Killer of Jacksonville girl nearly three decades ago set to return to Duval County court
The man who killed an 8-year-old girl when he was a teenager 27 years ago is expected to return before a judge Monday morning in Duval County Circuit Court.
The case against Joshua Phillips started in 1998 and he was was initially sentenced to life in prison after his conviction on a first-degree murder charge in 1999.
He challenged the conviction and was resentenced in 2017. Phillips is scheduled to receive a date Monday to have that sentencing reviewed because his life sentence was deemed unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.
Joshua Phillips, now 41, was 14 when he murdered 8-year-old Maddie Clifton in 1998. In a case known as Miller v. Alabama, the U.S. Supreme Court in 2012 barred mandatory sentences of life without parole for juveniles convicted of murder.
Maddie Clifton disappeared Nov. 3, 1998, leading to a major search in Jacksonville. Her body was found a week later under Phillips' waterbed, and she had been beaten and stabbed repeatedly.
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