HOUSTON COUNTY, Ala. (WDHN) — An attorney for a Houston County man accused of running over another man in Rehobeth says that his client didn’t intentionally kill the victim. He says in the case there is evidence for manslaughter, but not murder.
Phillip Deal was in the courtroom on Friday for a preliminary hearing charged with the murder of Michael Arriaga earlier this year.
Officers say the two who knew each other got into a verbal argument in front of Arriaga’s child’s mother’s home on Hadden Road in Rehobeth, an argument Deal’s attorney says was started because of text messages Arriaga sent to Deal.
Investigators say Deal was in a relationship with the woman.
The exchange of words escalated into a fight away from the house on the road, where investigators say Deal threw a wooden stick in the direction of Arriaga and then Arriaga ran up to Deal’s SUV and hit it multiple times with an aluminum bat.
Officials say Deal began to drive off before doing a U-turn on the road and running over Arriaga. This impact broke Arriaga’s neck and it later killed him.
After this incident, Deal allegedly went to the home where the argument started and apologized to the woman twice before fleeing the scene.
Deal was later arrested by Houston County deputies and is being held on a bond of $1.5 million at the Houston County Jail.
Deal’s attorney says the $1.5 million bond is too high for his client and it should be no higher than $150,000 because he says the facts and circumstances don’t warrant an over $1 million bond and it should be a case of manslaughter.
The judge in the case says that the car turning around to go towards Arriaga to allegedly hit him shows probable cause for murder, so he bound the case over to a Houston County Grand Jury.
The grand jury will decide whether or not to formally charge Deal.
Deal is also charged with one count of possession of child pornography after investigators say they found a picture of a young girl on his phone. The preliminary hearing in that case has been continued until August.
