LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A defense attorney and family members of Brice Rhodes asked a jury Tuesday for leniency in sentencing him on six guilty charges against him, including three murder counts.

"We are not simply the worst thing we've ever done," defense attorney Tom Griffiths told jurors during the sentencing phase of Rhodes' trial. "What happens today, tomorrow determines his future."

Attorneys and family members of Rhodes told jurors he had a tough life and suffers from mental disabilities.

His stepmother spoke of good times with him and his siblings, with pictures showing the kids smiling and playing together. 

But prosecutors and family member of the three men Rhodes was found guilty of killing asked jurors for the harshest sentence available, life in prison with no parole.

"My brother was a good man. He didn't deserve for his life to be taken," testified the brother of Chris Jones, one of three men Rhodes was convicted of killing.

Debbie Wren, the grandmother of teen brothers Maurice Gordon and Larry Ordway testified nothing is the same since the boys were murdered in 2016.

"We can't get over it," she testified. "We don't know how to deal with it. They were so loving and so much fun. We all miss them so much every day."

And prosecutors showed jurors a lengthy pattern of criminal behavior by Rhodes. 

The jury will deliberate on Wednesday with Rhodes facing anywhere from 20 years to life without parole in prison.

After a week-long trial and five hours of deliberation on Monday, the jury found Rhodes guilty on all six charges against him, including the three murder charges.

Attorneys and family members of Brice Rhodes told jurors he had a tough life and suffers from mental disabilities.

Rhodes was found guilty of murdering Christopher Jones, Maurice Gordon and Larry Ordway in 2016, one count of tampering with physical evidence, and two counts of abuse of a corpse in the brutal beating and stabbings of Gordon and Ordway.

The prosecution rested their case Friday and the defense did not call any witnesses on Monday with Rhodes deciding not to testify.

An attorney for Rhodes told a jury earlier on Monday that the bloody, horrific murder scene described at the opening of the week-long triple murder trial as well the the amount of police evidence allegedly pointing to Rhodes was in opposition to what witnesses described.

"It's important to remember what you actually heard, what you actually saw from the witness stand," said attorney Tom Griffiths in his closing arguments, in which he accused police in the case of focusing on Rhodes at the exclusion of other suspects.

Rhodes was found guilty by a Louisville jury Monday night for the murders of three people.

But in her closing statements, Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Elizabeth Jones Brown told jurors eye witnesses testified that in early May 2016, they saw Rhodes kill Christopher Jones, who he believed was another man that had a bounty out for his death.

"He killed an innocent man for no reason," she said.

And just a few weeks later, witnesses testified Rhodes brutally tortured and murdered teen brothers Ordway and Gordon because he believed they were telling their family about the shooting, she said.

Rhodes forced other teens to help kill the brothers and clean up the crime, which is why there wasn't a bloody murder scene, Jones Brown said in her closing statements.

"Brice Rhodes preyed on this group of children," she said. "Please bring this seven-year nightmare to an end."

Two of those men involved with the murders, teenage cousins Anjuan Carter and Jacorey Taylor, cut deals for lesser sentences and testified during the trial that Rhodes was the mastermind, forcing them to take part in the killings.

"They were there because Brice Rhodes brought them there," Jones Brown said.

The prosecution rested their case Friday and the defense did not call any witnesses on Monday with Rhodes deciding not to testify.

Rhodes, 32, was charged with three counts of murder, tampering with physical evidence, abuse of a corpse and receiving stolen property. He is facing a possible life in prison sentence.

Jefferson Circuit Court Judge Julie Kaelin found that while Rhodes is competent to stand trial, he is ineligible for the death penalty, ruling he has a documented history of serious mental illness or intellectual disability.

Rhodes had a history of outbursts in court, threatening at least one judge, accusing a prosecutor and another judge of having an affair, lashing out at several of his attorneys and calling several court officials racist.

He was told by Kaelin that he would be removed from court or shocked by an ankle monitor if he is disruptive during his trial starting next week.

Rhodes, who wore a suit and was not shackled, has been quiet throughout the trial.

This story may be updated.

Related Stories:

Copyright 2023 WDRB Media. All Rights Reserved.