Three-minute hearing gives update on murder case

HARTINGTON — The case of a Louisiana man accused of murder continues through Cedar County District Court.

In a three-minute hearing, Judge Bryan Meismer got an update on progress in the case against 21-year-old David Phillips Jr. who is accused of seconddegree murder in the shooting death of 31-year-old Israel Matos-Colon, Fowlerville, Mich.

The shooting occurred March 1 at a U.S. Cellular tower worksite about two miles north of Hartington.

He’s also accused of use of a firearm to commit a felony and possession of a stolen firearm.

Phillips’ lawyer, Todd Lancaster of the Nebraska Commission on Public Advocacy, said he was reviewing discovery in the case with more to come. The Nebraska Attorney General’s Office appeared via videoconferencing for the hearing. Cedar County Attorney Nick Matney is assisting in the prosecution of the case.

Meismer set the next court date for July 24.

In other court news, Steven Sage, 25, Yankton, S.D., has been charged with false reporting and obstructing government operations after he allegedly lied to law enforcement about being suicidal in an attempt to get into drug treatment.

Both Yankton and Cedar county law enforcement responded to the Meridian Bridge when Sage reported he planned to jump off it. When Yankton officials approached him to take him into emergency protective custody he said he lied and told them he was not suicidal.

Sage then told a Cedar County deputy that he wanted to be placed into emergency protective custody in Nebraska because the process time was much quicker than in South Dakota.

One Nebraska inpatient psychiatric unit refused Sage as a patient as he had been hospitalized and released previously. In a signed statement, the provider indicated while hospitalized, Sage became disruptive and threw a chair when he was refused a certain drug.4