Man, 21, to serve 10 years for 2008 shooting in Woodbridge

Stephanie Corporal said her son, Robert Phillips Jr., used to call her every night.

On Sept. 16, 2008, he did not call.

"That night when he didn't call me, I knew something was wrong," Corporal said. "I just knew."

That night, Phillips, 24, was shot and killed in front of the Bayvue apartment complex in Woodbridge.

In July, a jury convicted 21-year-old Ronald Kendell of voluntary manslaughter for Phillips' death and recommended a sentence of 10 years in prison, the maximum allowed by law.

On Friday, Prince William Circuit Court Judge Mary Grace O'Brien affirmed the jury's decision and sentenced Kendell to serve 10 years.

At the sentencing hearing, Phillips' mother and sisters described him as a loving brother and a role model to younger children in his family and in his neighborhood.

"This is my son, he always had a smile on his face," Corporal said. "Robert was well-loved in the community."

Corporal said her son was a youth counselor at the Boys & Girls Club and now she struggles to tell the children there and Phillips' 4-year-old daughter what happened to him.

"They ask when is Robert coming back and I can't deal with it because Robert is not coming back," Corporal said in court Friday.

Phillips' younger sister, Veronica DeCruz, said her brother inspired her to do well in school and dreamed of being a history teacher.

"Now that's not going to happen," she said. "There's not one morning that goes by that I don't wake up and think of my brother."

Prosecutors said Kendell confronted Phillips in front of the apartment complex, the two exchanged words, and then Kendell fired four shots before fleeing the scene.

During Kendell's trial two eyewitnesses said they saw him shoot Phillips.

Phillips died of gunshot wounds to the chest and abdomen, the medical examiner said.

Prosecutors said that after the shooting, Kendell ran to the nearby Marumsco Plaza shopping center, where he dumped a bloodstained T-shirt and a revolver, which police later recovered.

During his trial, Kendell said he was acting in self defense after Phillips pulled out a gun and tried to rob him.

He said he tried to get the gun away from Phillips and, in the struggle, Phillips was shot.

Kendell said he fled the scene because he was afraid the police would shoot him or that Phillips' friends would retaliate against him.

He turned himself in to the police several weeks later, on Oct. 8.

Friday, Kendell maintained that he was only trying to defend himself on the night of the shooting.

"I didn't mean for Robert to lose his life. I was only protecting my life," Kendell said in a letter he read aloud in court. "What would you do if it was you and your life was threatened?"

Kendell also said he was sorry for what happened that night.

"I always play the night over and over in my mind and I wish it didn't happen," he said. "I just want you all to know I didn't mean for this to happen. ... I take full responsibility for my actions."

Staff writer Amanda Stewart can be reached at 703-878-8014.