Billboards Draw Attention to 14 Year Old Murder Case
Posted by Administrator on April 20, 2010
Posted By – Jerry Carnes
Last Updated On: 4/20/2010 8:32:16 PM
ATLANTA — The family of a man convicted of murderer is hoping billboards and a Web site will attract new information about his case.
In 2006, just moments after a Fulton County jury convicted him on murder charges, a defiant Scott Davis made it clear his fight was far from over.
“This process has been unfair to me from the very beginning,” Davis announced to the court.
Now, as Davis serves a life sentence, billboards now stand over Atlanta. They are Scott Davis’ new voice.
“Part of the problem is that he not only believes in his innocence, and they (his family) do as well, but also, he did not get a fair trial,” said Marcia Shein, Davis’ attorney.
Scott Davis’ family has hired a public relations firm. They’ve paid for a Web site and billboards and are offering a $350,000 reward.
They’re looking for evidence that vanished before Scott Davis went to trial.
In 1996, David Coffin was found shot to death in his burned out Buckhead home. Investigators quickly suspected Davis, who was separated from his wife. She and the victim were dating.
It was 10 years before Davis went to trial. By then, evidence including a handgun, a bullet and two gas cans were missing.
“Some of that evidence was referred to in the trial process,” says Shein. “If you’re going to refer to it and he can’t have access to it, that’s an unfair trial.”
District Attorney Paul Howard wouldn’t comment about Davis’ latest effort to win a new trial, but on the day of Davis’ conviction in 2006, Howard was asked about the missing evidence.
“I think the evidence that was lost in fact gave them a huge, huge benefit,” Howard said of Davis’ lawyers.
The State Supreme Court considered the missing evidence when they reviewed the case last year. The court refused to overturn Davis’ conviction, and instead pointed to evidence that Davis had “threatened to kill anyone who had a sexual relationship with his wife.”
The court’s ruling also notes that Davis told investigators “he knew Coffin had been shot. However, at that time, police did not know Coffin had been shot due to the charred condition of his body.”
Although she would not say what it is, Davis’ lawyer says there’s been new evidence uncovered since that ruling. She’s planning to make another attempt at a new trial within the next couple of months.
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