KATHERINE "Baby Kate" PHILLIPS - 4 Months (6/2011) - Ludington (NW of Grand Rapids) MI

'Baby Kate' kidnapping trial of Sean Michael Phillips postponed

Thursday, January 05, 2012, 3:52 PM

By John S. Hausman | Muskegon Chronicle

The trial for Sean Michael Phillips, accused of kidnapping his still-missing infant daughter "Baby Kate" in Ludington, has been adjourned from Jan. 17.

No new date has been set for the trial.

Mason County Prosecutor Paul Spaniola announced the postponement Thursday after an inquiry from The Muskegon Chronicle but did not state a reason.

He declined to answer questions.

Phillips' attorney, Annette Smedley, could not immediately be reached for comment.

Phillips, 21, of 280 W. Millerton, Victory Township, is charged with one count of unlawful imprisonment, punishable by up to 15 years in prison, and one count of parental kidnapping, punishable by up to a year and a day in jail.

The Mason County Sheriff's Department and the Ludington Police Department are still soliciting tips on the whereabouts of Sean Phillips and Katherine Phillips on the afternoon of June 29 and any information on the baby's current whereabouts.

Any tip should be called to 231-869-5858.

Phillips has been lodged in the Mason County Jail since the day Katherine Shelbie-Elizabeth Phillips, then nearly 5 months, went missing June 29.

He is being held in lieu of a $250,000 cash or surety bond. The infant is Phillips' biological child.

A previous kidnapping charge, a life felony, was dismissed earlier by a circuit court judge because Michigan law does not permit that charge against a parent.

Baby Kate's clothing was found in Phillips' pants pocket when authorities questioned him at his parents' home, hours after the infant's mother, Ariel Courtland, 19, called 911 to report her child missing. The infant's car seat and diaper bag were found in Phillips' vehicle trunk.

Katherine Shelbie-Elizabeth Phillips

Earlier, the couple had been arguing in Phillips' vehicle with the baby in the back seat on June 29 in the parking lot of Courtland's Ludington apartment complex, police have said. When Courtland briefly exited the vehicle to get a stroller from her apartment and then returned to the parking lot, Phillips drove off with the infant, police have said.

The couple had been involved in an ongoing disagreement about whether the baby should be given up for adoption, authorities have said. Phillips wanted to, Courtland didn't, she has testified.

Authorities have repeatedly said Courtland is not a suspect and she continues to cooperate with investigators in an effort to locate her daughter.

http://www.mlive.com/news/muskegon/index.ssf/2012/01/baby_kate_trial_of_sean_michae.html

Baby Kate abduction trial reset

6:52 AM, Jan 13, 2012

LUDINGTON, Mich. (AP) -- The trial of a West Michigan father in the disappearance of his baby daughter has been rescheduled for next month.

The Muskegon Chronicle reports 21-year-old Sean Phillips of Victory Township is scheduled to go on trial Feb. 22 in Mason County Circuit Court in Ludington. The charges are unlawful imprisonment and parental kidnapping.

A Jan. 17 trial date earlier was postponed.

Defense lawyer Annette R. Smedley says there has been "absolutely no plea negotiation" in the case.

Katherine Phillips was 4 1/2 months old when she last was seen June 29, 2011, with Phillips. Katherine lived with her mother Ariel Courtland at an apartment in Ludington, about 80 miles northwest of Grand Rapids.

Extensive searches haven't turned up the girl.

http://www.wzzm13.com/news/regional/194277/5/Baby-Kate-abduction-trial-reset

He is the man being held for the disappearance of Baby Kate in
Ludington, but prosecutors have had to drop more charges against Sean
Phillips as his trial approaches
. Sean Phillips is being held on a quarter-million dollars bond,
still charged with unlawful imprisonment, a 15-year felony. The
prosecutor had already been forced to drop a kidnapping charge because
DNA tests showed he was the child’s biological father.

