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Twice-convicted killer gets new hearing this week

Von Clark Davis

Convicted killer seeks to avoid death penalty

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By Lauren Pack, Staff Writer Updated 7:01 AM Monday, May 11, 2009

HAMILTON — In December 1970, Von Clark Davis was a 24-year-old father of three children who was estranged from his wife. The day before New Year’s Eve, Davis stabbed his young wife, Ernestine, then called Hamilton police to report the crime. He said he would be waiting for them, according to police and court records.

Davis pleaded guilty to second-degree murder for the slaying and spent 10 years in prison for brutal death of the 19-year-old woman. When he was released, Davis returned to Hamilton, where he had once worked for the city and a home to his family.

Just a few years later, Davis again killed, shooting his former girlfriend, Suzette Butler, in the head on Dec. 12, 1983.

At trial, Davis claimed a drug dealer from Kentucky killed Butler, but evidence showed he plotted her fatal shooting.

That time when convicted by a three-judge panel in 1984, Davis was sent to death row. Twice judicial panels have sentenced Davis to death. Twice legal arguments have overturned the sentence.

This week, Davis, now 62, will get a third chance to avoid death.

A three-day mitigation hearing is scheduled for Davis in Butler County Common Pleas Judge Andrew Nastoff’s courtroom. Nastoff, Judge Charles Pater and Judge Keith Spaeth will make up the panel this time.

Davis, who was transported from Lucasville to the Butler County Jail Wednesday, May 6, will be defended by Middletown attorney Melynda Cook-Reich and Randall Porter, an assistant state public defender.

Cook-Reich declined comment about who will testify and what mitigating evidence will be presented in an attempt to get Davis a life option.

Butler’s daughter, Fonsea Butler, now 34, will be in attendance and wants to make sure Davis never has a chance to destroy another life.

While she said she is not bitter, Butler does not believe Davis should be released from prison.

As a young girl, Butler remembers meeting Davis.

“I remember meeting him and saying ‘I don’t like you,’ and my mother getting after me for being disrespectful,” she said, noting she did not spend much time around Davis.

But one memory that will be forever with her stemmed around an argument between Davis and her mother.

“They were arguing and he said (expletive) do you know I will kill you,” Butler said. “I will never for get that.”

Prison records show Davis is a model inmate; others say he has mellowed with age, but Butler said that is all a front.

“He has a conniving personality. He is a mouthpiece that can charm a snake then turn to show his other side,” she said.

Butler said she believes everything happens for a reason and that God has a plan, but she feels cheated out of a life with her mother. She wishes she could have known her grandson.

“She lived life to the fullest while she was here. She was a vibrant woman who saw the good in everyone,” Butler said, adding her mother also had a feisty streak.

“She was a hoot and she wasn’t afraid to speak up. I guess I’m like her,” she said.

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

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