CULLMAN – After the jury deliberated for just 1 hour and 47 minutes, Emmett Leroy Davis was this afternoon found guilty of the murder of Helen "June" Collier Mayo. The jury found Davis, 57, of Arab guilty on both counts- intentional murder and felony murder, robbery.
After the verdicts were read, Davis waived his right to a pre-sentencing report (hearing). Davis told the court he did so "to speed up the process for myself and the victim's family."
Judge Martha Williams sentenced Davis to 99 years for each count.
Mayo, who was 87 at the time of her death, was found savagely beaten about the face and head in her home on Fourth Avenue Northeast, where she lived alone, on the morning of Dec. 3, 2012 after managing to call a neighbor for help. She succumbed to complications from her injuries in Jan. 2013 at UAB Hospital in Birmingham.
"It was a long, difficult trial," said Cullman City Police Chief Kenny Culpepper shortly after the verdicts were read. "I am happy with the verdict."
Closing arguments for the case were held this morning, with Cullman County District Attorney C. Wilson Blaylock reminding the jurors of who Mayo was, something that tended to get lost in the long, tedious days of testimony from forensics experts and investigators.
Blaylock said Mayo was a "robust" older woman, who was always in her yard, always baking pies for neighbors and had just the week before the attack prepared the Thanksgiving meal for her family. She was described by friends and neighbors, who testified that she was always tending to her flowers and speaking to anyone who passed her home.
"That's just who she was," Blaylock said. "Then, on the evening of Dec. 2, someone came into her home, forced her to sit in a chair and proceeded to beat her until she was unrecognizable."
Blaylock paused, then approached the defense table, pointed directly at Davis and said, "He did that."
It was an emotional moment, and Davis shook his head in protest.
"But for the brutal, heinous and savage beating at the hands of the defendant, Mrs. Mayo would be with us still," said Blaylock.
When the defense was up, Attorney Greg Johnson presented an exhaustive case for what he called "a botched investigation" by the Cullman Police Department. He countered that the police never looked at any other suspects besides Davis, who he said was a suspect of opportunity and convenience.
He said the CPD investigation was in effect a "training exercise" for investigators who had never worked such an extensive crime scene. He also reminded the jury of typos that were hand-corrected on the DNA analysis forms from the state and of the fact that investigators did not test the grip of the pistol found in Davis' home. Mayo's blood was found on the barrel of the pistol.
Both Davis' and Mayo's blood was found in Mayo's home after the attack, but no blood was found in Davis' car, a fact that the prosecution explained away by saying Davis removed his jacket before he got in his vehicle.
The point that the defense really dwelled on, however, was a statement that Mayo herself supposedly made while at Cullman Regional Medical Center, where she was initially taken. When asked, "Who did this to you, June?" Mayo reportedly answered, "Jim," and then repeated it a second time. The defense maintained that Mayo could have been referring to her neighbor James Marty, but the prosecution claimed that Mayo could have been saying, "him." Or if she did in fact say, "Jim," it could have been because she was calling for him to help her. With the severity of her injuries, it was almost impossible, according to expert testimony, that she would have been able to speak clearly, much less speak at all.
James Marty was called as a rebuttal witness yesterday after the defense rested its case. He testified that he was questioned by police shortly after the incident. He was cleared as a suspect.
Johnson wrapped up his case by saying that "we cannot allow training exercises to ensnare innocent people." He again pointed to what he said were testing errors, the police investigators' lack of training and their refusal to consider other suspects.
Up next was Cullman County Assistant District Attorney Jeff Roberts, who gave the state's final remarks.
In heart-wrenching detail, Roberts spoke of the day of Dec. 2, 2012. Davis had been out and around asking for money from different people that day because he could not pay his rent or car payment. "It was the first of the month," said Roberts. "The time when senior citizens get their checks."
Everyone had turned Davis down.
"By the time he got to Mayo's home at 5:30 p.m., he was desperate," continued Roberts. "He asked her for money, and she said no."
That's when, according to Roberts, Davis lost it and struck Mayo in the face. The state maintained that after Davis struck Mayo, he decided that he had to kill her because she knew who he was, and that, the prosecution argued, was intentional murder, meaning the intent to kill Mayo was formed during the attack. The evidence showed that Mayo was beaten about the face and head with the gun, a heavy glass candleholder and a ceramic violin, the latter two of which were found broken and bloody at the scene of the attack.
"He thought she was dead," said Roberts. "The EMS personnel who first arrived on the scene testified that they thought she was dead when they first saw her."
But Mayo was not dead.
"She regained consciousness and moved to another bedroom, where she laid down," said Roberts. "She woke up again and moved to the room where she was found, probably trying to find a phone."
Roberts vigorously defended the investigators. "There has been absolutely no testimony that the police did their jobs incorrectly," he said firmly.
In closing, Roberts said, "He had intent to kill. Yes, he had intent when he beat her so severely to cause her death so she couldn't ID him."
As the jury was deliberating, Blaylock spoke to The Tribune and said, "I think it went well. We were able to present all of our evidence." When asked if he was surprised that the defense had so aggressively gone after the police investigators, Blaylock responded, "We expected them to use that tactic. It's a common defense tactic to try to discredit the investigation. But, the police in this case did nothing wrong. They did everything right."
After the jury returned the verdicts of guilty and Williams was poised to sentence Davis, she asked him if there was anything he would like to say. He paused for a long moment and then said, "No, ma'am."
CPD Assistant Chief Craig Montgomery said afterward, "I really thought he was going to say something there for a minute. It would have been nice. Maybe it would have given some closure."
For his part, Johnson said, "You're always disappointed (in a guilty verdict) when you put forth your best effort. In cases such as this, an appeal is not out of the ordinary."
