JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The family of Maddie Clifton, an 8-year-old whose murder shook the entire community in 1998, spoke up about an upcoming sentence review for her killer.
Joshua Phillips, 41, appeared before a judge on Monday to have his life sentence reviewed. However, his attorney requested the judge to push back the hearing.
Phillips was 14 years old when he hit Maddie repeatedly with a baseball bat, slit her throat and hid her body in the frame of his water bed. Police, family and strangers searched for Maddie for a week.
While Phillips’ sentencing review hearing may be months away, Maddie’s family wants to make something clear: they do not support it.
News4JAX sat down with Jessie Clifton, Maddie’s older sister, to talk about Phillips’ sentencing review.
“Her nickname was ‘Giggles’. We fought a lot, just as sisters do, but we loved each other very much,” Clifton said.
Clifton said she will testify at Phillips’ sentence review and will read a victim impact statement.
“This time, I’m really going to sit down and I’m going to take my time and I’m going to write something that’s, that’s going to hopefully make him feel... I mean, I guess that’s not the goal, really, to make him feel bad. That’s not my intention. But I want him to see how bad I’m hurting and that I don’t really care that he’s hurting or wants to get out of jail. So, my hurt is forever. His should be also,” Clifton said.
Press play below to watch the full interview with Jessie Clifton
In a statement to News4JAX, Clifton’s mother, Sheila DeLongis, said Phillips “knew what he was doing” when he killed Maddie.
“Maddie didn’t get a second chance. She didn’t get to grow up, graduate, fall in love, or have a family of her own. Maddie’s sentence was final. Her killer’s should be, too,” DeLongis wrote.
Maddie’s murder left Northeast Florida stunned.
News4JAX Crime and Safety Analyst Tom Hackney was a patrol sergeant during the search for Maddie. He said he spoke with Phillips the day before Maddie was found -- in the very bedroom where she was hidden.
Hackney called the interaction “chilling.”
“He was cool as a cucumber. He was absolutely not shocked. Our engagement with him was actually in the bedroom where she was recovered, and he sat on the bed, petting his dog, and just was as unemotional, unaffected by law enforcement being in his house. It’s chilling, thinking about it now,” Hackney said.
RELATED | Maddie Clifton’s killer: ‘I did something horrible. I’m so sorry’
A year after the crime, Phillips was convicted and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
In 2017, Phillips was resentenced following a 2012 Supreme Court ruling that found mandatory life sentences for juveniles unconstitutional. Despite the resentencing, Phillips received another life sentence, with the possibility of review after 25 years.
“I know that’s his right. I understand children have a child brain and not an adult brain,” Clifton said.
Phillips told police Maddie’s death started as an accident, but escalated to murder because he was afraid of his abusive father. As part of a sentencing review, his attorneys will try to make their case.
“He knew how badly she was hurt, and he could have gotten help twice, and she was still alive. And that to me, I just, I can’t see past child brain, adult brain, alien brain. I don’t, I don’t care. I truly do not. I think you know right from wrong,” Clifton said.
Phillips will be in court again on July 8 for a status hearing.
Read the full statement from Maddie’s mother below:
“As a family, we continue to live with the devastating loss of Maddie every single day. It’s been more than 25 years since her life was violently stolen, yet time has not healed this pain, it has only deepened our understanding of what was taken from us. Maddie was eight years old. She was full of life, joy, and potential. None of that was spared when she was brutally murdered by our 14-year-old neighbor in 1998.
Today, we are once again thrust into the spotlight, not by choice, but because the individual who took Maddie from us is seeking to have his sentence reduced. He is back in court for a hearing to schedule a sentencing review that he doesn’t deserve.
Let us be clear, we do not support Joshua Phillips being released. He may have been a juvenile when he committed this heinous act, but he made a conscious decision to beat, stab, and hide the body of an innocent child. He knew what he was doing, and he took deliberate steps to cover it up.
Justice will not be served until those who are unaffected are as outraged as those who are. Benjamin Franklin
Maddie didn’t get a second chance. She didn’t get to grow up, graduate, fall in love, or have a family of her own. Maddie’s sentence was final. Her killer’s should be, too.
It is emotionally exhausting to continue revisiting this trauma in courtrooms, in headlines, and in hearings that reopen wounds we never asked to have. We ask the public, the media, and the court to remember who the true victim is. Maddie deserves that dignity.
We are committed to ensuring her voice is not lost to legal technicalities or shifting ignorant opinions. Those that know the truth and facts would never consider releasing this individual back into society."
Maddie’s life mattered, and still does.
Maddie Clifton's family