Now he has dropped parental kidnapping and custodial interference
charges too. His trial begins on the 16th. It’s been 9-months since he
drove off with Baby Kate, and she has not been seen since.
http://wtvbam.com/news/articles/2012/apr/05/more-charges-dropped-in-missing-infant-case/

A jury has been seated in the Mason County trial against Sean Phillips,
charged with secret confinement in the case of missing baby Kate. The child was 4 1/2 months old when she was reported missing last June.
The voir dire had been expected to continue into Tuesday but now the trial itself can begin Tuesday morning.

http://www.ludingtondailynews.com/news/64865-jury-in-place-for-sean-phillips-missing-baby-kate-trial

The mother of a missing Ludington child has completed ten hours of testimony in the trial of the baby's father.
Sean Phillips is on trial for a charge of unlawful imprisonment,
connected to the disappearance of Katherine Phillips, who was four
months old when she disappeared.

Baby Kate's mother, Ariel Courtland, began testifying Tuesday.

Some of Courtland's exchanges with defense attorney Annette Smedley
took a combative tone. Smedley brought to light several examples where
what Courtland told detectives did not match her testimony at a
preliminary examination last year. Courtland denied lying in her
statements and prior testimony.

"I do not understand why you expect me to get every single detail right when he took my child that day," said Courtland.

Baby Kate disappeared on June 29, 2011. According to Courtland, she
and Sean Phillips were fighting about a scheduled DNA test to prove he
was the child's father. The positive result would also have meant
additional child support payments from Phillips.

Instead of going to the DNA appointment, Courtland says Phillips left
her apartment with Baby Kate in the backseat of his car. She called 911
-- and a recording of the call was played for the jury Wednesday.

"The father of my child took our daughter and I do not know where he went with her," said Courtland to the 911 operator.

Courtland testified at first she wasn't that concerned, but as time
passed she grew anxious, telling prosecutor Paul Spaniola that Phillips
once threatened to leave with their older daughter.

"One day he told me that he was going to take Hailee and flee to Canada and I would never see him again," said Courtland.

Spaniola made an attempt to provide jurors with explanations for
inconsistencies in Courtland's testimony, pointing out she's done more
than 20 interviews with police.

"It is hard to remember every single detail, every interview, every time span, every this and every that," said Courtland.

Phillips was eventually found on the same day Baby Kate disappeared.
Her clothes were found in his pocket, but Kate has never been found.

Courtland says she visited Phillips multiple times at the Mason
County jail. Hopeful Phillips would reveal where their child is.

"He would look at me and see how much pain I am in and see how much I
just want Kate," said Courtland. "I support him if he just tells me
what happened."

Court was delayed by one hour this morning because a court spectator
Tuesday posted a cell phone picture of the jury on a Facebook page. When
media cover trial they are prohibited from taking jurors' pictures or
releasing their names until a trial has ended.

http://www.wzzm13.com/news/article/209657/14/Trial-fireworks-between-Baby-Kates-mom-attorney-?odyssey=tab|topnews|bc|large

'Baby Kate' live coverage: Judge bans photography after jury photos appear on Facebook

Published: Wednesday, April 18, 2012, 12:55 PM Updated: Wednesday, April 18, 2012, 3:07 PM

LUDINGTON, MI – The court day at the trial of Sean Michael Phillips for his baby Katherine Shelbie-Elizabeth Phillips’ disappearance began Wednesday with a flap over Facebook.
The rest of the morning was taken up with continued testimony by Ariel Courtland, 20-year-old mother of the missing “Baby Kate.”
Phillips, 22, of Victory Township, is charged with unlawful imprisonment, a
15-year felony. The baby has never been seen since June 29, 2011, when
she was 4 ½ months old.

Numerous searches of the Mason County
area haven't turned up a body or any evidence that would indicate she
was given away, authorities said.
To convict, Spaniola must prove Phillips "knowingly restrained" the baby without authorization and kept her location secret.


Ariel Courtland testifies Tuesday, April 17, 2012, at the Ludington trial of
Sean Michael Phillips for unlawful imprisonment of their infant
daughter, Katherine Shelby-Elizabeth Phillips, 'Baby Kate.' Here she
fondly recalls the baby learning to crawl to try to get her pacifier.

After pictures of the jury appeared publicly on someone’s Facebook
page Tuesday – a big no-no in court – Mason County 51st Circuit Judge
Richard I. Cooper on Wednesday morning banned spectators from carrying
cell phones or other electronic devices capable of taking pictures.

