Joshua Phillips was 14 years old in November 1998, when a child who lived near him in Jacksonville, Florida, died. She was Maddie Clifton. He was charged as an adult with first-degree murder, convicted by a jury in 1999 and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. After the United States Supreme Court's decision in Miller v. Alabama, he was resentenced in November 2017 to life, with a sentence review after 25 years. In May 2026 he withdrew his application for that review.
The offense took place in Jacksonville on November 3, 1998. The child lived close to him. Her death led to a charge of first-degree murder. Florida law barred the death penalty for an offender under 16, and he was prosecuted as an adult.
When he spoke to police, Phillips said the child's death was an accident. His defense lawyer argued at trial that the killing was not premeditated and asked the jury for a verdict of manslaughter.
Because of the volume of local publicity, the trial was moved out of Duval County to Polk County, in central Florida. In July 1999 the jury convicted Phillips of first-degree murder. On Friday, August 20, 1999, the presiding circuit judge sentenced him to life in prison with no possibility of parole. He was 15 at sentencing.
The conviction and the sentence were affirmed by the Second District Court of Appeal in 2002.
On June 25, 2012, the Supreme Court held in Miller v. Alabama, by five votes to four, that the Eighth Amendment bars mandatory life imprisonment without parole for juvenile homicide offenders. Under the decision a judge or jury must be able to weigh the offender's youth, and the circumstances of the crime, before imposing such a sentence. The Court described the sentence as likely to be uncommon for juveniles.
Phillips's sentence, imposed in 1999 as the only sentence available for his conviction, fell within that holding. Florida then enacted a statute setting a range of 40 years to life for juveniles convicted of murder, and the postconviction court granted Phillips an individualized resentencing under those provisions.
The resentencing was heard in Jacksonville in August 2017 and lasted four days, ending on August 10. The State asked for a life sentence with a review after 25 years. The defense asked for a term of 40 years with credit for the 19 years already served, which would have made him eligible for release at about the age of 55. The defense argued that the court should judge the adult Phillips had become. Two former Jacksonville police officers who had worked the case testified. Phillips was 33 at the time. The circuit judge took the matter under advisement.
On Friday, November 17, 2017, the circuit judge announced that Phillips would spend the rest of his life in prison, with a review of the sentence after 25 years. The judge had the option of a minimum of 40 years on the murder conviction, or life. In reaching the decision the judge found that the offense was not impulsive or a mistake.
Phillips appealed to the First District Court of Appeal. He argued that the sentence violated the Eighth Amendment and the Florida Constitution, that he had shown maturity and rehabilitation, and that the sentencing court had given too much weight to the nature of the crime. He also argued that the juvenile sentencing statutes are facially unconstitutional because they place no burden of proof on the State and require no proportionality review.
On December 17, 2019, the First District affirmed on every issue. The court held that a life sentence with judicial review is neither permanent nor irrevocable, that it gives the offender a meaningful opportunity for release, and that it does not violate the Eighth Amendment. It found no abuse of discretion in the resentencing court's findings and held that the statutes' requirement to consider the relevant factors satisfies proportionality review. Phillips took the case to the Florida Supreme Court in January 2020, and on June 22, 2020 that court declined to hear it.
In May 2025 Phillips filed an application for sentence review, citing the completion of 25 years and asking to present witnesses. He asked for a public defender, and a first appearance was set for June 9, 2025. On October 21, 2025 he appeared in court as the review process began, and his attorney said he hoped to complete the review by the end of the following year.
The State's expert filed a report raising concerns about his rehabilitation, among them a lack of professional counseling. Phillips said that Department of Corrections programs had turned him away because he was serving a life sentence, and that he had pursued self-study instead. On May 6, 2026 he filed a notice withdrawing his application, saying he wished to address the expert's concerns before returning to court. His filing states that the sentencing court keeps original jurisdiction for the rest of his sentence, so a later application can be heard. He is held in Florida.
The Supreme Court's decisions in Graham v. Florida (2010), which barred life without parole for juveniles in non-homicide cases, and Miller v. Alabama (2012) led Florida to replace automatic life sentences for juvenile murder with individualized sentencing. Under the statutes as the First District described them, a sentencing court must consider the relevant factors, and a juvenile given a long sentence is entitled to a later judicial review. The Phillips decision of December 2019 held that this structure meets the Eighth Amendment.
Phillips's statement that the death was an accident was rejected by the jury, which returned a verdict of first-degree murder rather than the manslaughter verdict the defense sought. In 2017 the resentencing judge found that the offense was not impulsive or a mistake.
November 1998: the offense, in Jacksonville; Phillips, aged 14, is charged.
July 1999: jury verdict of first-degree murder in Polk County.
August 20, 1999: sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.
2002: conviction and sentence affirmed by the Second District Court of Appeal.
June 25, 2012: Miller v. Alabama decided.
August 2017: four-day resentencing hearing in Jacksonville.
November 17, 2017: resentenced to life, with sentence review after 25 years.
December 17, 2019: First District Court of Appeal affirms.
June 22, 2020: Florida Supreme Court declines review.
May 2025: application for sentence review filed.
October 21, 2025: review proceedings begin.
May 6, 2026: application withdrawn.