Jury recommends life sentence without parole in Brice Rhodes triple murder case

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) - After being found guilty of all charges, a jury returned a recommended sentence of life without parole for all three murders in the case of Brice Rhodes.

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After four days of testimony, jury deliberations began at 5:45 p.m. Monday and their decision came in just hours later at 9:30. Jurors found Rhodes guilty of all three murders, tampering with evidence, and two counts of abuse of a corpse.

Rhodes is convicted of killing Christoper Jones with teenage brothers Maurice Gordon and Larry Ordway, and then killing the two teens to silence them after they began discussing what had happened with their mother.

Gordon and Ordway’s bodies were stabbed more than a dozen times each and then were burned before being dumped behind an abandoned house.

The murders took place in 2016. As part of Rhodes’ trial, co-defendants Jecorey Taylor and Anjuan Carter testified against him as part of their plea agreements with prosecutors.

Carter told jurors Rhodes took a vote on whether Gordon and Ordway should die. Taylor told jurors Rhodes made him and others present stab the two teens.

Defense attorneys told jurors police focused in on Rhodes without evidence. The biggest gap in the evidence they focused on was the lack of a backseat from Rhodes’ car. Police testified in court several times they had found it, but said in this trial that turned out not to be the case and had been a misunderstanding.

The defense rested its case Monday without calling any witnesses or having Rhodes testify on his own behalf. He has remained silent during the trial.

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