Man Convicted of Shooting Cobb Cop in Cumberland Area Gets Big Sentence

Photo Credit: Georgia Department of Corrections

The man who shot a Cobb County police officer five times earlier this year will have a long time to think about his actions after he was convicted of 12 counts related to the crime and sentenced to 105 years in prison, the Cobb County District Attorney’s Office announced Friday.

James Albert Phillips, 36, was pulled over on Powers Ferry Road between Windy Hill Road and Interstate 285 in the Cumberland area at 2:30 a.m. on Feb. 4, 2014. Officer Charles Vill, who pulled over Phillips’ Volvo SUV, approached the vehicle but was shot five times when Phillips rolled down the driver side rear window and opened fire on him. Vill was hit in the left arm, in the stomach, twice on his bullet-proof vest, and the right index finger.

After shooting Vill, Phillips fled the area then abandoned the Volvo at a nearby apartment complex. Police responding to the scene discovered Phillips’ prison ID, close to 700 grams of methamphetamine, and several firearms inside the abandoned SUV. Police also discovered a passenger from the Volvo, who provided investigators with Phillips’ contact information.

Phillips was arrested on the same day when he was discovered in the stairwell of an abandoned house off of Akers Mill Road in the Akers Ridge subdivision. He was subsequently charged with aggravated assault and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Phillips’ trial in Cobb County began on Monday.

The February incident was not Phillips’ first brush with the law: he was released from state prison in October of 2013 after serving a sentence for meth possession and obstruction of a law enforcement officer, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported in February.

Jurors only took two hours to convict Phillips of criminal attempt to commit murder, aggravated battery, trafficking in methamphetamine, criminal damage to property, four counts of possession of a firearm during commission of a felony, and four counts of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, the DA’s Office said.

Judge Mary E. Staley sentenced Phillips to the maximum prison term of 105 years and ordered him to pay a $1 million fine.

“James Phillips shot Officer Charles Vill, and then he ran, like a coward,” Cobb DA Vic Reynolds said in a statement. “But for the grace of God and that young officer’s Kevlar vest, this is not a murder trial. We are fortunate that there are good people like Officer Vill on the thin blue line out there protecting us.”