Defense attorney Clay Thompson said an undercover male officer was ‘egging on’ his gay male client during a sex sting operation in a Dawsonville park earlier this month. (Photo courtesy Thompson)
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Oct 03, 2008  |  By: DYANA BAGBY  | COMMENTS |   |  

When Shannon Wayne Phillips of Gainesville decided to take a stroll at Thompson Creek Park in Dawsonville, he didn’t know he was going to be the object of a sex sting operation being conducted by the Dawson County Sheriff’s Department.

Phillips, 40, said he simply wanted to take a walk in the park at about 7:30 p.m. on Sept. 4, 2007 when a man approached him and the two struck up a conversation. Gainesville is located about 23 miles west of Dawsonville.

“I went into the park to take a walk and I met someone. We talked for a while and then I walked off. Then he came back up to me, so I asked him if he was gay. And he said he was bisexual,” Phillips said. “We talked, but I had no intention of doing anything with him there. I did want to meet him later. I was coerced by officers, profiled for being a gay man in a park.”

The undercover officer alleged in a police report that Phillips eventually propositioned him for oral sex, for which he was charged with solicitation, and also brushed his leg, resulting in a simple assault charge. Both charges are misdemeanors.

“Phillips wanted Sgt. [Tim] Murdock to walk into the woods as he began to turn away. Phillips grabbed his crotch area twice and deliberately turned and faced Sgt. Murdock while doing both acts,” the report states. “Phillips advised Sgt. Murdock that he wanted to perform oral sex.”

Phillips denied any of that happened, but did say he went into the park bathroom to exchange phone numbers with the officer in hopes of meeting him later.

“I told him I’m gay, I’m open about it, but that I have a grown son and a granddaughter,” Phillips said this week.

‘JURORS MORE SMART THAN IN PAST’

After the undercover officers working together in the park arrested Phillips for alleged solicitation and simple assault, they searched his vehicle and found half a smoked marijuana joint, and he was also charged with a misdemeanor drug possession.

“I’m guilty of that [drug possession for which he is now on probation], but I was not guilty of the other charges,” Phillips said.

So Phillips did what not many men caught in similar circumstances do — he decided to take his case to court and have a jury trial in Dawsonville County State Court.

“I was honest [with the jury] about being gay and the jury heard both sides,” Phillips said.

On Sept. 16, 2008, the jury found Phillips not guilty of solicitation and not guilty of simple assault.

“My guy was straightforward and told the jury he [the officer] was a good looking man and went into the bathroom to make plans to hook up with him later,” said Phillips’ defense attorney Clay Thompson.

“But he had no intention of doing anything at the park. Jurors are more smart than in the past — just because they may not believe in [homosexuality] that doesn’t mean the state can’t meet its burden of proof,” Thompson added. “We reminded the jury he was openly gay. He was very forthright with who he was.”

‘EGGING IT ON’?

Thompson, a former Cobb County prosecutor, said his client simply believed a bisexual man was hitting on him in the park after they carried on a casual conversation about family and even low lake levels caused by the drought. After the undercover officer kept approaching him and told Phillips he was bisexual, Phillips assumed the two could meet later.

“The way the officer was egging him on though … my client was walking away and the officer came up back to him,” said Thompson of Marietta.

“I just have problems with ways officers handle these cases. I told the jurors that if this had been a female saying the same thing [during a casual conversation] — I would love to know if they would have arrested her then … with these cases, they need to enforce against both sexes.”

As a former prosecutor, Thompson said he knows that most men in Phillips’ situation choose not to take their cases to court or testify, instead motivated by shame to plead it out and likely get sentenced to no jail time and probation.

“He’s comfortable with who he is and said from day one he did not want to plead it out,” Thompson added.

However, Phillips did spend four days in jail after he was arrested while awaiting bond.

“He exercised his right to a trial and they totally believed him,” Thompson said of the jury. “I applaud them. I’m tickled they followed the law. It’s ...