Cooper said a member of the audience, not the news media, took the pictures
with a cell phone and posted them. The judge called it “very irresponsible.”

One female member of the 14-member panel of jurors
and alternates asked to be excused as a result. Cooper decided against
excusing her at this time, preferring to wait until time for
deliberations in case both alternates are needed then to make up a
12-member jury.

Defense attorney Annette Smedley, after conferring with Phillips, declined to ask for a mistrial.
After some confusion, the judge clarified that his photography ban didn't apply to the news media.

On the witness stand, Courtland continued her testimony that began Tuesday.

Much of her time on the stand Wednesday covered the same ground as the first day.

Smedley, continuing her cross-examination of Courtland, continued to focus on
differences between Courtland’s earlier statements to police and her
later testimony.

For example, Courtland at first told police she
went into her apartment to find her house keys when Phillips drove away
with the baby. Later she said it was to get Kate’s stroller.

Under redirect examination later by Mason County Prosecutor Paul Spaniola,
Courtland said she hadn’t lied to police, but “it’s hard to remember
every detail.” At the time, she said, she was focused on getting Kate
back, not details like her house keys.

She explained her numerous
visits and phone calls with Phillips since his arrest by saying she
hoped he would help her by telling her something about what happened to
Kate.

Before the baby disappeared, Courtland said, “I loved him. … I don’t love Sean like that anymore.”

Courtland said she and Phillips had been arguing about what to do with the baby
up to and on June 29. She said Phillips wanted to give her up for
adoption, while Courtland refused to do that.

The disappearance
came about an hour after Phillips had stopped at a Ludington hospital to
take a paternity DNA test. Courtland said she had expected Phillips to
take her and the baby to the hospital for the same test.

Minutes earlier, Phillips had taken them by the hospital but not stopped.
Instead he stopped at the nearby Department of Human Services office and
tried again to persuade Courtland to give up Kate for adoption, then
brought them back to Courtland’s apartment.

Courtland testified Wednesday that she “forcefully … at least three times” asked Phillips to
drop her off at the hospital after the DHS stop, but he refused.

She also explained her repeated texts to Phillips about adopting Kate out
as attempts to go along with what Phillips wanted for fear of what he
might do. She said she feared he might disappear with their 4-year-old
daughter, as Courtland said he once threatened.

Courtland on Tuesday acknowledged that she had earlier considered giving up Kate for
adoption and even signed papers to do so, but never carried it out.
Court resumes at 1:30 p.m.

http://www.mlive.com/news/muskegon/index.ssf/2012/04/baby_kate_live_coverage_ariel.html

A man says the father of a missing Ludington child once bragged about being able to hide a body.
The man was one of the witnesses called to testify Thursday against
Sean Phillips, who is on trial in Ludington on a charge of unlawful
imprisonment.

Prosecutors say Phillips took his then-four-month-old daughter,
Katherine Phillips, from the girl's mother on June 29, 2011. Baby Kate
has not been seen since.

One of the witnesses was a neighbor, who told the jury she heard Sean
Phillips and the child's mother, Ariel Courtland, arguing that day.

Another witness, an investigator from the Department of Human
Services' child protective services department, testified Courtland came
to her that day looking for her child.

"She was rushed and she was agitated," said investigator Anna
Appledorn, who told the jury Courtland asked if Phillips had dropped
their daughter off with DHS workers. "Then she asked again, 'Do you have
her?' I said no, and she got up and left."

Prosecutors also called family and friends of Phillips and Courtland
to the witness stand. One was Courtland's mother April Lang, who
described her daughter's reaction when police confirmed they had found
Phillips -- but not Baby Kate.

"She went outside and started throwing up," said Lang.

Phillips' attorney Annette Smedley questioned Lang about statements
she made to investigators, like one where she said the first time she
saw Courtland cry happened after a mug shot of Phillips appeared on
line.

"You thought it was odd that she would cry for Sean but not for Kate -- is that correct?" asked Smedley.

"Correct," answered Lang.

