DOC balks at order to move man charged in Richmond police killing to New Castle prison

Douglas Walker, Richmond Palladium-Item
Updated ·3 min read
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RICHMOND, Ind. — Defense attorneys for Phillip Lee, the Richmond man charged last year with killing a city police officer, have been granted a court order to move their client to the New Castle Correctional Facility.

However, state Department of Correction officials have expressed reluctance to transfer the 47-year-old Lee — now being held for safekeeping at the Pendleton Correctional Facility in Madison County — to the New Castle prison.

A tribute to Richmond Police Department K-9 Officer Seara Burton stands outside the Richmond Municipal Building.
A tribute to Richmond Police Department K-9 Officer Seara Burton stands outside the Richmond Municipal Building.

Lee faces a possible death sentence if convicted of fatally shooting Richmond police officer Seara Burton last summer, and is also charged with a variety of other firearm and drug-related crimes.

Investigators said Burton, 28, was shot in the head after being called to assist with a traffic stop on Aug. 10, 2022. According to state police, Lee — riding a moped when he was stopped — fired multiple shots.

The officer died in a Richmond-area hospice facility 38 days after being wounded.

Lee last year indicated he intended to represent himself at trial. However, he is now represented by three Indianapolis attorneys — Denise Turner, Jonathan Harwell and Andrew Maternowski.

In January, Wayne Circuit Court Judge April Drake granted a request from the defense team allowing Lee to receive in-person visits at the Pendleton prison — from the lawyers and their staff— as often as twice a week.

In February, however, the defense attorneys asked that Lee be transferred to the New Castle prison, saying officials at the Pendleton facility had been uncooperative, "bordering on the edge of interference with Lee's fundamental right to counsel."

Judge Drake signed the transfer order on Feb. 17.

However, Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita's office in March asked the judge to rescind that order, saying Lee was not eligible to be held in New Castle's medium security facility due to his security classification, and in part because of his two convictions for escape.

Deputy Attorney General Stephanie Davis also wrote that as of March 10, officials at the maximum security prison in Pendleton had made exceptions to their visitation policies "in order to accommodate (Lee's) defense team."

The Richmond man's murder trial was most recently scheduled for March 7. A new trial date has not yet been set.

Judge Drake this month directed prosecutors to submit proposed dates for pre-trial hearings and the trial, and asked defense attorneys to respond to the state's "motion to correct error" regarding Lee's placement.

Attorneys and others involved are subject to a gag order that prohibits public remarks on most aspects of the case.

Lee's lead counsel is Turner. She was part of the defense team for Jason Brown, a Marion County man who for a time faced a possible death sentence in the 2017 slaying of a Southport police officer.

Prosecutors in that case agreed to end their pursuit of a death sentence after Brown waived his right to a jury trial. Brown, 33, is now serving a 55-year sentence — in the New Castle Correctional Facility — after a Marion County judge found him guilty of murder.

Douglas Walker is a news reporter at The Star Press. Contact him at 765-213-5851 or at dwalker@muncie.gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Richmond Palladium-Item: Man charged in Richmond police killing seeks move to New Castle prison