PANAMA CITY — A 12-person jury began deliberations shortly after 4 p.m. Friday in the re-trial of accused murderer Philip Dean Brock. Seven hours later, at 11:15 p.m., the jury remained behind closed doors without reaching a verdict.
It was unknown how long the jury would continue to deliberate.
Brock is charged with murder, grand theft and robbery with a firearm in last December’s slaying of his 65-year-old friend and neighbor, Terry Brazil. He faces life in prison if convicted.
Friday, another friend and neighbor of Brock was questioned in the case. Pursuing his theory that Brock was destitute and killed Brazil for money, prosecutor Larry Basford asked Nelson Singer for details on Brock’s lifestyle. Singer said that Brock would come over to use his shower and toilet because Brock did not have running water at his Fountain home. Brock had solar power at his home, Singer said, but it provided only enough electricity to run small electronic devices like radios.
Basford also asked Singer to confirm that because Brock had no running water, Brock would sometimes use the bathroom in a bag and dispose of it in Singer’s garbage can. Singer, though, said he was unaware of that.
Two of Brock’s ex-girlfriends answered similar questions earlier in the trial. During defense attorney Kim Jewell’s closing argument Friday, she said she took exception to the questions.
“If this was a prosecution for Dean Brock being poor, I’d let you have it. ... But it became offensive to put two women on the stand to explain bathroom conditions,” she said.
Jewell also took more jabs at the Bay County Sheriff’s Office’s investigation of Brock, which she has criticized since hearings for the first trial began in July. But she used another law enforcement agency to downplay the importance of DNA evidence against Brock, 57. Presenting a Florida Department of Law Enforcement report to the jury, she noted that the DNA of several other people besides Brock was found on key pieces of evidence, as well as at the murder scene.
“It’s easy to say, ‘Ok, his DNA was there.’ Well, it’s easy to say someone else’s DNA was there, too,” she said.
In his closing argument, Basford implored jurors to use “common sense.” If they do, he said, the connection between Brock, the evidence, and Brazil’s death would be obvious.
“They want you to believe you have to have every piece of the puzzle to see this picture clearly,” he said, referring to Brock’s attorneys. “You don’t.”
The jury in Brock’s first trial apparently did need more pieces of the puzzle. After deliberating for six hours, they could not decide Brock’s fate and a mistrial was declared.
It appeared late Friday the jury was headed toward another non-decision. About 11 p.m., Judge Brantley Clark announced the jury was at an impasse, then summoned them to the courtroom and requested they continue attempting to reach a verdict.
Brazil was found shot, stabbed and beaten on Dec. 27 inside his home, and duct tape was found around his wrists, indicating he’d been tied up. His car, several guns, and sets of valuable collectible coins had been stolen. Investigators found the car in Brock’s possession and later, while searching for additional evidence after Brock’s mistrial, discovered $12,000 in silver coins hidden on his property.
Brock’s defense argued that his property was vulnerable to trespassers since his arrest last year, leaving the origin of the coins in doubt.
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.
“He was robbed of his firearms, robbed of his coins — but more importantly, he was robbed of his life,” Basford said to jurors Friday.
Brock, as he has done throughout his re-trial, watched Friday’s proceedings in silence and showed no emotion. He did not testify.
At Brock’s 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.