Briggs pleads guilty to murder
By John Joyce
Published in News on April 26, 2013 1:46 PM
A Goldsboro man sentenced to more than nine but less than 12 years in prison Wednesday for the 2012 murder of 37-year-old Brandon Marquett Phillips could be out in as few as eight years.
Demarko Devon Briggs, 28, of 627 Isler St., pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and admitted to shooting and killing Phillips on April 15 of last year.
He was sentenced in Wayne County Superior Court by Judge John E. Nobles to a minimum of 109 and a maximum of 143 months, but with credit for time served more than a year will be knocked off his sentence.
Goldsboro police officers arrived at 235 Wayne Ave., a residence known to law enforcement as a "liquor house," after 5 a.m.
Phillips was found lying wounded in the yard and was taken to Wayne Memorial Hospital, where he died that afternoon.
Briggs was arrested within hours at his mother's home after turning himself into police.
Police Investigator Dwayne Dean said that Phillips and Briggs argued inside the house, which was known to be a "liquor house" and things ended up spilling outside. The argument was quelled briefly but soon ratcheted back up.
It was then that Briggs, retrieved his weapon from his vehicle and shot Phillips twice.