Post by thinkinkmesa on Sept 8, 2009 18:12:39 GMT -5
25 years later, killer confesses, apologizes
HAMILTON - It took a few minutes to sink in. For the first time, the man who killed Fonsea Butler's mother 25 years ago admitted what he had done. And, he apologized for it.
Butler appeared stunned at first as she sat listening in Butler County Common Pleas Court. She set her jaw and stared.
Later, the tears came, and she made a quick exit from the courtroom where Von Clark Davis was trying to save his own life.
"It was hard to take," Butler said.
Davis, now 62, is undergoing a third hearing to decide if he still deserves the death penalty.
A series of judicial mistakes and subsequent appeals has sent the case back to court. A panel including Judges Andrew Nastoff, Charles Pater and Keith Spaeth will decide whether Davis goes back to Death Row or serves 30 years to life in prison.
Davis gave an unsworn statement from the witness stand on Tuesday.
"I can't begin to imagine the pain and grief I've caused the Butler family with the horrendous loss of their loved one," Davis told the judges.
"It was a senseless act so callous, so cowardly, so unforgivable and it was perpetrated by me, me alone. Truthfully, how does one ask for forgiveness when you've done something so unforgivable not once but twice?"
And, he said he didn't want to die.
Tuesday's court session was the start of what is expected to be a three-day hearing for Davis, who originally was sent to Ohio's Death Row in 1984 for the fatal shooting of Butler's then 27-year-old mother, Suzette.
He killed her only three years after he was paroled in the fatal stabbing of his wife, Ernestine, in 1970. He served 10 years of a 15-year to life sentence for that crime. Ernestine Davis was stabbed 27 times in front of their children.
Flaws in the initial death penalty hearing in the second slaying led to another sentencing hearing in 1989. Again, he received the death penalty.
Then, two years ago, federal judges in Cincinnati decided Davis deserved yet another hearing because a panel of Butler County judges in the 1980s had denied Davis the right to a full-blown mitigation hearing.
The mistake, federal judges said, was that the county judges hadn't allowed defense attorneys to present testimony from prison employees about Davis' good behavior in prison.
Defense attorneys are expected to call 10 more witnesses through Thursday, including Davis' family and friends, psychologists and prison personnel.
Randall Porter, an assistant state public defender who is helping represent Davis, said he will also present testimony from Cynthia Mauser, the head of the Ohio Parole Board, that Davis will never be paroled because of the earlier homicide.
Prosecutors didn't call any witnesses on Tuesday after the judges barred them from presenting any evidence about the how Davis killed his wife and Suzette Butler.
news.cincinnati.com/article/20090908/NEWS0107/909090338/25+years+later++killer+confesses
Comment section follows article.
HAMILTON - It took a few minutes to sink in. For the first time, the man who killed Fonsea Butler's mother 25 years ago admitted what he had done. And, he apologized for it.
Butler appeared stunned at first as she sat listening in Butler County Common Pleas Court. She set her jaw and stared.
Later, the tears came, and she made a quick exit from the courtroom where Von Clark Davis was trying to save his own life.
"It was hard to take," Butler said.
Davis, now 62, is undergoing a third hearing to decide if he still deserves the death penalty.
A series of judicial mistakes and subsequent appeals has sent the case back to court. A panel including Judges Andrew Nastoff, Charles Pater and Keith Spaeth will decide whether Davis goes back to Death Row or serves 30 years to life in prison.
Davis gave an unsworn statement from the witness stand on Tuesday.
"I can't begin to imagine the pain and grief I've caused the Butler family with the horrendous loss of their loved one," Davis told the judges.
"It was a senseless act so callous, so cowardly, so unforgivable and it was perpetrated by me, me alone. Truthfully, how does one ask for forgiveness when you've done something so unforgivable not once but twice?"
And, he said he didn't want to die.
Tuesday's court session was the start of what is expected to be a three-day hearing for Davis, who originally was sent to Ohio's Death Row in 1984 for the fatal shooting of Butler's then 27-year-old mother, Suzette.
He killed her only three years after he was paroled in the fatal stabbing of his wife, Ernestine, in 1970. He served 10 years of a 15-year to life sentence for that crime. Ernestine Davis was stabbed 27 times in front of their children.
Flaws in the initial death penalty hearing in the second slaying led to another sentencing hearing in 1989. Again, he received the death penalty.
Then, two years ago, federal judges in Cincinnati decided Davis deserved yet another hearing because a panel of Butler County judges in the 1980s had denied Davis the right to a full-blown mitigation hearing.
The mistake, federal judges said, was that the county judges hadn't allowed defense attorneys to present testimony from prison employees about Davis' good behavior in prison.
Defense attorneys are expected to call 10 more witnesses through Thursday, including Davis' family and friends, psychologists and prison personnel.
Randall Porter, an assistant state public defender who is helping represent Davis, said he will also present testimony from Cynthia Mauser, the head of the Ohio Parole Board, that Davis will never be paroled because of the earlier homicide.
Prosecutors didn't call any witnesses on Tuesday after the judges barred them from presenting any evidence about the how Davis killed his wife and Suzette Butler.
news.cincinnati.com/article/20090908/NEWS0107/909090338/25+years+later++killer+confesses
Comment section follows article.