Lang's housemate, Dan Ruba, was also called to testify. Ruba spent
social time with Phillips and Courtland. He told jurors that Phillips
was different after returning from National Guard basic training.

"[He was] doing things that did not make sense," said Ruba.

Ruba testified he and Phillips were drinking beer one night when the
baby's father made a "strange" statement. "He told me and another friend
that he could hide a body and that nobody could find it," Ruba said.

Ruba said Phillips made that statement in May -- one month before Baby Kate disappeared.

Late Thursday afternoon, the jury was shown the clothes Baby Kate was
wearing the day she disappeared. A Ludington Police officer testified
the clothing was found balled up in the pocket of shorts Phillips was
wearing when he was arrested.

http://www.wzzm13.com/news/regional/209810/5/Friend-Phillips-bragged-about-ability-to-hide-body

The fourth day of testimony in the trial of the father of a missing
Ludington child began with the child's mother becoming emotional and
leaving the courtroom, and ended with prosecutors showing a note found
in the father's jail clothing raising the possibility the baby was still
alive.
Sean Phillips is on trial for a charge of unlawful imprisonment,
connected to the disappearance of Katherine Phillips, who was four
months old when she disappeared on June 29, 2011.

Late Friday afternoon, prosecutors introduced a note found by a Mason
County corrections officer in Sean Phillips' laundry days after he was
arrested for Baby Kate's disappearance. The note said:

"I gave her to a guy along with a list of families that are adopting
(addresses.) He was to take her to one and they would report that the
baby was left on their doorstep, but that they would try to keep it."

The corrections officer, John Long, told jurors Phillips asked to
retrieve something from the laundry. Instead, Long checked the Phillips'
laundry himself and found the note. Long testified he read the first
few lines of the note, then refolded it and turned it over to
detectives.

Testimony ended after Long's testimony.

Early Friday, prosecutor Paul Spaniola asked to recall Baby Kate's
mother, Ariel Courtland, to to the witness stand. Spaniola wanted
Courtland to confirm clothes found in Phillips' shorts pocked the day of
his arrest belonged to Baby Kate.

Defense attorney Annette Smedley objected to Courtland's return to
the court. "To call her again because maybe something was not covered I
would say that, that is not allowed," argued Smedley.

Circuit Court Judge Richard Cooper overruled Smedley's objection,
saying Courtland could confirm to jurors that the clothing was worn by
Baby Kate when she disappeared.

Courtland briefly looked at the clothing, then got up from the stand,
shoved the clothes back into a paper bag Spaniola was holding, then
stormed out of the courtroom.

Smedley objected again, arguing what had happened was "staged
courtroom theater." The judge sent jurors out of the courtroom while
Spaniola and Smedley argued over whether there should be a mistrial.

Smedley pointed out Courtland calmly handled the clothing during a
preliminary examination last year. "She did not have a jury to play to
either," said Smedley. "He brings her back today. She looks at them and
she goes out of the courtroom. It was planned for the jury and the media
and I think that was wrong. And I would ask for a mistrial... at this
point."

Outside of the jury's presence, Spaniola told the judge he took
offense to the defense's suggestion that Courtland's outburst was
staged. The trial resumed when Phillips himself said he wanted it to go
on.

Courtland returned to the stand and spoke about Baby Kate's outfit.
"I put them on her the morning that she went missing," she said, "the
last thing I saw her in."

Judge Cooper has set aside all of next week for the remaining witness testimony, closing arguments and jury deliberation

http://www.wzzm13.com/news/article/209917/14/Phillips-note-revealed-I-gave-her-to-a-guy?odyssey=tab|topnews|bc|large

Sean Phillips denied fathering, taking Baby Kate in police video played in court


Monday, April 23, 2012, 6:47 PM

LUDINGTON, MI -- Sean Michael Phillips, in a video-recorded police
interview the evening of June 29, 2011, had to be asked repeatedly if he
knew where the missing Baby Kate was before he gave a direct answer.

Tom Posma, Mason County Sheriff's detective sergeant and the case's lead
investigator, kept asking Phillips if he knew where she was.

