Teen Sentenced to Five Years For Killing Popular Salesclerk

A Fort Belvoir teenager, who was 14 when he fatally stabbed a 7-Eleven clerk two years ago, was sentenced yesterday to spend the next five years in juvenile prison.

Sun Ku Kwon, 60, had worked at the convenience store in the Mount Vernon area for almost 28 years and was well known in the neighborhood. He had told neighboring business owners that he planned to retire in the next year.

On Dec. 6, 2004, Rody J. Phillips walked into the store about 5 a.m., wearing camouflage clothes and a backpack full of knives and fake grenades he had just stolen from a Fort Belvoir commissary, authorities said. He lived on the base with his stepfather, a military police officer, and his mother.

Prosecutors said Phillips loitered outside and inside the store at 5638 Mount Vernon Hwy., just off Route 1, until the customers were gone, then stabbed Kwon in the back while Kwon was stocking sandwich shelves. Phillips was arrested a short time later along Route 1.

Prosecutors moved to try Phillips as an adult. In June of this year, Phillips and his attorney, Crystal Meleen, reached a plea agreement with prosecutors. Phillips would plead guilty to first-degree murder and agree to be sentenced as an adult, with prosecutors agreeing to allow him to spend the years until his 21st birthday in juvenile prison.

Fairfax Circuit Court Judge Marcus D. Williams accepted the plea deal yesterday. He imposed a 15-year sentence for murder and 10 years for attempted robbery but suspended all 25 years. Williams will review Phillips's case after two years, and then annually, until Phillips is 21, Meleen said, and the judge can reinstate any or all of his 25-year sentence if he finds Phillips is not fit for rehabilitation in the juvenile system.

Phillips apologized to Kwon's family and his own family during the sentencing hearing. Kwon's family was not present.

Meleen said she thought the sentence was fair: "He was only 14. One of the goals of the criminal justice system is rehabilitation, and it fits with my client."

Phillips had been taking antidepressant medication for a month before the murder, Meleen said, and he told police shortly after his arrest that voices in his head told him to stab someone. "If Rody hadn't been taking the drugs," Meleen said, "this wouldn't have happened. I don't think he saw what was happening to him."