Tucson, Arizona

From the Arizona Daily Star of July 22, 2006

Maintenance man found not guilty in drug-related apartment shootings

Says self-defense was motive in '05 encounter

An apartment complex maintenance man who was charged with attempted first-degree murder after shooting two men on the property last year was found not guilty Monday.

Derrick S. Phillips, 42, said on Friday that he was acting in self-defense when he shot two men at the Palm Garden Apartments on East Fort Lowell Road, near North Tucson Boulevard, April 25, 2005.

Now he says, after spending more than a year in jail, he is trying to get his life back together.
…

He was charged with attempted first-degree murder, which would later be changed to attempted second-degree murder, two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and one count of aggravated assault causing serious physical injury.

After spending 448 days in the Pima County jail, Phillips was released after a jury found him not guilty on all charges.

He spent two birthdays in jail, saw his financial situation fall into ruins and had a brother pass away, he said.

(A long story, worth reading)