Phillips, his voice low and a near-monotone, kept returning instead to his
arguments with the baby's mother, Ariel Courtland, and what he
considered Courtand's frustrating behavior.

Eventually Phillips said, "I'm guessing she just has her with a friend or someone she knows."
Finally he answered, flatly, "No" -- he didn't know where the baby, Katherine Shelbie-Elizabeth Phillips, was.

At another point, Phillips said Courtland carried the baby back into
her apartment building before he drove off, which contradicted
Courtland's report to police starting with a 911 call she placed at 1:14
p.m. She said Phillips drove off with the baby when she went inside the
building to get her stroller to walk her to the nearby hospital for a
DNA swab to determine if Phillips was the father.

The roughly hour-long interview was played in court Monday afternoon in the sixth
day of Phillips' trial. The interrogation was conducted at the Mason
County Sheriff's Office in an interview room.
Phillips, 22, of Mason County’s Victory Township, is charged with
unlawful imprisonment, a 15-year felony, in the disappearance of his 4
1/2-month-old daughter, Katherine Shelbie-Elizabeth Phillips, shortly
after 1 p.m. June 29. Authorities believe Phillips took the baby from
Courtland. She has never been found.

In the interview, Phillips insisted Courtland -- not he -- was pushing for adopting the baby out,
with him just going along with her.

Posma did most of the talking. Phillips mostly listened as Posma entreated him to say where the infant was.

Phillips insisted Courtland had the baby last. Most of his answers, in a low
monotone, had more to do with his annoyance at Courtland's behavior than
with Posma’s questions about what happened that day with Katherine.
Phillips in the interview said he doubted the baby was his and he seemed uninterested in her.

Early in the interview, asked by Posma if he had any other children besides
his and Courtland's then-3-year-old first daughter, Haley, Phillips
replied: "Not that I know of."

He stuck to his story – sometimes confusingly told as he kept recurring to arguments with
Courtland and what he considered her bad behavior – that Kate’s mother
had the baby the last he knew.

Phillips said Courtland took the baby from his car into her Ludington apartment complex and he drove away.

But when police found him nearly three hours later at his parents’
Scottville-area home, where he lived, he had Kate’s clothes that
Courtland said she had last seen her wearing stuffed in a cargo pocket
of his khaki shorts. The baby’s car seat and diaper bag, which also
contained Courtland’s wallet with her identification and credit cards,
were in the trunk of Phillips' car.

Posma was the main witness Monday afternoon, with the video of the interview the centerpiece of his testimony.

http://www.mlive.com/news/muskegon/index.ssf/2012/04/sean_phillips_denied_fathering.html

Follow Tweets from a reporter inside the courtroom:

https://twitter.com/#!/JohnSHausman

Baby Kate live coverage: Prosecutor's final witness taking the stand today
Published: Wednesday, April 25, 2012, 9:30 AM
By John S. Hausman

LUDINGTON, MI -- This is Wednesday, April 25, live coverage through Twitter of the trial of Sean Michael Phillips, accused of abducting his infant daughter, Katherine Shelbie-Elizabeth Phillips.

You don't need a Twitter account to read it here on MLive. Just go to the bottom of this post and watch the Twitter feed live.

Mason County Prosecutor Paul Spaniola was expected to wrap up his evidence presentation today with a final police witness. Defense attorney Annette Smedley of Muskegon's case will follow.

The high point of Tuesday in court was testimony by the defendant's parents, Larry and Kimberly Phillips. Both testified that Sean, who lived with them, repeatedly denied to them that he was Baby Kate's father.

Authorities believe Phillips abducted Baby Kate on June 29, 2011, when she was 4 1/2 months old. The infant has not been seen since that day.

Phillips, of Mason County's Victory Township, is charged with unlawful imprisonment.

That's a felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison.

Numerous searches of the Mason County area haven't turned up a body or any evidence that would indicate she was given away, authorities said.

