A San Bernardino County murder case against a Twentynine Palms man collapsed this month after the county's own autopsy report came back unable to determine how his wife died. Isaac Matthew Angel, 34, pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter on September 1 and was sentenced to three years in county prison, with credit for 344 days already served, in the death of 34-year-old Jessica Nicole Phillips.
Phillips was found dead in the garage of the couple's home on the 74900 block of Aladdin Drive in Twentynine Palms on March 13, according to KESQ. She was pronounced dead at the scene. Angel and Phillips were common-law spouses who shared two young children, and per SBCSentinel, those children were found unharmed but unsupervised inside the home when deputies arrived.
The case began with an unrelated call. San Bernardino County Sheriff's deputies were dispatched at 8:03 a.m. that day to a fire station on the 6500 block of Adobe Road after an abandoned Toyota Tacoma was reported blocking an emergency gate, the same account notes. That vehicle check, KESQ reports, is what eventually led investigators to the Aladdin Drive residence.
A Two-Hour Search Ends With an Arrest
Deputies located Angel on foot near the intersection of Sunrise Drive and Araby Avenue nearly two hours after the initial vehicle check, according to the same report. He was questioned by homicide detectives and formally booked into West Valley Detention Center at 5:30 p.m. that day on suspicion of murder, per the SBCSentinel account. The San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department said at the time that detectives had determined Angel was responsible for Phillips' death, KESQ reports.
The death investigation was handled by the sheriff's Specialized Investigations Division – Homicide Detail under case number DR# 202600360, with Detective Ryan Grissom and Sergeant Bryan Sprague assigned, according to Sierra Sun Times. Angel initially pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder at his arraignment and was held without bail at West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga, the outlet reported.
Inconclusive Autopsy Sinks the Murder Case
Four months after murder charges were filed, an autopsy protocol report determined Phillips' cause of death was undetermined and unknown following toxicological and histological examinations, according to a statement by Supervising Deputy District Attorney Douglas Poston reported by Z107.7 FM. Poston acknowledged that those inconclusive findings severely impacted the prosecution's ability to prove murder, ultimately resulting in the plea deal for involuntary manslaughter, the station reported in September.
Angel entered his guilty plea during a pre-preliminary hearing before Judge Sarah Oliver at the San Bernardino Superior Court in Joshua Tree. Poston represented the prosecution while Public Defender Dan Messner represented Angel throughout the court appearances, Z107.7 FM reported.
What the Reduced Charge Means Under State Law
The gap between the original charge and the final conviction is stark. A second-degree murder conviction under California Penal Code Section 187 carries a mandatory sentence of 15 years to life in state prison, according to a comparison published by the San Diego Criminal Attorneys blog. Involuntary manslaughter under Penal Code 192(b), by contrast, carries a maximum term of four years and does not qualify as a strike under California's Three Strikes Law.
Involuntary manslaughter is defined under Penal Code Sections 192(b) and 193(b) as an unintentional killing resulting from criminal negligence or a non-felony unlawful act, carrying a statutory sentencing triad of two, three, or four years, according to Power Trial Lawyers. Angel received the middle term of three years, with his 344 days of credit for time served substantially reducing the time he has left to serve.
What specific negligent act underpinned the manslaughter plea, despite the autopsy's inconclusive findings, has not been detailed in available court statements. The current custody and welfare arrangements for Phillips and Angel's two children also remain unclear from public records.
