Court Affirms Death Sentence for O.C. Man

Fourteen years after overturning his first death sentence, the state Supreme Court on Monday upheld a second jury’s death verdict against an Orange County man who shot a would-be drug buyer, then burned his body.

The justices unanimously affirmed the death sentence of Richard L. Phillips, whose December 1977 case is one of the oldest on death row.

Phillips, now 50, of Newport Beach met two men in his neighborhood and offered to let them in on a cocaine deal for $25,000, the court said. They paid him part of the money and agreed to bring more to a meeting in the Fresno area.

On a roadside off Highway 99, Phillips shot the two men, Bruce Bartulis and Ronald Rose, then poured gasoline on their car and set it afire, the court said. Rose survived.

Phillips was arrested several months later in Salt Lake City. Authorities seized a letter he wrote from jail that appeared to order the recipient to kill Phillips’ mother, who planned to testify for the prosecution, and to harm or kill other witnesses.

The court upheld his convictions but overturned his death sentence in December 1985, saying the letter and other evidence of threats were presented to the jury without adequate evidence that Phillips intended to commit the crimes.

At a second penalty trial in 1995, prosecutors again introduced the jailhouse letter.

Phillips’ lawyers tried to show that the killing was the result of an unplanned shootout.

Madera County Superior Court Judge W.J. Harpham thwarted the defense strategy, however, by refusing to let a defense witness testify.