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D.C. Officer Faces Life For Killing Mistress & Their Child

WASHINGTON (WJZ)--The family of a murdered Prince George's County woman and her baby get the justice they wanted. Police say the man convicted not only led a secret life but was sworn to uphold the law.

Kai Jackson reports.

D.C. vice officer Richmond Phillips was hours away from a paternity hearing in May 2011 brought by his girlfriend, 20-year-old Wynetta Wright.

"The night before their child support case, he called her at 10 o'clock at night, told her meet him at the park. We haven't heard from her since," said a loved one. "She said 'I'm on my way to take Jaylin to meet her father for the first time,' and she was so happy."

Prince George's County police have surveillance video of Phillips meeting Wright at Oxon Run Stream Valley Park. It borders Southeast D.C.

A Prince George's County jury convicted Phillips of shooting and killing Wright in that park and leaving her body in the woods.

His daughter, 11-month-old Jaylin Wright, was left in the car in the sweltering heat and was found dead days later.

Prosecutors say Phillips, who is married, killed Wright and their daughter to avoid child support and to hide his affair.

"That any police officer but a sworn officer was capable of killing a child in this manner was just unbelievable, and it was his own child.  So these facts were unusual, and in my mind these were both babies," said Prince George's County State's Attorney Angela Alsobrooks.

"I want him to get the death penalty because he took my baby and my grandbaby," said Wright's mother.

Phillips will be sentenced in March. He faces the possibility of life without parole.

His attorney says Phillips plans to appeal.

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