A 35-year-old former Little Rock man who killed his wife’s cousin was cleared of wrongdoing Thursday after a three-day trial.
Edward Charles Lee was charged with first-degree murder, but a Pulaski County jury found he acted with justification when he fatally shot 22-year-old Tonio Dushun Davis in October 2012.
Lee testified at trial this week that a gun-wielding and angry Davis had backed him into a doorway during an encounter on the front porch of a relative’s Pulaski County home, leaving him no choice but to fire his own pistol in self-defense.
“He had no choice but to save his own life,” defense attorney Lou Marczuk said in closing arguments, telling jurors that his client had been “trapped” by the younger man.
The eight women and five men deliberated about 4½ hours before delivering the acquittal verdict to Circuit Judge Leon Johnson. They had the option of considering the lesser charges of second-degree murder or manslaughter.
Marczuk told jurors Davis’ family had tried to deny his propensity for violence, particularly when he was drinking, by lying on the witness stand.
One questionable claim was in the testimony of Richard White, who said that Davis had admonished Lee for shooting him, the attorney told jurors. That assertion was contradicted by medical evidence that showed Davis didn’t have time to speak because he died almost instantly, Marczuk said.
He said the family had also tried to cover up that Davis was armed that night, pointing to testimony from Lee’s 10-yearold stepson, Jeffrey Hill, about a conversation he had overheard the morning after the shooting.
“None of us would buy a used car from them, and if you wouldn’t buy a used car from them … how can you convict this man of homicide?” Marczuk said.
He said the best evidence of Davis’ viciousness was a surgical scar on Lee’s right ankle that Davis had broken two years before the shooting, the attorney said. Marczuk had Lee take off his right shoe to show the healed wound to jurors.
Lee had plenty of reason to be afraid of the younger man, Marczuk told jurors. On that night, he had no way to escape from the porch as Davis walked up the stairs toward him, the attorney said, deriding prosecution claims Lee could have just walked away from Davis.
“What’s [Lee] supposed to do?” Marczuk said. “Is he supposed to wait to get shot? Is he supposed to wait to get hurt?”
Davis was shot three times, with bullets piercing his heart and lungs. The two men had been living on Charlene Lane, a dead-end road that’s an enclave of the Turner-Wilson families. Lee had married into the Turner family but now lives in Marianna.
Deputy prosecutor John Hout asked jurors to consider what precipitated the encounter between Davis and Lee - the older man said Davis was angry because Lee had just fired 10 shots in the air to break up an argument between Davis and White.
Is that what a reasonable person would do? Hout asked jurors.
“If Tonio is as bad as they say … does an ordinary, prudent person break that up by firing 10 times in the air?” the prosecutor said. “No, an ordinary, prudent person would calmly walk to their house and telephone police.”
Lee’s story has also changed since the night of the killing, Hout said. Lee went from saying that he didn’t think Davis had a gun, the account he gave deputies, to testifying that he was sure Davis was armed, the prosecutor said.
Lee also told police that he fired because Davis was grasping for Lee’s gun, but he testified that he shot Davis because the younger man was reaching for a pistol, Hout said.
Arkansas, Pages 18 on 02/28/2014