Cantonment Double Murder Suspect Claims Self Defense During Trial

August 19, 2011

The Cantonment man accused in the stabbing death of a pregnant Cantonment woman and her baby last summer claimed the murder was self defense.

Phillip Arnold, 66, is facing two first degree premeditated murder charges for the stabbing deaths of Angela Castella Brown, 44, and her  child on July 5, 2010, in Cantonment. During the first day of his trial Thursday, Arnold claimed Brown had picked up knife and he stabbed her before she could stab him.

The state argued that Arnold planned the murder, saying that a witness claimed Arnold has stated that he was going to kill someone just before the murder. But the defense said the statement was just talk.

Arnold showed no emotion during his trial Thursday, staring forward as his 911 call from the night of July 5, 2010, was played in court.

“Yea, my name is Phillip Arnold. I did some stabbing up here on what’s the name of this road?…Stacey Road. “Tell police to come pick me up.”

After the stabbing, Brown’s child was delivered in an emergency c-section. The baby died seven hours later. The baby’s father said on the stand Thursday that Brown was six months pregnant, but defense attorneys said that was not the case and  that the baby could not have survived on its own.

Arnold’s trial is expected to wrap up as early as Friday.

Pictured top: Double murder suspect Phillip Arnold listens in court Thursday as his 911 to call to report the stabbing of Angela Brown last summer. Photo courtesy WEAR 3 for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.

Comments

5 Responses to “Cantonment Double Murder Suspect Claims Self Defense During Trial”

  1. MC on August 19th, 2011 8:38 pm

    agree with you boys about viability, but is the “alleged baby mama’s father” a scientific resource for deciding the age of a child…if so, who needs Dr”s?

  2. very sad Father on August 19th, 2011 8:21 pm

    I don’t see how any man could live with himself after doing something like this. Some judicial system is going to have to make an example out of one of these people.

  3. David Huie Green on August 19th, 2011 4:25 pm

    REGARDING:
    “defense attorneys said that was not the case and that the baby could not have survived on its own.”

    Legally, it doesn’t matter. Once a child is born it has all the rights of any other person. Just because he caused it to be born dying doesn’t change the fact that it was born and he killed it.

    Also it’s worth noting that he could not have been defending himself from the baby, since it couldn’t reach him. In a way this is similar to shooting into a car full of people because one of them was shooting a gun. Hitting anyone other than the shooter could not possibly be called “self defense” since the one killed was not attacking the killer.

    David considering craziness
    in desperate attorneys

  4. JIM W on August 19th, 2011 3:37 pm

    Self defense yeah right my foot! There is no excuse for any man or woman murdering someone. If he is found guilty I hope they fry his rear end.

  5. mq on August 19th, 2011 11:08 am

    “The baby’s father said on the stand Thursday that Brown was six months pregnant, but defense attorneys said that was not the case and that the baby could not have survived on its own.”
    The defense attorney should check into the viability of unborn children today. At 6 months, based on 4.33 weeks in a month would have made the unborn child 25.98 weeks old. He should check his facts, as Sacred Heart NICU has had babies survive at much younger gestational ages. My twin g’children were born at 28 weeks 5 days. The mother should NOT have been murdered, and the baby could have survived if it had been able to stay inside its mother’s womb where it belonged!
    Another sad story.

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under Archive