Bench trial continues in Cole County in former Mizzou student’s death

A bench trial continues this afternoon at the Cole County Courthouse for a Jefferson City man charged with involuntary manslaughter for the November 2022 death of his girlfriend. Cole County prosecutors have also charged 25-year-old Joshua Wilbers with armed criminal action for the death of his live-in girlfriend Hallie Phillips.

The Cole County Sheriff Department’s probable cause statement quotes Wilbers as saying he accidentally shot Ms. Phillips that day near Taos. The probable cause statement quotes Wilbers as telling deputies that he recently purchased a 22-rifle and planned to go outside to shoot the gun. Wilbers tells deputies that girlfriend Phillips asked him about the firing pin. Wilbers says he removed the magazine from the bolt action gun and cycled the bolt back at least twice to ensure that there was not a shell in the gun’s chamber.

Court documents say Wilbers says he looked down at the firearm and pulled the trigger and it fired, striking Phillips in the face. She was flown by helicopter to University Hospital in Columbia and died about 90 minutes after the shooting, according to court documents.

A bench trial is a trial by a judge, rather than a trial by jury. Longtime Cole County Circuit Judge Jon Edward Beetem is presiding at the trial.

Hallie Phillips was a junior at Mizzou at the time of her death. The “Columbia Missourian” reports the Hallie Phillips Memorial Fund was set up in her honor at Mizzou to award scholarships to female applicants studying animal science