Jury rejects death penalty, recommends life for Davis

By Deborah Buckhalter

A Jackson County jury on Friday recommended life in prison without the possiblity of parole for Harry James Davis, rejecting the death penalty sought by prosecutor Mark Sim. Davis was found guilty on Thursday of first degree murder in the beating and stabbing death of Peggy Allen Williams.
The penalty phase of the trial began around 1 p.m. Friday. The jury deliberated about 30 minutes before reaching a decision.
Davis will be formally sentenced in about a month.
While Circuit Judge Bill Wright has the final say on the penalty, the jury’s recommendation carries heavy weight. It appears Wright agreed with the 12 jurors. As he dismissed the panel Friday, Wright said, in fact, that his sentence would “Of course be life in prison without the possiblity of parole.”
Davis was convicted of killing Peggy Allen Williams in her Marianna home, in August of 2007. She suffered blunt trauma to her head and body as well as multiple stab wounds, and authorities initially said that the blunt trauma appeared to be the cause of death. However, the last witness sworn in at trial Thursday cleared that up.
Chief Medical Examiner, Dr. Michael Hunter of the 14th Judicial Circuit, said the stab wound to Williams’ carotid artery was likely the ultimate cause of death.
Hunter testified briefly about several graphic photographs that showed stab wounds on Williams’ body, including one that opened some of the tissue of her ear.
Earlier in the three-day trial, jurors saw evidence that suggested Williams also had been beaten with several objects, including a microwave oven, a frying pan and a container similar to a paint can, which still had contents inside. All three of those objects were dented, Sims pointed out to the jury as he built a portrait of Davis as a violent killer.
Toward the goal of obtaining a first degree murder conviction, rather than a lesser charge, Sims drew testimony from Hunter in the trial phase that suggested Williams likely suffered before she died, rather than losing consciousness early on in the attack.
There was little reaction in the courtroom when the trial verdict was announced Thursday, but several members of Williams’ family hugged and cried as they walked down the hall to the elevators and left the second floor of the courthouse.
About the guilty verdict, Williams’ son, Daniel Minton, said, “It eases the pain a little…nothing can bring her back, but it does help.”
Minton declined to comment about the verdict in the penalty phase.
Defense attorney Walter Smith had rested without presenting any testimony in the trial phace, but in the penalty phase brought in expert witnesses. They testified that intelligence tests showed Davis had an intelligence level slightly above mental retardation. The experts also said Davis was mentally ill and one said he’d been prescribed anti-psychotic medications that he refused to take. Smith also called several people who knew Davis and described the man they knew as a gentle, humble, and kind man that they could not imagine having committed this crime.
Jurors also learned that Davis’ mother had a history of mental illness, and an expert testified that genetics can play a role in mental illness.
Several people familiar with the local court system said Thursday that they could not recall a death sentence being handed down in Jackson County since the mid-to-late 1980s.