DeFUNIAK SPRINGS — Of about 600 people summoned to the trial of Barry Davis, attorneys have whittled down the final group.
In closed-door interviews with batches of six jurors at a time Tuesday in the Walton County Courthouse, state prosecutors and defense attorneys approached an agreement on the 12 jurors and two alternates who will decide the fate of the 29-year-old Davis. He faces the death penalty if convicted at trial.
Davis was charged Feb. 13, 2013, with first-degree premeditated murder in the deaths of Santa Rosa Beach resident 49-year-old John Hughes and his girlfriend, 41-year-old Heidi Rhodes of Panama City, who were reported missing in May of the prior year. A close acquaintance of Davis told authorities that, after a robbery attempt, she watched as Davis submerged the heads of the incapacitated couple in a bathtub. However, their bodies were never found.
Circuit Judge Kelvin Wells called for the 600 potential jurors, an unusually large number, according to criminal court officials. Opening arguments were expected to take place at some point Wednesday, but juror negotiations continued as Tuesday came to a close.
Davis previously was acquitted in September 2012 of stealing and selling Hughes’ 2008 Corvette. The trial took place months before he was charged with the deaths of Hughes and Rhodes. The defense relied on Davis’ statement to police that Hughes had traveled to Orlando a few hours ahead of him and was present, although hidden, when the sale took place. The transaction took place four days after Hughes and Rhodes were reported missing.
Following the trial, the Sheriff’s Office and State Attorney’s Office decided not to prosecute Davis on a burglary charge stemming from the discovery of many of Hughes’ home furnishings in his possession. Instead, they settled on the painstaking task of developing a murder case against him.
Authorities arrested Davis in February 2013 and labeled him a “cold-blooded, calculated murderer,” said Walton County Sheriff Mike Adkinson. Davis was in the Okaloosa County Jail on drug charges and transferred to the Walton County Jail.
At the time of the arrest, officials announced they had developed a case against Davis with the statements of an eyewitness who was close to him.
Tiffani Steward, identified as Davis’ girlfriend, told deputies that on the way to Hughes’ home for a dinner party Davis said he was going to kidnap Hughes and hold him for ransom. Hughes had been severely injured in a workplace accident and was bringing in about $6,000 a month from an insurance settlement.
Steward told authorities she and Rhodes went to run an errand to buy margarita mix and returned to find Hughes lying on the floor, bleeding and not moving. She said she then watched Davis strangle Rhodes into unconsciousness.
Steward told officers she’d seen Davis tie his incapacitated victims with duct tape and submerge their heads in Hughes’ master bathtub. The two then left the residence and the victims behind, she told officers, but debits from Hughes’ bank account continued after that date.
“The next time Steward saw Davis …” a day or two after the killings, according to an affidavit summarizing Steward’s statement to investigators, “he was dragging a blue tote … to a burn pit. The tote smelled bad and Steward assumed the tote held the bodies of Hughes and Rhodes. Davis told her later that he had cut up the bodies and burned them in the burn pit and scattered the ashes.”
Prosecutors will also likely have the testimony of another of Davis’ acquaintances, who had a Cadillac Escalade belonging to Hughes parked behind his home. Kenneth Ingram, a correctional officer and the homeowner, told investigators that Davis asked him to store the Escalade on his property sometime in June 2012.
The back bench seat was missing and the back carpet had been cut out when it was recovered, according to Davis’ arrest affidavit.
The trial continues Wednesday, and attorneys anticipated opening statements will begin.