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New Trial In Runaway's Slaying Set For Jan. 7

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By DAVID SOMMER, The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 13, 2007

NEW PORT RICHEY - A second attempt to try Phillup Alan Partin on a first-degree murder charge in the July 2002 slaying of a 16-year-old runaway is scheduled to begin Jan. 7, the judge in the case ruled Friday.

Partin, 42, could face the death penalty if a jury convicts him of killing Joshan Ashbrook, whose partially clothed body was found off Shady Hills Road after she had been bound, cut and strangled.

Circuit Judge William R. Webb declared a mistrial Tuesday after untested blood evidence surfaced after four days of prosecution testimony. The judge said the first jury would have to wait too long for proper DNA tests to be run on a blood stain found on the roadway near where Ashbrook's body was lying.
Defense attorneys William Bennett and Bjorn Brunvand said the blood could back up their contention that a friend of Partin's was the real killer.

Partin had been staying at the Port Richey home of longtime friend Fred Kaufman before Ashbrook's death. Her blood was found on the carpet and walls of the room in which Partin was staying. Tracks that matched the tires on his Ford pickup were found near her body.

But tracks that matched the tires on Kaufman's vehicle were found near the unidentified blood stain on Shady Hills Road, Bennett said Friday.

Reporter David Sommer can be reached at (727) 815-1087 or dsommer@tampatrib.com.

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