Man Charged In Series Of York County Robberies, Shootings Faces First Trial

Man Charged In Series Of York County Robberies, Shootings Faces First Trial
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POSTED: 6:43 pm EDT September 22, 2008
UPDATED: 6:44 pm EDT September 22, 2008

ROCK HILL, S.C. -- There was a tremendous sigh of relief after the February arrest of 20-year-old Phillip Watts Jr. Watts is charged with seven armed robberies in York County last winter. Four people were shot in those robberies, including two store clerks and two customers in Fort Mill, Rock Hill and York County.

Monday morning, the trial began for Watts, who police said confessed to all seven crimes and gave a detailed statement of how they happened, even telling police he was going to hit a store in the city of York next.

However, on Monday Watts took the stand in a pre-trial hearing and denied ever confessing to anything. He told the judge that he read about the robberies in the paper but didn't know anything about them.

He also claimed that the signature at the bottom of one of the signed police statements wasn't his.

Watts's mother, Valerie Dunham, told Eyewitness News that if her son said he didn't commit those crimes, then she believes him.

"He knows if he did it better than anyone," Dunham said. "He didn't do it. I didn't raise him like that, to tell lies."

Judge John Few asked that a handwriting expert be called in to study the two signatures.

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