest of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although there were tears in Phillips\u2019 eyes as he read his statement, they didn\u2019t impress Josh McMillen, who compared them with the defendant\u2019s smile to his family when he first was brought into the courtroom.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s sad to see,\u201d the victim\u2019s brother told Phillips. \u201cSelfish, foolish, jealous, angry, cowardly \u2026 those are just some of the adjectives that come to mind.\u201d<\/p>\n

Judge Steele\u2019s sentence also didn\u2019t likely please Phillips\u2019 family, who sought the minimum sentence: life in prison, with the possibility of parole in 20 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cChad has a severe alcohol problem,\u201d said defense attorney Leif Christman as a way of explaining Phillips\u2019 action. \u201cHe was under the influence of alcohol heavily when he committed this action.\u201d<\/p>\n

The defendant had pleaded guilty to a charge of aggravated murder during a hearing held November 10. In exchange for his plea, the prosecution agreed to dismiss counts of attempted murder, aggravated burglary and felonious assault, as well as firearms specifications accompanying each charge that could have each added a mandatory three years in prison served consecutively to other sentences.<\/p>\n

The shooting on May 12 was over a woman, with Phillips allegedly shouting \u201cIf I can\u2019t have her, no one will,\u201d after he broke down the door of the apartment where Chris McMillen was at and shot the victim several times.<\/p>\n

McMillen was later life-flighted to Lutheran Hospital in Fort Wayne, Ind., after local medical personnel initiated treatment, and he died there early the next morning.<\/p>\n

In sentencing Phillips, Judge Charles D. Steele had four options: life in prison without parole or with the possibility of parole after 20, 25, or 30 years, and decided on allowing Phillips, who will be 62 at the time, the possibility of seeking parole after 30 years.<\/p>\n

The McMillen family will no doubt oppose any request for parole when that time comes, given their insistence throughout the case that Phillips be given the death penalty for killing Chris McMillen.<\/p>\n

Members of both the Phillips and McMillen families were in tears during Thursday\u2019s sentencing hearing, which was conducted under strict security, but the McMillens sat in stony silence when the verdict was read.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope he never has a day of freedom,\u201d Danny McMillen said after the verdict was read.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DAVE MOSIER\/independent editor Chad Phillips received life in prison, but could be freed in 30 years, while Chris McMillen lost his life when Phillips gunned him down in a Fox Road apartment. It\u2019s not a trade-off that suits McMillen\u2019s family — especially his father, Danny. \u201cI would like you to be hanged by the highest […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17769","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-11 07:55:56","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17769","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17769"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17769\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17769"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}