PANAMA CITY — The fourth murder trial of the Fountain man accused of stabbing, shooting and bludgeoning his neighbor to death before robbing him has begun.
About 50 people were screened Monday in the seven-hour process to find 14 appropriate jurors for Philip Dean Brock’s fourth trial for the murder of 65-year-old Terry Brazil, his neighbor and friend. Brazil was found shot, stabbed and beaten on Dec. 27, 2012 inside his home, and duct tape was found around his wrists, indicating he had been tied up. His car, several guns, and sets of valuable collectible coins were later found in Brock’s possession.
Brock, 58, is looking at life in prison if convicted.
Prosecutor Larry Basford has tried to link DNA evidence, Brock’s possession of several items belonging to Brazil and Brock’s impoverished living conditions to establish a motive in Brazil’s murder. Several pieces of evidence are missing from the state’s case, though, such as eyewitnesses and most of the murder weapons. The gun and knife used in the killing were not found. But investigators did recover a bed post they believe was used to cause blunt force injuries to Brazil’s skull, and also had Brock’s fingerprints.
Basford asked if potential jurors could make the conclusion of guilt without those pieces.
“We don’t have an eyewitness to this crime,” Basford said. “It’s not like on TV where they have video surveillance. This happened in the privacy of (Brazil’s) home.”
Brock’s legal counsel has argued that the bedpost recovered from the woods near Brazil’s home had other unidentified people’s DNA on it. They have also provided evidence Brock and Brazil knew each other for years, and they often sold goods together at yard sales, which is why he had so much of Brazil’s property stored at his home in Southport.
They tried to filter out jurors who would make conclusions without those key pieces of evidence.
“They must provide evidence of such quality that it overwhelms all reasonable doubt,” said defense attorney Jennifer Fury. “That is what they must do.”
Jurors heard from three state witnesses of 30 that will testify during the course of the trial this week. So far three other juries have failed to convict Brock.
At his first trial in September, a jury deliberated more than six hours before being unable to reach a verdict. Judge Brantley Clark declared a mistrial, leading to the second trial. Jurors spent about eight hours in deliberation before a mistrial was declared at the end of his first retrial. Closing arguments lasted more than four hours at the conclusion of Brock’s third trial, but jurors could not reach a consensus.