phillip greenhowe

Phillip Greenhowe

(Harrisburg police)

Calling his conduct "disgraceful," a Dauphin County judge sentenced Phillip Greenhowe of Harrisburg to life in prison Friday afternoon, moments after Greenhowe pleaded guilty to the brutal murder of his 27-year-old estranged wife.

Greenhowe, 37, who recently told a TV reporter he had committed the slaying, was anything but civil during the court court hearing.

He called his dead wife, Shalamar Greenhowe, a "whore," and insulted two of her relatives as they stood before President Judge Richard A. Lewis giving victim impact statements. At one point, sheriff's deputies closed in around him and Lewis threatened to have Greenhowe removed from the courtroom.

"We can only hope you do develop a conscience and recognize the harm you've caused," Lewis said.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Gettle said Greenhowe killed his wife early on Jan. 9 in a home in the 600 block of Boas Street. Greenhowe choked his wife until she was unconscious and then stabbed her repeatedly, the prosecutor said.

Police officers who went to the house to serve a domestic violence warrant on Greenhowe found Shalamar Greenhowe's body in a bedroom on Jan. 10. "Certainly, there was a history of domestic violence here," Gettle said.

Phillip Greenhowe was arrested several days later in Georgia, where he was apprehended in connection with another stabbing at a homeless shelter.

His progress through the Dauphin County Court system was unusually fast. Most murder cases take a year or more to come to trial.

Greenhowe had not even been formally arraigned before he struck the deal to plead guilty to first-degree murder in return for a life sentence. He also pleaded guilty to assaulting his 12-year-old son during a confrontation that occurred in Swatara Township soon after the slaying.

"He told his son he wanted him to remember him," Gettle said. "He then burned his son's face with a lighted cigarette."

When Lewis gave him a chance to speak, Greenhowe replied, "I have nothing to say."

At that moment, a family member of Shalamar Greenhowe shouted, "Coward!"

Unique Davis, Shalamar Greenhowe's cousin, and her brother, James Williams Jr., both told Lewis they consider the plea agreement to be too lenient. Gettle said it was supported by Shalamar Greenhowe's parents, who did not want her slaying to become a death penalty case.

"I think that the plea agreement is no justice at all," Davis said. "I feel, why use our tax dollars for him to be in prison for life?"

"It wasn't fair when he took her from us and from her kids," she added.

"That's right, you tell him," another relative muttered from the audience. "He's going to burn in Hell."

When Davis criticized him for prior statements he made berating his murdered wife, Greenhowe commenced a mouth battle with her, calling her a derogatory name. She fired back by calling him a "coward." Greenhowe also insulted James Williams Jr. as he spoke to the judge.

Gettle said that perhaps the greatest tragedy of the murder will be its effect on Shalamar Greenhowe's two children, ages 7 and 2.

"Mr. Greenhowe, you have displayed conduct that shows you do not deserve to be on the street," Lewis said as he passed sentence. "Your actions here were cold and calculating, cruel...Even given the opportunity to show some remorse here in the courtroom, you declined that opportunity."

As sheriff's deputies led him from the courtroom in shackles, Greenhowe glared at Shalamar's relatives and exchanged a parting insult with her brother.