Davis. 45, took the stand in his own defense, denying his involvement and even being present when Slone was shot twice in the head on June 7 as she lay sleeping on the floor of the house.
“I thank the jury for doing the right thing in this case,” Gmoser said, noting the witnesses in the case were challenging with their own drug issues, as well as the victim. “She lived a lifestyle on the edge, but she did not deserve to be shot in the head while sleeping on the floor.”
Davis is one of two men charged with the 35-year-old’s death. Slone was reported missing and her remains were found in a trash can by searchers on July 1. He was the first to go to trial, and co-defendant Perry Hart also testified against him, along with others in the house where Slone was killed.
Butler County Prosecutor Michael Gmoser told the jury Slone had a drug addiction, lived in a crime-riddled neighborhood and associated with people who had the same lifestyle. One of those people was Davis, who frequented the Yankee Road house or lived nearby in “a wooded homeless area he considered his own.”
Davis spent time in the woods collecting rocks and using chemicals to clean them, according on prosecutors. Investigators detected a smell of decomposition in the area that was Davis’ “domain,” Gmoser told the jury.
Gmoser said Davis arrived at the door on June 7 and was let in by one of two other women. Slone was asleep on the floor in the front room.
“This defendant took out a pistol, an unusual looking one, and fired a bullet into her head,” Gmoser said. Hart was startled by the shot. ”This defendant looked at him with gun-in-hand and said ‘are you with me or are you not?’”
Slone was not dead. She was moaning and agonizing.
Gmoser said that is when Davis told Hart to “take her downstairs and shut her up. Stop her from moaning.” Hart did, shooting the woman again in the head with the same pistol described as having a blue covering and no clip, Gmoser said.
Slone was not heard from again, and all the people in the house scattered, including Hart and Davis.
Loved ones reported Slone missing but it took weeks before her badly decomposed body was found in a large trash can and it took longer for a positive identification.
Prisoners in jail with Davis testified to statements Davis made about using muriatic acid on Slone’s body to degrade the identity and evidence, according to prosecutors. Bottles of the acid were found in his wooded encampment where he said he used it for cleaning rocks.
The defense pointed to the motive of the jailhouse “snitches” as well Hart who wanted to make a deal to “save his behind.”
Defense attorney Brad Kraemer said Davis’ DNA was not on the murder weapon and that only Hart’s DNA was found on the gun that Hart turned over to police.
But Gmoser said the testimony of a forensic scientist at trial said that is not true.
“The only identifiable DNA on the gun was Perry Hart’s. There were two other sources of human DNA different from Hart’s but insufficient to be identified by name and Hart was the last on to touch the gun, Gmoser said.
Judge Kelly Heile set Davis’ sentencing for March 11. He faces life in prison.
Hart is scheduled to be back in court Monday for a pretrial hearing. Gmoser said during the Davis trial he was offered a plea deal of involuntary manslaughter.
Gmoser said during the Davis trial sometimes you have to make a “deal with the devil” stating Hart will have his charge reduced from aggravated murder to involuntary manslaughter. But Gmoser said when he told police about the shooting, he was not under arrest and did not ask for anything.
Credit: Nick Graham
Credit: Nick Graham
About the Author
