Date of birth

January 20, 1958

Race

Black

Date of crime

December 22, 1978

Age at time of crime

20

Victim:

Charles Biebel

Race of victim

White

Age of victim

89

Relationship to defendant

None

Summary of crime

Wheelchair-bound victim shot during the burglary of his home in St. Clair Co.

County where tried

St. Clair

Trial judge

Stephen M. Kernan

Trial attorney

Patrick M. Young

Prosecutor

Clyde L. Kuehn, St. Clair County State's Attorney

Trial by

Jury

Race of jurors

White; 3 Blacks excused by prosecutorial peremptory challenge

Convicted of

Murder

Principal Inculpatory evidence

Confession, recanted before trial, acknowledging participation in home invasion during which crime was committed but attributing actual murder to co-defendant, Richard Holman; testimony of Gregory Mitchell, a self-described "fence" that Davis told him, "We might have something for you later on," and that Holman later the same day sold him the gun stolen from the victim and used to kill the him; evidence of two prior murders of elderly women, Frieda Mueller and Esther Sepmeyer, introduced for purpose of establishing modus operandi; items taken from Sepmeyer home found in Davis's possession.

Principal exculpatory evidence

Testimony of two special agents of the Illinois Division of Criminal Investigation establishing that other persons had been convicted of two murders to which Davis had confessed at the same time he confessed to the Biebel, Mueller, and Sepmeyer murders.

Defendant testimony

None

Jailhouse snitch

None

Accomplice testimony

None (Although during the sentencing phase the jury was shown a video-taped interrogation of Davis during which State's Attorney Clyde L. Kuehn stated that Davis's alleged accomplice, Richard Holman, had implicated Davis in several murders in which Davis allegedly was the trigger man.)

Confession

Yes (recanted before trial)

Eyewitness testimony

None

Forensic testimony

None

Non-forensic expert testimony

None

Evidence of mental illness, retardation, and/or neurological damage

No evidence presented to jury (Out of the jury's presence, defense attorney Young informed Judge Kernan that there was evidence Davis suffered from mental illness, retardation, and brain damage. Young described the evidence as sufficient to show that "the murder was committed while the defendant was under the influence of extreme mental or emotional disturbance, although not such as to constitute a defense to the prosecution." Young said Davis did not want such evidence presented to the jury. Kernan then asked Davis if Young had correctly stated his position, and Davis replied, "That's correct.")

Statutory aggravating factor

Prior murder convictions (murders of John Oertel and Frank Cash)

Sentencing authority

Jury

Mitigating factors

The only evidence in mitigation was the testimony of Davis's wife, Cindy Davis, who testified that her husband never had been violent toward her and that, if he were allowed to live, she would visit him in prison.

Criminal history

Convictions for the murders of John Oertel and Frank Cash in St. Clair County, conviction for attempted murder in St. Clair County, conviction of the murder of Esther Sepmeyer in Madison County.

Date sentenced

December 1980

Age when sentenced

22

Co-defendant

Richard Holman

Disposition of co-defendant's case

Case severed, charges dismissed on state's motion; Holman had been convicted and sentenced to natural life for the Sepmeyer crime.

Appellate history

· Conviction and sentence affirmed by Illinois Supreme Court on February 18, 1983, People v. Davis, 95 Ill.2d 1. (Justice Joseph Goldenhersh voted to affirm the conviction but dissented on the sentence on the ground that there was no evidence that Davis, as opposed to Holman, had been the triggerman. Justice Seymour Simon dissented on both the conviction and the sentence.)

· Petition for post-conviction relief dismissed by St. Clair County Circuit Court Judge Patrick J. Fleming without a hearing, appeal unanimously denied by Illinois Supreme Court on December 21, 1987, People v. Davis, 119 Ill.2d 61. (Justices Simon and Cunningham took no part in decision.)

· Petition for federal writ of habeas corpus denied by U.S. District Court Judge William D. Stiehl, of the Southern District of Illinois, appeal denied by U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit on January 13, 1994, Davis v. Greer, 13 F.3d 1134.

· Petition for rehearing en banc denied by Seventh Circuit on April 13, 1994, Davis v. Greer, 21 F.3d 788. (Judges Kenneth F. Ripple, Richard D. Cudahy, and Ilana Diamond Rovner dissented.)

Appellate counsel

Daniel D. Yuhas, Charles M. Schiedel, Lawrence Bapst, and David Bergschneider, of the Illinois Appellate Defender's Office, on direct appeal; Russell J. Hoover and Julia A. Martin, of Jenner & Block, in petition for post-conviction relief; John D. Shugrue, Russell J. Hoover, Barry Levenstam (argued), and Jannice A. Hornaday, of Jenner & Block, on petition for federal writ of habeas corpus.

Date of execution

May 17, 1995

Age when executed

37

Time lapse (conviction to execution)

14 years, 5 months