Von Davis

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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.

[guest]

Twice-convicted killer Davis expresses remorse for 1983 slaying

Twice-convicted killer Von Clark Davis took the stand Tuesday, Sept. 8, and admitted murdering his former girlfriend Suzette Butler — expressing remorse to a three-judge panel that will decide his fate 25 years after he was first sentenced to die.

“It was a senseless act, so callous, so cowardly, so unforgiveable and it was perpetrated by me and me alone,” said Davis, now 62, who faces the death penalty.

Fonsea Buter, Suzette’s daughter who was 7 when her mother was killed in 1983, wiped away tears. She said after the first day of Davis’ third sentencing hearing, it was the first time she had heard him admit to the slaying.

Evidence presented at trial showed Davis lured the 24-year-old single mother to the steps outside the American Legion Hall on Central Avenue in Hamilton and shot her in the head several times, killing her two weeks before Christmas 1983. He was on parole at the time for the 1970 murder of his wife, Ernestine, 20, at her Hamilton home.

Following a trial before a three-judge panel in May 1984, Davis was sentenced to die. Four years later, his sentence was overturned by the Ohio Supreme Court, which ruled the trial court should not have considered as aggravating factors the manner in which Davis obtained the gun and ammunition he used.

In 1989, a three-judge panel again sentenced Davis to death. In January 2007, a federal court overturned Davis’ sentence based on the claim that the trial court failed to admit and consider relevant mitigating evidence during the 1989 resentencing.

During questioning by defense attorney Melynda Cook-Reich, Davis said he does not want to die. He offered an apology to Fonsea Butler and her family — and to his own family, whom he said he has shamed.

The defense also called a woman to the stand who traveled from England to testify on behalf of the inmate she has been writing to monthly since the 1990s.

Fran Welland said she began exchanging letters with Davis after seeing a documentary about inmates on death row. “I couldn’t imagine a lonelier place,” Welland said.

The woman showed the judges a box Davis had made for her of match sticks.

“He’s my friend. What started out as a humanitarian gesture turned into a friendship.”

Welland said it would “tear her apart” if the judges again sentenced Davis to death.

Defense attorney Randall Porter, of the state public defender’s office, said during opening statements that a witness from the state parole board will testify based on Davis’ prior record, he will never be paroled, even if given the 30-years-to-life sentence.

The sentencing hearing continues today with six additional defense witnesses, including Davis’ family.

www.oxfordpress.com/news/crime/twice-convicted-killer-davis-expresses-remorse-for-1983-slaying-287465.html

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[thinkinkmesa]

Twice-convicted killer sentenced to die — for a third time

It took a three-judge panel less than 60 minutes to affirm that twice-convicted killer Von Clark Davis, who was first sentenced to die 25 years ago, should return to Ohio’s Death Row.

Butler County Common Pleas Judges Andrew Nastoff, Keith Spaeth and Charles Pater began deliberations about 4 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 10, in the resentencing of Davis, 62, who twice had his death penalty overturned in appeals.

The judges could have sentenced Davis to 30-years-to-life in prison after three days of testimony, but instead chose death.

As Davis was led from the courtroom, he told bailiff Joe Rich to “take care.”

On Tuesday, Davis took the stand and for the first time admitted to killing his former girlfriend, Suzette Butler, in December 1983 in Hamilton.

He offered an apology to Fonsea Butler, Suzette’s daughter, who was 7 at the time of her mother’s death.

When he shot Suzette Butler multiple times in the head, he was on parole for the 1970 stabbing death of his wife, Ernestine, 20, at her Hamilton home.

Prosecutors attempted to call Fonsea Butler as a witness during the trial, but it was disallowed by the judges.

She then wrote a message she hoped to read to Davis after the sentencing, but her request was denied.

Fonsea Butler did get a chance to have her say minutes after the courtroom cleared. She and Davis met in a secured area, according to defense attorney Melynda Cook-Reich.

During that meeting, Davis asked for forgiveness.

“She said she had already forgiven him,” Cook-Reich said. “It was something they both needed.”

Butler said Davis gave her a personal apology during the meeting, which she said was different from the one he gave while testifying to the judges.

“I am really OK,” she said, noting it has been a long journey to reach the point of total forgiveness.

During the sentencing hearing, defense attorneys called witnesses to present mitigating factors to discourage imposition of the death penalty.

Among the considerations raised were his family’s love, a borderline personality disorder, the cost-savings of housing him in the prison’s general population and the likelihood he would never be paroled.

The sentence will now start another round of appeals, according to prosecutors.

www.middletownjournal.com/news/crime/twice-convicted-killer-sentenced-to-die--for-a-third-time-293237.html