STILLWATER, Minn. (AP) — A Minnesota man accused of stabbing his wife to death while six children were upstairs watching TV asked a judge Friday to throw out a confession he made after his arrest in Wisconsin.
McKinley Phillips, 40, was indicted in November on a charge of first-degree murder for allegedly stabbing his 42-year-old wife multiple times in the basement of their Woodbury home in June 2021. Six children, ranging in age from 5 to 15, were in the house at the time, investigators said.
Phillips took a Greyhound bus headed for Chicago after the fatal stabbing. Officers found him on the bus around 3 a.m. the next day near Tomah, Wisconsin, where he was arrested and jailed, according to the complaint.
On the way to jail, Phillips allegedly told Woodbury police detectives he had gotten into an argument with his wife after “he found a letter to her from an old boyfriend who was currently in jail.” He went on to describe stabbing her several times in the back with a folding pocket knife, the complaint said.
Defense attorney Mac Guptil said his client’s right to have an attorney present while he spoke with police was violated because he was not properly advised that a lawyer who was licensed in Minnesota would immediately be available to him, the Pioneer Press reported.
Prosecutors have until April 1 to respond to the challenge.
The hearing was held by videoconference so that relatives of the victim could watch. Phillips participated from jail in Stillwater.
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