Authorities have repeatedly said Courtland is not a suspect and that she has always cooperated with investigators in an effort to locate her daughter.

http://www.mlive.com/news/muskegon/index.ssf/2012/04/baby_kate_live_coverage_prosec.html

Prosecution rests in Baby Kate case
Sean Phillips accused of unlawful imprisonment

Updated: Thursday, 26 Apr 2012, 10:22 AM EDT
Published : Thursday, 26 Apr 2012, 5:25 AM EDT

By Leon Hendrix

LUDINGTON, Mich. (WOOD) - The prosecution rested its case against Sean Phillips after brief testimony from an FBI agent who talked with a couple who was found on an adoptive parents website.

Sean Phillips' defense attorney objected to the testimony from FBI agent Brett Leatherman, who was added to the witness list late Wednesday, claiming his testimony would be hearsay.

Leatherman was called by prosecutors after he made contact with a couple on an adoptive family website searched on Ariel Courtland's computer.

Phillips and Courtland are the parents of Katherine, the 4-month-old not seen since June 29, 2011. Phillips, 22, is on trial, facing 15 years in prison for her unlawful imprisonment.

Leatherman said the woman had not been contacted by either Phillips or Courtland. Defense attorney Annette Smedley objected to the "hearsay," and Judge Richard Cooper excused the jury from the courtroom for a decision to be made.

Cooper ruled Leatherman's testimony is valid, and the jury returned.

The woman did not recognize pictures of Phillips, Courtland or Baby Kate, and Leatherman said FBI agents "found absolutely nothing to indicate that there was a child" at their Birmingham, Michigan home.

The couple, he said, had been trying to adopt and used the website parentprofiles.com -- a site mentioned in a note found inside Phillips' pants pockets at the Mason County jail days after he was arrested.

On cross-examination, Smedley asked if Leatherman checked to see if there was an infant with the man who was in Germany when the FBI went to the Birmingham home. Leatherman said he did not check flights or investigae whether or not a child was with a man while traveling.

Leatherman was excused, and the prosecution rested their case.

http://www.woodtv.com/dpp/news/local/nw_mich/sean-phillips-trial-042612

Phillips' trial: Baby Kate case in hands of the jury

LDN Staff - Thursday, April 26, 2012

Excerpt:

he decision of Sean Phillips’ guilt or innocence is now in the hands of the 12-person Mason County jury.

The nine-day trial did not provide the whereabouts of his infant daughter baby Kate, who was reported missing June 29.

There were, however, several scenarios discussed.

In the end, the question is whether Sean both:

1. knowingly restrained Katherine Phillips (restricting her liberty)

2. secretly confining Katherine (keeping her or her location secret)

Mason County Prosecutor Paul Spaniola, whose job was to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt, wrapped up Thursday evening by asking the jury to find Sean guilty of unlawful imprisonment of Kate, saying the evidence presents a picture that proves that guilt.

Circuit Court Judge Richard I. Cooper gave the jury its instructions before deliberations began.

The jury talked for just more than an hour and returned to say they would break for the night and begin again at 8 a.m. Friday.

More: http://www.ludingtondailynews.com/news/65084-phillips-trial-case-in-hands-of-the-jury?newsgroup_id=

Baby Kate verdict: Sean Phillips guilty

Published: Friday, April 27, 2012, 12:12 PM
Updated: Friday, April 27, 2012, 12:33 PM
By John S. Hausman | jhausman@mlive.com

LUDINGTON, MI -- Jurors in the Baby Kate trial have found Sean Michael Phillips guilty of unlawful imprisonment.

Phillips, 22, of Mason County's Victory Township was charged with the 15-year felony in the disappearance of his 4 1/2-month-old daughter, Katherine Shelbie-Elizabeth Phillips.

Authorities said he abducted the infant shortly after 1 p.m. June 29, 2011, from her mother, Ariel Courtland, outside Courtland's apartment.

A jury of eight men and four women began deliberating around 6 p.m. Thursday, then went home around 7:45 p.m. Around 7 p.m., they asked and were allowed to examine some of the evidence, including the video of Phillips' June 29 interview with a police detective and the transcript of Courtland's separate police interview the same day.

They resumed deliberations at 8 a.m. today.

An MLive.com/Muskegon Chronicle reporter and photographer are in the courtroom. A more detailed story will follow.

http://www.mlive.com/news/muskegon/index.ssf/2012/04/baby_kate_verdict_sean_phillip.html