Youth to Be Tried as Adult in Slaying

Florida officials said they plan to try a 14-year-old boy as an adult in the slaying of a Jacksonville girl, 8, whose body was found last week hidden under the boy’s water bed. State Atty. Harry Shorstein said he will ask a grand jury on Thursday to indict Joshua Phillips on a first-degree murder charge for the death of his neighbor, Maddie Clifton. If convicted as an adult, Joshua faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. If convicted as a juvenile, he would be released when he turns 19. Maddie’s body was found a week after she vanished while playing near her home. An autopsy showed she died as a result of being hit in the head with a baseball bat and being stabbed 11 times.