Phillip Stewart

A Bowling Green woman who awaits sentencing in a homicide case in which she acknowledged fatally shooting someone with a pellet gun spoke out for the first time about her involvement.

Alison Hargis, 34, appeared Wednesday in Warren District Court for a bench trial to help determine what sentence she will serve for her role in the death of Phillip “Flip” Stewart, 31, of Bowling Green.

Stewart was shot multiple times with a pellet gun on July 24, 2021, outside the Cherry Way apartment where Hargis was then staying.

Stewart was pronounced dead that day at The Medical Center, where doctors found that a pellet lodged in his heart sac caused internal bleeding.

Originally charged with murder, Hargis pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter and elected to have a bench trial for the sentencing phase of her case.

Warren Circuit Judge John Grise heard testimony from Hargis and four other witnesses, including two of Stewart’s surviving relatives.

Hargis’ defense team argued for probation for their client, while the Warren County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office is seeking a 10-year sentence, the maximum Hargis can receive for second-degree manslaughter.

Grise announced at the outset of the hearing that he would present his written findings in anticipation of a final sentencing date, which was set for April 23.

Hargis takes witness stand

Attorney Deidre Bowen of the Department of Public Advocacy had Hargis go through her actions on the morning of the shooting.

Hargis said she was in her apartment when she heard a commotion outside.

Sticking her head out the door, Hargis saw Stewart and his girlfriend, Wendy Medina, in an argument.

“I thought that it was something real serious so I shut the door back and went and grabbed the BB gun,” Hargis said.

Hargis then stepped outside with the gun and warned Stewart not to hit Medina, and fired about five shots at him in what Hargis said was an attempt to “scare him off.”

“I told him he wasn’t going to put his hands on her, and he told me if I wouldn’t stop shooting him with the BB gun he was going to have Ms. Medina whip my (expletive),” Hargis said.

Hargis said she went back into the apartment and locked her door when she saw Stewart advance toward her and she stayed in her apartment to “wait him out,” unsure of whether Stewart was still outside because her door had no peephole and the front window did not offer a good view of the area just outside her doorway.

When she opened the front door, Hargis said Stewart was outside and began putting his weight against the door and his foot in the doorway.

Hargis said she pushed back against her side of the door, reaching at the same time for the pellet gun lying on a table just to her right.

“I stuck (the gun) out the door, not knowing what I was going to hit, and shot it off, then I shut the door and locked it,” Hargis said.

When she stepped outside some time later, Hargis said she saw Stewart lying in the parking lot, which she testified was not out of the ordinary because he was known to lie passed out in the lot on other occasions.

Hargis said a neighbor came to her to ask for a cup of ice water to throw on Stewart to revive him, and Hargis recalled telling Medina that “he’s probably just playing.”

Questioned by Bowen, Hargis acknowledged that she left the apartment without telling the people gathered there what had occurred or her part in it.

“I didn’t think to say anything because at that point I didn’t know what was wrong with him,” Hargis said. “Looking back, I probably should have said something.”

Hargis was arrested the next day by the Bowling Green Police Department.

Cross-examined by Warren County Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Michael Lindsey, Hargis acknowledged having previously shot at mailboxes with her pellet gun and maintained that she shot at Stewart to scare him off after witnessing the argument.

Lindsey pressed Hargis on whether Stewart had threatened to harm Hargis or did anything to provoke her prior to her firing the first several shots from her doorway.

“I was under the assumption that he was doing harm to (Medina),” Hargis said, later adding that she would probably never be able to forgive herself for what happened.

Stewart’s girlfriend testifies

Lindsey called Medina as a witness and asked her about her memories from the morning outside Hargis’ apartment.

Medina, currently in Warren County Regional Jail on unrelated charges, said she and Stewart were homeless at the time and were walking toward Cherry Way after sleeping in a vacant house the previous night.

Medina testified that they were going to one of the apartments in the complex to get some food and that the two got into an argument in the parking lot, during which Stewart threw a ring at her face.

Medina said Stewart then immediately apologized and hugged her, and at some point she saw Hargis at the doorway holding the pellet gun.

“I heard (Stewart) say ‘you better not shoot me with that’ and Hargis say ‘you better not hit her,’ ” Medina said.

Questioned by Lindsey, Medina testified that she did not feel she was in danger from Stewart or in need of someone to protect her from him.

Medina said she went to a neighboring apartment and was speaking with someone when a passerby came along minutes later and notified them that Stewart was lying in the parking lot.

Stewart was found by Medina lying on his stomach with two red dots on the top of his head, Medina said.

“I was trying to grab his face, but I was shaking so bad,” Medina said.

As someone else called police, Medina went into an apartment, testifying that she had warrants out on her.

From there, she messaged Stewart’s sister on Facetime while one of the neighbors ran inside periodically to update Medina on what was happening outside.

Medina denied that Stewart was under the influence of drugs at the time, and said she did not see him use methamphetamine when Bowen brought out the medical examiner’s report showing meth in Stewart’s system at the time of his death.

Medina acknowledged smoking synthetic marijuana the night before the incident.

Lindsey asked Medina if she could see Hargis in the courtroom, and Medina said she did not want to look at her.

During a break in questioning, Medina did address Hargis directly.

“Are you thirsty? Because God says to offer your enemies something to drink if they’re thirsty,” Medina said, prompting Grise to admonish her to just answer the attorneys’ questions.

Stewart’s mother, cousin recall their loved one

Lindsey called two of Stewart’s relatives to testify about the impact of his death on his family.

Both Brandy Stovall, Stewart’s mother, and Janie Harris, a cousin of Stewart’s, testified that Stewart was a talented young student with interests in football and choir, but who struggled in adulthood with mental illness and drugs and alcohol.

Stovall said that one of Stewart’s teachers plied him with alcohol on a class trip, and a bipolar diagnosis also made life difficult for him.

“He told me the drinking and drugs helped the voices stop,” Stovall said during tearful testimony.

Family worked to find help for Stewart, who Stovall and Harris each said was brought up to be well-mannered and who wanted to be a good father to his young son.

“I didn’t experience an angry Phillip. I’ve only experienced the good,” Harris said. “I tried to seek help for him fighting the demons he was going through … Regardless of what we do in life, nobody deserves to die in that capacity. He wanted help and we wanted that, too … but it’s like fighting somebody in a dark room.”

Bowen argued for probation for Hargis, saying that she is thriving in a women’s program at Hope House Ministries, which offers services to people recovering from addiction, and also maintains employment.

Stephanie Ketchey, the director for program living for women at Hope House, testified that Hargis is willing to help others and expresses remorse for the shooting.

“She has never shied away from letting people know what she’s done and how she feels about it,” Ketchey said.

Bowen acknowledged that Hargis should have let someone at the apartment complex know that she had shot Stewart with a pellet gun and he was in need of medical attention before she left the apartment, but maintained that Hargis took necessary action in the moment.

“The deceased was a dangerous man whose conduct was dangerously spiraling,” Bowen said. “She had no intention to harm anyone, death was never even contemplated by Alison.”

Lindsey argued that probation was too lenient a punishment given the serious nature of the offense and that Hargis acted out of “meanness.”

“This was not a rational act that a normal person would engage in,” Lindsey said. “I’m hoping that court will understand that this is an act of violence. No matter what the mechanism of the violence is, we believe that Hargis’ testimony is not consistent with common sense in terms of the perceived danger she felt she was under.”