HOUSTON COUNTY, Ala. (WDHN) — Carla Harrell was in shock when she said the man accused of killing her daughter smiled as he pleaded not guilty to the murder.

“I just couldn’t believe he was sitting there smiling after he had done that to my child,” Brittany Phillips’ mother, Carla Harrell said.

Harrell is the mother of Brittany Phillips.

Phillips was killed last July.

The Houston County Sheriff’s Office says Philips was giving someone a ride home from a party and was followed by Benjamin Adam Nowell, who hit Phillips; car to get her to stop on Knowles Road and then shot her in the head.

Then after nearly 11 and a half hours of searching through Houston and Henry County. Nowell was captured and charged with capital murder. At the time of his arrest. Nowell was on work release for theft and drug charges.

“I want him to go to prison for the rest of his life or the death penalty,” Harrell said.

Phillips and Nowell dated for 14 months, when they broke up, Harrell says Phillips got a restraining order against Nowell, but Harrell says that didn’t make a difference.

“He stalked her,” Harrell said. “She couldn’t go see her kids. She couldn’t come to see me without being scared that he would come to find her.”

Phillips left behind 3 children. Two boys and a girl.

Harrell says the boys are coping with the loss of their mother, but the daughter is having a tough time with the loss.

“She goes outside and looks up at the sky and says, “Mommy I miss you so much. Mommy, you are in heaven Mommy. I miss you so much,”‘ Harrell said.

Nowell’s jury trial is set to begin on May 22nd of this year, where the family hopes to get justice for their loved one, who was loved by everyone she met.

“She was a loving person,” Harrell said. “She loved everybody and everybody loved her.”

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