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Sean Phillips _ The murder of Baby Kate · This is monsters

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  Speaker 1: Sean Phillips and Ariel Cortland had a tumultuous relationship. They
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  Speaker 1: had one daughter together, but when Ariel became pregnant with
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  Speaker 1: their second child, Sean was not willing to take care
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  Speaker 1: of her. He encouraged Ariel to get an abortion, but
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  Speaker 1: she refused. Then, he begged her to put the baby
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  Speaker 1: up for adoption, and despite considering it initially, she eventually
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  Speaker 1: chose not to take that option. After that, he started
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  Speaker 1: claiming that the baby wasn't his, but once the baby,
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  Speaker 1: named Kate, was born, Ariel began the process of legally
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  Speaker 1: listing Sean as her father. On June 29th, 2011, Ariel
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  Speaker 1: believed Sean was taking her and the baby to the
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  Speaker 1: hospital for a paternity test, but instead he drove her
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  Speaker 1: to the Department of Health and Human Services and begged
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  Speaker 1: her to put the baby up for adoption. When Ariel
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  Speaker 1: continued to refuse, Sean agreed to take them to the hospital,
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  Speaker 1: but since Ariel had forgotten the baby's stroller, they went
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  Speaker 1: back to her apartment first. Ariel ran inside and grabbed
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  Speaker 1: the stroller, but when she returned back outside, Sean was gone.
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  Speaker 1: She never saw baby Kate again. This is Monsters. Thank you.
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  Speaker 1: Sean Phillips and Ariel Cortland started dating in 2006 when
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  Speaker 1: they were just teenagers. Only a year later, on September 9th, 2007,
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  Speaker 1: Ariel gave birth to her first daughter, Haley. Ariel was
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  Speaker 1: 15 years old and Sean was 17. Becoming a parent
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  Speaker 1: young caused a great deal of stress and Sean and
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  Speaker 1: Ariel's relationship had its share of ups and downs. When
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  Speaker 1: Ariel got pregnant with Haley, Sean didn't seem to have
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  Speaker 1: a problem with it. He was there for the birth
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  Speaker 1: and his name was put on the birth certificate. Ariel
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  Speaker 1: herself had a rough childhood and was in foster care
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  Speaker 1: when Haley was born. Ariel had custody of Haley while
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  Speaker 1: living with her foster family. They were in a relationship
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  Speaker 1: after the birth of their daughter, but eventually they became
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  Speaker 1: on again off again. During the off-again times, Sean would
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  Speaker 1: come pick up Haley and take her for the day,
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  Speaker 1: but it often ended up in an argument with Sean
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  Speaker 1: refusing to bring the child back. Almost a year after
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  Speaker 1: Haley was born, Sean returned from a military deployment and
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  Speaker 1: he wanted to get his rights for Haley. The couple
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  Speaker 1: went to court and Sean was awarded custody. He was
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  Speaker 1: the custodial parent for about a year and a half. Then,
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  Speaker 1: Ariel got her own place, and since she had a
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  Speaker 1: stable job, she took Sean back to court and the
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  Speaker 1: judge awarded them joint custody. For a while, they shared
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  Speaker 1: custody successfully while they were getting along, but anytime their
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  Speaker 1: relationship was on the rocks, Haley became a weapon that
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  Speaker 1: one partner would use to get back at the other.
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  Speaker 1: It wasn't uncommon for the police to have to get involved.
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  Speaker 1: Despite the rocky nature of their relationship... They still went
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  Speaker 1: back to each other for sex, and eventually, in May
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  Speaker 1: of 2010, Ariel found out she was pregnant. This time,
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  Speaker 1: Sean was not happy about the pregnancy and not wanting
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  Speaker 1: to initially accept the reality, so he asked her to
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  Speaker 1: confirm the pregnancy. When she told Sean that she was
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  Speaker 1: in fact pregnant, he got upset. He told her that
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  Speaker 1: he didn't think they could handle another child and they
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  Speaker 1: should talk about their options. He eventually said that she
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  Speaker 1: was trying to ruin his life. Unless she forced his
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  Speaker 1: penis inside of her, there's no way that could be possible.
