Murphy – Fewer than 10 minutes and six minutes, respectively — that’s how long a Cherokee County Superior Court jury required for deliberations to return guilty verdicts in two unconnected criminal cases.
In the 10-minute case, Christopher Scott Rhodes, 43, of Andrews, was convicted of attempted murder, attempted kidnapping, assault by strangulation and possess firearm by convicted felon.
He admitted habitual felon status – a sentence enhancer – plus pleaded guilty in a separate incident to discharging a weapon into an occupied dwelling and possession of firearm by convicted felon.
On Oct. 23, 2022, Murphy police Officer Justin Dockery responded to reports that Rhodes had beaten, strangled and shot his ex-girlfriend in the parking lot of the Burger King restaurant on Andrews Road.
“(The officer) initiated the traffic stop right there by the (Harrah’s Cherokee Valley River) casino intersection because he saw it on the back part of Andrews Road that runs behind Walgreens,” Murphy police Investigator Jason Murphy said at the time. “It ended on Konehete Avenue in Andrews. I think it came to a dead-end road out there.”
The chase reached speeds up to 90 mph before it ended in Andrews, where Rhodes left the vehicle and ran into the woods before he was arrested at gunpoint a short time later. A firearm was found on the edge of the woods.
Another man in the vehicle at the time, William Patrick Bradley, 46, was arrested and faced other charges – possession of methamphetamine, reckless driving to endanger, driving with a revoked license (not impaired) and failure to yield to an emergency vehicle.
On Aug. 3, 2023, Rhodes fired shots into a house with two people inside on Lower Vengeance Creek Road in Marble.
Cherokee County sheriff’s deputies, detectives and narcotics agents responded and apprehended Rhodes in a vehicle and seized two firearms.
Superior Court Judge Tommy Davis sentenced Rhodes to serve a minimum of 35 years up to 45 years in state prison. Assistant district attorneys Jim Moore and John Hindsman Jr. prosecuted the case.
In the six-minute case, jury members found Justin Phillips, 38, of Murphy, guilty of two counts of trafficking methamphetamine and possess with intent to manufacture, sell or deliver a schedule II controlled substance.
On March 9, 2024, Cherokee County sheriff's Sgt. Hunter Wood stopped a vehicle for improper tag and crossing left of center.
Deputy Robby Rivers and his dog, Arlo, responded to the scene. Arlo alerted to the driver’s side door. A search revealed a trafficking amount of methamphetamine (49.9 grams) hidden inside an inoperable nail gun, along with 88 plastic baggies. Additionally, deputies seized $2,355 in cash.
Davis sentenced Phillips to serve a minimum of 140 months up to 186 months in state prison, plus ordered that he pay a mandatory $100,000 fine. The N.C. Department of Revenue received the forfeited $2,355 found in the vehicle. Hindsman prosecuted the case.