PANAMA CITY — The fourth time was the charm for prosecutors seeking a conviction of the Fountain man who stabbed, shot and bludgeoned his neighbor in the midst of a robbery.
Jurors early Saturday morning found Philip Dean Brock, 58, guilty of first-degree murder in the killing of 65-year-old Terry Brazil after more than seven hours of deliberation. Brock will spend the rest of his life in prison.
Brock has been jailed since December 2012 after Bay County Sheriff’s officers found Brazil’s decomposing body. Brazil’s throat was slashed, he was shot in the stomach and bludgeoned after apparently being bound with duct tape. Investigators found several items — including his car, guns and coins — missing from Brazil’s home at the home of Brock, but three different juries have failed to convict him on the charges.
Prosecutor Larry Basford urged jurors to use “common sense” where the pieces of evidence lacked in connecting Brock with the bedpost and duct tape found in the woods after investigators discovered Brazil shot, stabbed and bludgeoned to death.
“There is never a perfect investigation,” Basford said. “Just like there is never a perfect crime.”
Two weeks before the crime, a nearby resident noticed a truck stopped at the wood line across from Brazil’s home, but his recollection was hazy. Chris Crowley said he caught a glimpse of a “light-gray” or “dark grey” truck on County 167 with a “different looking” tailgate speed off as he passed.
“It was only for a second, though,” Crowley told jurors.
The brief observation led BCSO to where the one remaining item they suspect was used to kill Brazil and a roll of duct tape — both with traces of Brock’s DNA.
However, several pieces of evidence linking Brock to the crime scene were missing. The gun and knife used in his killing were never recovered.
“It’s not enough to say Brock’s DNA was on the bedpost and duct tape,” said defense attorney Kim Jewell. “The state has to prove it couldn’t have gotten there at any other time than when Brazil was killed.”
Brock’s attorneys pointed out a third party’s DNA was detected on the duct tape. The bed post had no blood, flesh or bone fragments from Brazil in the splintered end investigators thought had been used to beat him, casting doubt on whether it was used in the killing.
District medical examiners found Brazil was hit at least six times with a blunt object, which ultimately caused his death, but couldn’t say if it was a bedpost.
Brock lived on an acre of land in Fountain for years without electricity, water or plumbing. In October 2013, after his first two mistrials, investigators found a stash of about $15,000 in silver coins. Basford argued Brock’s living conditions and behaviors before Brazil’s death didn’t reflect that of a man sitting on a large sum of money. And Brock even said in a recorded jailhouse conversation the silver found was only a fraction of the rest, totaling about $45,000.
“He had so much money his girlfriend brought cigarette butts over for them to roll, so they could have something to smoke,” Basford said. “That’s how rich he is: he’s not going to cash in one silver coin to get some cigarettes.”
Brock said he had been a long-time silver coin collector and was saving them for when “credit cards and paper currency” become useless. His father had given him his first in 1964 and since he had only sold pieces after he’d melt them down into jewelry. And even with close friends Brock never disclosed all that he had.
“If you have something moveable like that — untraceable — you don’t want to go blabbing about it,” Jewell said.
And though Brazil’s sister testified that his favorite coin was the Morgan dollar, a silver piece minted from 1878 to 1904, none were found in Brock’s possession.
“The person who killed Brazil — who has the gun, the knife, his phone, his wallet — is somewhere,” Jewell said, gesturing outside the courtroom. “But he’s not in here.”