Quitman double murder trial begins

Published 9:38 pm Monday, December 5, 2005

QUITMAN — Prosecutors painted Freddie Lee Davis as a crack addict who needed money to score a hit. The defense team blasted the state’s case as entirely circumstantial with no physical evidence.

Those were the opening statements in Davis’ double murder trial on Monday. Davis faces two counts of malice murder, two counts of felony murder and two counts of armed robbery in connection with the June 14, 2000 deaths of Bernice Thomas and James Newsome.

The couple were brutally bludgeoned in their Stewart Street residence. Thomas was pronounced dead at the scene, while Newsome lingered two weeks in the hospital before he died. The grisly scene was discovered by Newsome’s then-11 year-old grandson, Japree Miles, who testified Monday.

Newsome and Thomas were dating and lived in the house together. Miles discovered the bodies when he went to check on his grandfather. He found Thomas lying in a pool of blood on the floor of the home, and found his grandfather, gasping for breath, lying on the bed in the master bedroom.

Davis was Thomas’ brother and was visiting Quitman at the time of the murders. He was arrested weeks later in Florida. Defense attorney Charles Wetherington disputed prosecutor’s claims that Davis fled the state and was in hiding.

The jury did not get to hear the most important testimony of the day. Shirley Sloan, Thomas’ daughter, testified outside of the jury’s presence that Thomas told her Davis had visited in the days prior to her murder, asking her for money. Wetherington asked during cross examination why Sloan did not reveal this information during previous interviews and questioned whether Thomas’ mental health — she was a diagnosed schizophrenic — affected her credibility.

Judge Harry Jay Altman II ultimately agreed with Wetherington and ruled Sloan’s testimony inadmissible on the grounds that it was hearsay.

Jury selection and opening statements occupied most of first day. Silent strikes were used to pick the seven man, five woman jury, which split evenly along racial lines.

Southern Circuit Assistant District Attorney Justin Cabral, handling the state’s case — gave jurors a narrative of events and a description of the crime scene. Money was the motive for the slayings, he said, noting that Newsome had won $500 on a scratch-off lottery ticket earlier that week. He described the beatings as savage, noting that Thomas was struck at least nine times, Newsome at least twice.

“When this is over, you’ll know what Japree Miles knows, that the defendant is guilty,” Cabral said.

Wetherington assailed the state’s case as overly reliant on the testimony of unreliable witnesses, several of whom changed their accounts several times during interviews with investigators. He also noted a lack of fingerprints or other forensic evidence tying Davis to the crime scene. Odd, he said, because whoever killed Newsome and Thomas would have been covered in blood, given the close-quarters and splatters at the residence. Additionally, no murder weapon was ever discovered and no one can place Davis around the murder scene, he said.

Wetherington did not dispute robbery as a motive for the slaying, but argued that any number of people could have been responsible. Newsome’s good fortune with the lottery was well known, he said, also noting that it appears the deceased operated a “shot house,” an unlicensed business that sells liquor by the drink.

The trial is expected to last several days.



To contact reporter Bill Roberts, please call 244-3400, ext. 245.