Yeiter said he killed; would do it again

Jury selection for the capital murder trial of a Jay man who is accused of killing his father-in-law outside a church in Escambia County, Ala., on Oct. 27, 2014, will begin Monday and jurors will be able to listen to a taped confession the suspect made following a suppression hearing Tuesday before Escambia County Circuit Judge Bert Rice.

If convicted of capital murder Yeiter will either be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole or death.

Brett Richard Yeiter, 51, with a last address listed on Little Paul Lane, in Jay, was arrested several days after the killing by Texas Rangers and Texas state troopers in Panhandle, Texas, which is located in Carson County, just outside Amarillo.

Yeiter is charged in the shotgun slaying of his father-in-law Paul Phillips, 69. Phillips, who was pastor of Books of Acts Holiness Church, was found shot to death inside his parked vehicle at the church's parking lot, located at 6228 Jimmie Sellers Road.

Following the death of Phillips, the Escambia County Sheriff's Office used information from credit card purchases to notify Texas authorities Yeiter may be in the area.

During Tuesday's hearing, defense attorneys Chuck Johns and Kevin McKinley had filed a motion to keep Yeiter's taped confession out of evidence. At the end of the hearing, Judge Rice denied the motion.

Former Escambia County Sheriff's Inv. Adam Johnson and Capt. Bill Blair both testified that Yeiter was read his rights and he waved his right to have an attorney present during the interview, which was taken on Nov. 3, 2014.

Johns first objected to having the tape played vs. a written transcript, but then agreed the court needed to listen to the audio reflections of the interview.

"The more I speak, the more I incriminate myself," Yeiter is heard saying on the tape.

Yeiter stated in the interview that the events of the day were a blur because he had been drinking every day for the past four or five years and he was tired of the stuff he was having to deal with with his father-in-law.

"I just went crazy," he said on the tape. "I did it, there's no excuse for it. If it was today, right now, I'd probably do it again."

During his interview, he said he and Phillips had words and Phillips said he was going to get his gun.

"I went to get my gun," Yeiter said on the tape. "I had plenty of time to think about it, that's premeditated murder."

Yeiter said he went back to his house to get his shotgun, returned to the church parking lot, walked up to the vehicle and shot Phillips in the chest.

"I saw blood coming out of his mouth," he stated. "I got back in my truck, snatched my rearview mirror off and never looked back."

He said he used credit cards several times to stop and get more alcohol on his trip.

He stated he tossed the .20-gauge shotgun out the window somewhere in Arkansas because he was scared if the kept it he would kill himself.

Yeiter told Inv. Johnson he had served prison time for theft of property and armed robbery but had been free for 16 years. He said during those years he tried to do right and take care of his family, but "I couldn't take it any more."

"I didn't mean to do it," he said on the tape. "I just had enough."

He again said he would do it all over again.