A Columbus man came to circuit court Monday prepared to plead guilty to second-degree murder in the 2023 shooting death of his girlfriend.
However, Phillip Shane House was not prepared to admit he actually committed the crime and now faces up to life in prison if convicted at trial.
A grand jury indicted House, 38, for first-degree murder for allegedly shooting Summer Danielle Tennyson, 39, in her bed while she slept June 23, 2023, in her home in Caledonia. The two sons the defendant and victim shared, ages 4 and 5 at the time, were also asleep in the home at the time of the shooting.
After consulting with the victim’s family, 16th Circuit District Attorney Scott Colom agreed to offer House a plea deal for second-degree murder, which would carry a sentence of up to 40 years – as opposed to a life sentence if a jury convicted House of first-degree murder.
Standing with his attorney, public defender Josh Clemons, House attempted to enter his guilty plea Monday morning. As Judge Jim Kitchens asked House questions, the defendant repeatedly confirmed he understood what he was doing.
Then Kitchens asked, “Why are you pleading guilty?”
To that, House pointed to his lack of resources, specifically his inability to pay for things like a private investigator to aid in building his defense. Though, because the court had already declared House indigent and assigned him a public defender, he is not required to pay for his defense.
“My back’s against the wall,” House told the judge.
“Are you guilty of this crime?” Kitchens then asked.
“No sir,” House responded, as Tennyson’s relatives and friends, seated three rows deep on one side of the gallery, looked on in disbelief.
Several began crying.
Assistant District Attorney Ben Lang read a summary of the case the state plans to bring against House, characterizing the defendant’s eight-year relationship with Tennyson as “volatile.”
Tennyson had four children, including two sons with House and two older daughters who did not belong to House. House met the four at the Caledonia YMCA the night of the shooting, Lang said, and an argument related to the daughters ensued. The daughters left the YMCA and stayed the night with friends.
The argument continued over text messages for some time, Lang said, before House drove to Tennyson’s home in Caledonia, shot her once in the head while she was sleeping and returned to his home in Columbus by 3:40 a.m., leaving his sons in the house with their deceased mother. At 5, he texted Tennyson’s mother, “You need to come get the boys now before they wake up,” Lang said.
The state also plans to present that House admitted that he shot Tennyson to his brother, Joseph.
After hearing Lang’s summary, Kitchens asked House, “Did you do that? Did you kill Ms. Tennyson?”
House did not immediately respond, prompting Kitchens to press, “It’s a pretty easy question.”
“No sir, I did not,” House said, and Kitchens rejected the guilty plea.
Jury selection began for the case Monday afternoon and Colom told The Dispatch testimony would begin Tuesday.
“He decided he did not want to admit his guilt,” Colom said. “So, we’re going to prove his guilt.”
Colom also confirmed House’s claims of indigency hampering his defense weren’t legitimate.
“He’s got a public defender who is competent and has tried a bunch of cases. If there was some expert or something he needed, he could have requested that with the court. He didn’t do that.”
Further, Colom said instances like Monday are “rare.”
“Generally speaking, when you’re talking about heinous crimes, like murder, the most difficult thing sometimes for people to do is admit that they are capable of something that heinous,” he said. “And I think doing that in front of people that you know can sometimes be even harder.”
House also faces charges in a separate case for attempting to escape Lowndes County Adult Detention Center in October 2023.
Zack Plair is the managing editor for The Dispatch.
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