PANAMA CITY — Friends of Philip Dean Brock said he had no desire to better his meager living conditions, though prosecutors spent much of Tuesday’s trial trying to establish the murder and robbery of his neighbor was motivated by greed.
Investigators have gradually found evidence since the December 2012 stabbing, shooting and bludgeoning death of 65-year-old Terry Brazil in his Fountain home. Brock, 58, was arrested at his nearby home in possession of guns and coins, thought to belong to Brazil. Brazil had been dead for several days by then.
Three juries over that time have not seen sufficient evidence to convict Brock of murder or the lesser charges of felony robbery or grand theft.
But Tuesday prosecutors introduced new evidence, gathered in July, during Brock’s fourth trial.
Officers found Brazil’s body Dec. 27, 2012. Other than a bedpost authorities suspect was used to bash Brazil’s head, the knife and gun were never found. Brock’s actions and items found in his possession led to his arrest, said prosecutor Larry Basford.
“The day after (Brazil’s) death, he had money to burn,” Basford said.
Crime scene investigator Mike Wesley, with Bay County Sheriff’s Office, showed jurors a blood trail leading from Brazil’s living room to the room where he either crawled or was drug at the time of his death. He demonstrated how the bedpost could have been used once within the room’s close quarters.
“I stood above where his head had been and swung from there,” Wesley said, brandishing the bedpost like a baseball bat. “I wanted to see if you could swing it without hitting a light fixture.”
Wesley said he was successful with left- and right-handed swings, but how the new evidence implicated Brock in the death of Brazil was left unclear Tuesday.
Prosecutors followed up by revealing DNA collected from Brazil’s back door partially belonged to Brock. The origins of two other DNA samples on the door were inconclusive, according to court documents.
Brock was known to regularly operate a yard sale at the corner of U.S. 231 and County 167, and several witnesses testified he usually claimed to be broke. He did not have running water, and he used solar panels to power LED lights and sparse electronics in his home.
“He was on food stamps,” said Susan Blankenship, a girlfriend of Brock’s for several months before he was arrested.
But despite Brock’s meager conditions, Blankenship said he chose that lifestyle. She also told jurors he made a large sale of a trailer months beforehand.
The day investigators suspect Brazil was killed, Brock gave a friend $200 to buy a pair of glasses, prosecutors said.
Brock’s attorneys have argued he and Brazil were close friends, sharing an interest in guns and collectible coins. When investigators found about $12,000 in silver coins in a pool filter on Brock’s property in October 2013, his counsel argued the scene had been left unsecured to anyone who wanted to enter.
Several guns also were found on Brock’s property but only one had been used — a .380 caliber handgun. Likewise, the bullet collected from Brazil’s body was a .380 caliber, but test rounds from Brock’s gun did not match.
If Brock is convicted, he faces life in prison. His trial is expected to continue until Friday.