By Steve Good

Bobby Lee Phillips, Jr., 26, of Malvern entered a plea of guilty to residential burglary in circuit court at Malvern on Wednesday.

According to an affidavit filed by Malvern Police Department Cpl. Ryan Burris, MPD officers responded to a disturbance in progress call involving a weapon shortly after midnight Dec. 22, 2007. 

Victims and witnesses told police, the affidavit said, that Phillips allegedly had entered a residence in the 1400 block of Wilson Street and attempted to break down an inside door behind which victims were hiding. 

According to the affidavit, Phillips had been at the residence earlier during the evening of Dec. 21, 2007, and had been asked to leave and not return. 

Witnesses reported Phillips returned to the property about 11 p.m., allegedly banging on the living room windows of the residence before leaving again.

According to the affidavit, he returned by car again at 12 minutes past midnight Dec. 22, 2007, entered an unlocked front door and charged a male resident of the home, raising a large butcher knife over his head and yelling at the male resident, “I’m gonna kill you.”

The man and his wife retreated to a bedroom in the residence where the man kept the door barricaded against Phillips’ attempted entry while the woman called police.

Phillips fled the scene when he heard sirens approaching, and was apprehended by police around 1 p.m. the same day at a residence on Howard Street.

Phillips had been charged with attempted first degree murder and with residential burglary, but reached an agreement with prosecutors to drop the attempted murder charge in return for pleading guilty to residential burglary.

Seventh Judicial District Circuit Judge Phillip Shirron accepted the plea agreement between Phillips and prosecutors.

He sentenced Phillips to serve 10 years in the Arkansas Department of Correction, assessed him court costs of $150 and gave Phillips credit for time served awaiting trial on the charges.

Phillips’ case had been set for jury trial beginning today.