This from the Kokomo Tribune: PERU, IN — Autopsy photos and a videotaped confession highlighted day two on Wednesday in the jury trial against a former Miami County Correctional Facility inmate accused of killing another inmate during an incident at the prison in June 2019.
Phillip Sadler Jr., 55, is facing a Level 1 felony count of murder for his alleged role in that incident, carrying with it a possible sentence — if convicted — of the rest of his life in prison.
On June 10, 2019, the body of inmate Lannie Morgan, 70, was located inside his cell at the MCF, court documents stated at the time.
An autopsy conducted on Morgan that afternoon ruled his death the result of asphyxiation due to smothering.
During an interview with police, aired to the jury during Wednesday’s evidence portion of the trial, Sadler confessed to authorities that he was the one that killed Morgan.
Detailing how he entered Morgan’s cell after his cellmate had left, Sadler said he covered Morgan’s face with a piece of cloth used to hold an electronic tablet and held him down on the bed for several minutes until he was deceased.
Sadler then walked to a nearby trash can, discarded the cloth and eventually washed his hands before returning to his own cell on the other side of the housing unit, he added.
Sadler also told authorities that he killed Morgan because he discovered that Morgan was serving time in prison for child molestation.
“I thought he was cool and then to find out … it kind of brought back some memories,” Sadler said in the interview, citing how he himself was sexually molested as a child. “ … I don’t like adults who hurt children. … A rage came over me.”
Sadler then confessed to investigators that he had been having aggressive thoughts the weekend before Morgan’s death, noting that he often thought about killing people.
“I’m not trying to use an excuse,” he said. “Could I control it? Could I stop it? I don’t know. … I feel like I have to do it. I’m not saying he deserved that. He didn’t. But I just couldn’t control it.”
The prosecution also showed surveillance footage on Wednesday of the minutes directly before and after the alleged encounter that morning between Sadler and Morgan.
It was during the airing of that video that Sadler — sitting motionless through much of Wednesday’s trial — became openly emotional, turning his head toward the floor for the remainder of the video while grabbing several tissues to wipe his eyes.
Sadler turned away and became emotional again as the prosecution showed Morgan’s autopsy photographs during the testimony of Dr. Thomas Sozio, a board-certified forensic pathologist.
The photographs appeared to show several abrasions and lacerations to Morgan’s face and neck area, along with red pinpoint marks surrounding Morgan’s ears and eyes that Sozio said is often seen in cases of asphyxiation.