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  Speaker 1: He willingly had sex with her, and one of the
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  Speaker 1: possible outcomes of sex is a child. Instead of being
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  Speaker 1: an adult and accepting that he was partially responsible for
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  Speaker 1: their current situation, he started putting all of the blame
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  Speaker 1: onto Ariel. Sean was set to deploy in August of 2011,
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  Speaker 1: and he didn't want to tell his parents because he
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  Speaker 1: didn't think they would agree with the couple having another child.
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  Speaker 1: He suggested an abortion, but she was against the idea.
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  Speaker 1: After some pressure, he was initially able to convince her
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  Speaker 1: to get an abortion and she took about $ 60 from
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  Speaker 1: him to go toward the procedure. Ariel couldn't go through
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  Speaker 1: with it, so she ended up using the money to
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  Speaker 1: buy some items for the baby. Once the time frame
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  Speaker 1: for an abortion had passed, Sean moved on to suggesting
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  Speaker 1: they put the baby up for adoption. They argued about
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  Speaker 1: it because she didn't really want to, but he didn't
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  Speaker 1: think they would be able to afford the new baby.
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  Speaker 1: She understood, but struggled with the idea of adoption because
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  Speaker 1: she didn't want to give the baby away. They went
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  Speaker 1: to Grand Rapids, Michigan twice to look into the adoption option,
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  Speaker 1: but Ariel finally told Sean that she wasn't going to
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  Speaker 1: put the baby up for adoption. Her decision was final.
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  Speaker 1: She was keeping the baby. After that, Sean would use
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  Speaker 1: Haley against her and not let her see her daughter
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  Speaker 1: as punishment. It was a terrible situation, not only for Ariel,
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  Speaker 1: but for their daughter as well. Eventually, Ariel told Sean's
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  Speaker 1: parents about the pregnancy, but they had their doubts. By
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  Speaker 1: that point, since Sean wasn't able to convince Ariel to
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  Speaker 1: put the baby up for adoption, he had started denying
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  Speaker 1: that he was even the father. When Ariel sent out
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  Speaker 1: birth announcements, Sean was angry that his name was on them,
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  Speaker 1: and he didn't want Ariel to put the baby on
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  Speaker 1: his insurance. Katherine Shelby Elizabeth Phillips was born on February 12, 2011,
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  Speaker 1: in Ludington, Michigan. On June 29th, 2011, Sean had gone
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  Speaker 1: to the doctor and taken blood for a paternity test.
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  Speaker 1: He then went and picked up Ariel and Kate to
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  Speaker 1: go to the doctor to complete the test, but instead,
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  Speaker 1: he took them all to the Department of Health and
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  Speaker 1: Human Services and tried to pressure Ariel into giving Kate
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  Speaker 1: up for adoption. They argued in the car with the
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  Speaker 1: mother still refusing to give her child up. Sean relented
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  Speaker 1: and said he would go to the doctor, but Ariel
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  Speaker 1: realized she forgot to grab Kate's stroller, so they all
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  Speaker 1: returned to Ariel's apartment. She ran back inside and grabbed
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  Speaker 1: the stroller, but when she came back out, Sean was gone.
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  Speaker 1: She spent hours trying to call him so she could
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  Speaker 1: beg him to bring their daughter back, but he had
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  Speaker 1: turned his phone off. She eventually called the police and
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  Speaker 1: reported the baby kidnapped. The police first checked Sean's parents' house,
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  Speaker 1: where he had been living, and he was there, but
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  Speaker 1: Kate was nowhere to be found. He told the police
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  Speaker 1: that he had left the baby with Ariel, but when
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  Speaker 1: they searched him, he had the baby's clothes in his pocket.
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  Speaker 1: When they searched his car, they found the car seat,
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  Speaker 1: a diaper bag, and a dirty diaper in the trunk.
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  Speaker 1: Sean was arrested and charged with kidnapping and false imprisonment.
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  Speaker 1: He was convicted of false imprisonment and sentenced to 10
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  Speaker 1: to 15 years in prison, but there was still no
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  Speaker 1: sign of Kate. He eventually told authorities that he had
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  Speaker 1: given the baby to someone who would put her up
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  Speaker 1: for adoption, but that can never be confirmed. While in
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  Speaker 1: prison serving his sentence for false imprisonment, an unmailed letter
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  Speaker 1: was found on him that he had written to Ariel.
