Robbery suspect in court, faces Navy airman police said he shot

Witnesses called witnesses in trial of Courtney Phillips

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The State of Florida began calling witnesses Tuesday in the trial of Courtney Phillips, the man who police are charging with attempted murder after they said he shot Brett Parks at a Southside apartment complex in 2012, causing the Navy airman to lose his leg, as he stepped in to stop a robbery.

The state called three witnesses Tuesday, all three of them pointed out Phillips as the shooter, while Phillips' defense attorney called the witnesses ability to accurately identify the shooter into question.

The courtroom fell silent as Parks stood just inches from Phillips, the man police said shot him.

During his testimony minutes earlier, Parks said he was standing eye to eye with the man who shot him, but Phillips' defense attorney, who was not named, wanted to show the court her client would have been too tall.

Courtney Phillips in court Tuesday as his trial begins on a count of attempted murder.

"Mr. Phillips is not eye to eye without you looking up is that true?" she questioned Parks.

"Not straight eye to eye," Parks replied.

Still Parks told the court he was sure Phillips was the man who shot him on Oct. 17, 2012.

He was at a Southside apartment complex when he heard a man scream for help. Parks testified that the man told him he had been robbed, so Parks tried to stop the robber who ended up shooting him.

Parks showed the jury what that bullet cost him. He now walks with a prosthetic leg. He also told the jury that when he saw Phillips' picture on TV, and from police, he knew that was the man who pulled the trigger.

VIDEO: Local sailor, Brett Parks, is honored after stepping in to stop a robbery.

"It wasn't a fear but it was more like an, ‘I've seen him.' Ever since that day I've dreamt about him. Every time I close my eyes he is there. So when I saw him last night, yeah it's him," Parks said.

And Parks wasn't the only one to name Phillips as the shooter. Ravi Kumar Sanka, the man who was allegedly robbed by Phillips, identified the man too.

The state showed surveillance video of Sanka being assaulted in the same apartment complex just before the robbery by a man he said was Phillips. Sanka went on to say he saw Phillips shoot Parks.

"He was coming and Mr. Parks, the white man, was trying to catch him and he catches him in the building like this and then he push him and then he shot him and then everything happened in just a couple seconds," Sanka said.

Another witness took the stand, identifying Phillips as the shooter as well. But Phillips' attorney questioned the ability of the third witness and Parks to give an accurate description of the suspect, citing Parks' medication in the months after the shooting, and the way police conducted the ID process.

The trial will continue Wednesday morning at 9:45 and the state is expected to rest its case then.
 

Brett Parks faces Courtney Phillips in court.