Trial postponed in Middletown murder case

Jerry Adams III, 25, of Middletown, who is charged with aggravated murder in the February shooting death of 30-year-old Raymond Davis of Middletown, appears with his attorneys Michael Shanks and Chris Pagan Thursday, July 2, for a hearing in Butler County Common Pleas Judge Keith Spaeth's courtroom in Hamilton.

Staff photo by Greg Lynch Jerry Adams III, 25, of Middletown, who is charged with aggravated murder in the February shooting death of 30-year-old Raymond Davis of Middletown, appears with his attorneys Michael Shanks and Chris Pagan Thursday, July 2, for a hearing in Butler County Common Pleas Judge Keith Spaeth's courtroom in Hamilton.

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By Lauren Pack, Staff Writer 10:30 PM Thursday, July 2, 2009

HAMILTON — Defense attorneys for Jerry Adams III said Thursday, July 2, that new evidence points to another suspect in the murder their client stands accused of committing.

Middletown police say at least two eyewitnesses identified Adams, 25, as the man who shot 30-year-old Raymond Davis of Middletown in February.

But defense attorneys Chris Pagan and Michael Shanks claim a recently discovered 911 tape may implicate someone else.

The introduction of the tape was enough to get Adams a continuance in his aggravated murder trial, which was scheduled to begin July 13 in Butler County Common Pleas Court. The trial has now been rescheduled for Aug. 10.

Adams is accused of shooting Davis on Feb. 10 near 15th Avenue and Vermont Street. Davis died of his wounds early the next day at Atrium Medical Center.

Shanks and Pagan said the continuance will allow them time to explore the new evidence, which prosecutors discovered two weeks ago and then turned over to them.

The 911 tape contains two calls from a female relative of Davis, according to court records.

In the first call, the woman states that Davis had been shot and that she was in the house and didn’t know what happened.

Two minutes later, the woman called 911 again and named a female acquaintance of Davis as the shooter, according to Assistant Prosecutor Brad Burress.

During later questioning by police, Davis’ relative said she saw Davis and the woman talking to each other on the street and just assumed that the woman shot Davis, according to a supplemental motion filed by Burress.

“(The woman) confirmed that she did not see the shooting and that she has no personal knowledge of the shooting,” Burress stated in the motion.

Pagan said after the hearing the 911 tape naming a suspect other than Adams, police went to talk to the woman to “make it better.”

Pagan said Davis was having a argument with a woman just prior to the shooting.

At a hearing last month, Middletown police Detective Rich Bush testified that two witnesses identified Adams as the shooter, including a passenger in the vehicle from which police believe Davis was shot.

Other witnesses said they saw Adams driving that vehicle, a Jeep Cherokee, according to Bush.

The detective said a woman talking with Davis near 15th Avenue and Vermont Street told police she saw the Cherokee circling the area, then the vehicle stopped and Adams waved Davis over before he was shot.

Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2168 or lpack@coxohio.com.

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