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  Speaker 1: In it, he wrote that he had accidentally killed Kate.
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  Speaker 1: He claimed that he was trying to adjust his seat
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  Speaker 1: and the car seat was in the way. When he
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  Speaker 1: pulled the car seat out of the car, she wasn't
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  Speaker 1: strapped in, so she flew out and died. He claimed
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  Speaker 1: that he held her for a long time and then
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  Speaker 1: put her body in a peaceful place. He apologized for
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  Speaker 1: what he had done, and most notably, he said that
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  Speaker 1: he didn't remember where he put her body. Of course,
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  Speaker 1: because the place you put your dead child's body is
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  Speaker 1: so hard to remember. Authorities spent five years searching for
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  Speaker 1: baby Kate's remains, but never had any luck. In 2016,
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  Speaker 1: Sean was charged with her murder. By this point, a
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  Speaker 1: paternity test using DNA collected from the baby's belongings confirmed
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  Speaker 1: that Sean was in fact her father. I know, you're
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  Speaker 1: all shocked. It was also notable that his parents had
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  Speaker 1: conveniently repaired their relationship with Ariel. Of course, it could
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  Speaker 1: be because they were good people, but it seemed as
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  Speaker 1: though they may have had another motive. The day Ariel
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  Speaker 1: was scheduled to testify against Sean, she received a text
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  Speaker 1: message from his mother reminding her to put her nervousness
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  Speaker 1: and anger aside and to explain that Sean loved his
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  Speaker 1: girls and to make sure the jury knew that. If
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  Speaker 1: that's not witness tampering, I don't know what is. Sean
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  Speaker 1: was being tried for first-degree murder because it seemed that
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  Speaker 1: he had intentionally kidnapped the baby and murdered her, but
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  Speaker 1: there wasn't any evidence to prove that. So the jury
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  Speaker 1: was given the option to convict him of second-degree murder,
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  Speaker 1: and that's exactly what they did. In October of 2016,
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  Speaker 1: the jury acquitted Sean Phillips of first-degree murder and convicted
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  Speaker 1: him of the second-degree murder of his daughter. Sean was
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  Speaker 1: sentenced to 19 to 45 years in prison to be
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  Speaker 1: served concurrently with his current sentence for false imprisonment, which
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  Speaker 1: ultimately gave him a free pass on that conviction, because
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  Speaker 1: we all know concurrent sentencing is bullshit. If you're sentenced
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  Speaker 1: to serve time for a crime, you should have to
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  Speaker 1: serve that time, not get a reduced sentence because you
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  Speaker 1: committed multiple crimes. It makes no sense. Sean Phillips did
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  Speaker 1: everything in his power to try not to take responsibility
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  Speaker 1: for his second child, and when no amount of pressure
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  Speaker 1: would get Ariel to get rid of her, he took
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  Speaker 1: matters into his own hands. Like a true monster, he
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  Speaker 1: murdered a four-and-a-half-month-old infant in order to make his own
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  Speaker 1: life easier. If you're the victim of domestic abuse, please
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: reach out to someone for help. Please talk to your
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: local shelter or call the National Domestic Abuse Hotline at 1-877-422-7000.
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: at 1-800-799-SAFE. That's 1-800-799-7233. Or you can go to thehotline.org
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: to chat with someone online. This website is set up
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: so that, at any time, hitting the escape key twice
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: will take you to a Google search page. That way,
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: if your abuser is nearby, you won't get caught seeking help.
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: If you're having feelings of harming yourself or someone else,
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: or even just need someone to talk to, please contact
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: your local mental health facility. Call 911 or call the
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: National Suicide Prevention Hotline by simply dialing 988 in the
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: United States. They're available 24 hours a day, 7 days
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: a week, and will talk to you about any mental
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: health issue you may be facing. If you are a
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: member of the LGBTQ plus community and suffering from discrimination, depression,
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: or are in need of any support, please contact the
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: LGBT National Hotline at 1-888-843-4564 or go to lgbthotline.org. Thanks again,
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  Speaker 1: and be safe.