Man indicted for murder in fatal Edge District stabbing

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC) - A Memphis man was indicted on charges a year after he was accused of killing a man in the Edge District.

Antwon Freeman faces charges of aggravated assault and second-degree murder stemming from an attack in December 2022.

According to the police report, the incident started when a man and his wife were walking down Monroe Avenue after deciding to stop at High Cotton Brewery.

That’s when, police say, the man was hit in the head with a cinder block in an unprovoked attack.

The suspect was then seen running down Monroe. Two men who witnessed the attack followed him to a nearby construction site.

The two spotted the suspect near a vacant building.

One of the witnesses, later identified as Phil Godwin, followed the suspect into a vacant building while the other flagged down police officers.

Police say Freeman’s hands were covered in blood and he had a long kitchen knife under his shirt.

Officers then checked the vacant building for Godwin and found him unresponsive with several stab wounds.

He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Freeman’s attorney Blake Ballin argued the act was in self-defense.

“Just because you may have initiated something for which somebody is trying to send you or stop you, you still are entitled to defend yourself if you are in fear of death or serious bodily injury,” Ballin said.

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