Louisville murder case from 1993 could go to trial this week

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A murder case that has seen a man wrongfully convicted of the crime could go to trial this week, nearly 30 years after the crime occurred.

Percy Phillips is accused of murdering 25-year-old Brenda Whitfield at a Louisville gas station in 1993. The case, by far the oldest pending criminal action in Jefferson County, began in 2009 when Metro Police admitted the wrong man had been convicted for killing Whitfield.

New technology to analyze fingerprints showed that Edwin Chandler, who had spent nine years in prison, was innocent. Phillips was then indicted, and since then, the case has remained pending.

Until July of last year, Phillips remained in prison on an unrelated conviction. But on July 22, 2021, Phillips was released from prison after serving out a 20-year sentence in an assault conviction. With no bail holding him on the murder charge for the 1993 shooting, Phillips walked free.

Defense attorneys for Phillips have argued in recently filed court documents that Phillips is not competent to stand trial. A hearing is scheduled Tuesday to determine if he needs to be evaluated by the state corrections system as to his competency to stand trial.

Last month, WDRB News reported that the Kentucky Correctional Psychiatric Center is dealing with extensive back logs that could push the trial to next year. However, a judge could decide a competency hearing is not warranted. If that happens, jury selection is scheduled to begin Tuesday. Phillips has previously had at least five evaluations done by KCPC over the years, all of which found him competent to stand trial.

Defense attorneys have said that Phillips is experiencing "delusions" regularly.

In March 2021, former Louisville police detective Mark Handy pleaded guilty to committing perjury during Chandler’s 1995 trial. Handy lied about something he said Chandler told him about the case, something only the murderer would have known.

Chandler was found guilty in a 1995 trial, in part because he confessed, though he said it was because he was coerced by Handy’s threat to take away his sister’s children.

Upon his release, Chandler approached the Kentucky Innocence Project, which took on the case even though Chandler was no longer incarcerated.

In 2008, with prompting from the Innocence Project, police re-examined the murder, including using updated fingerprint technology.

Police said Phillips brought a beer to the convenience store counter, and when Whitfield opened the register, he shot her in the head. A total of $32 was taken.

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