Daughter testifies in Lawson murder trial

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

photo Aaron Dean Lawson, 32, is a suspect in the shooting deaths of Charles and Deborah Phillips in northern Bradley County. He has been indicted on two first-degree murder charges in Bradley County.
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On the second day of testimony in the double-homicide trial of Aaron Dean Lawson, his daughter and her mother took the stand and prosecutors introduced text and cell phone records between the three, his parents and the victims.

Lawson is charged with two counts of first-degree murder and possession of a weapon by a convicted felon in the shooting deaths of Eddie and Debbie Phillips, 58 and 54 respectively, at their home near Charleston, Tenn. They were shot three times each with a 9-mm pistol.

Late Wednesday, Lawson's now 14-year-old daughter testified that the day of the slayings on April 19, 2011, she wanted to go to her aunt's home for a Easter egg hunt that Sunday.

The texts introduced into evidence earlier in the day of the digital conversations between her and her mother and father, show Lawson was increasingly agitated and the girl's mother, Priscilla Phillips, was engaged in a back-and-forth dispute with the girl's father the day of the shootings.

Her testimony followed her mother's who talked about the tumultuous relationship she and Lawson had since they started dating when she was a 15-year-old in high school. Aaron Lawson was only a year or so older. They were never married.

See Thursday's Times Free Press for complete coverage.