Lawyer’s surrender lands her in lockup

The Hot Springs lawyer once involved in an “inappropriate” relationship with the state’s attorney general surrendered to authorities Thursday morning, more than two years after her business associate was killed on her property in what investigators say was a botched drug deal.

Accompanied by her attorney, Andrea Davis, 36, appeared at the Garland County sheriff’s office and was arrested and charged with manslaughter in the Feb. 29, 2012, slaying of Maxwell Anderson.

A warrant accusing her and her brother, Matthew Davis, of manslaughter had been issued Monday night by a special prosecutor appointed late last year.

Matthew Davis, who no longer lives in Arkansas, was on his way back to Hot Springs on Thursday to surrender, said Jeff Rosenzweig, Andrea Davis’ attorney.

Upon surrendering Thursday, Andrea Davis also was charged with the use of a communication device in the furtherance of a felony. In court papers, investigators cited several angry text exchanges between the Davises and Anderson regarding a drug transaction.

In a separate matter, she was charged with burglary and theft of property in a break-in of the Chincapin Street home of fellow lawyer and Garland County Public Defender Mark Fraiser. Fraiser reported that burglary Jan. 2 after returning home from a holiday trip.

Rosenzweig said Thursday that Andrea Davis was to remain in the Garland County jail through the night, as a “no bond” was placed on her manslaughter charge.

Calls to the Garland County sheriff’s office were not returned Wednesday or Thursday.

According to affidavits accompanying the warrants, Andrea Davis was the one who called 911 two years ago to report that Anderson had attacked her and that her brother had shot him in self-defense.

When Garland County sheriff’s investigators arrived at her 251 Ledgerwood Road home, they found Anderson’s lifeless body lying in a pool of blood in the driveway.

Anderson’s former business partner, Diane Miller, told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette on Thursday that their publishing business often did work for Andrea Davis and her brother and that the four were very close.

Davis and her brother told investigators that Anderson had agreed to install some security cameras for Matthew Davis but failed to follow through. The two said Anderson subsequently showed up at Andrea Davis’ home while they were both there and that an argument turned physical.

Andrea Davis told detectives that Anderson hit her with a golf club. Her brother told them that Anderson charged at him with a knife.

Matt Davis admitted shooting Anderson in self-defense at close range with his Smith & Wesson Governor revolver, which can fire .410 shotgun shells, according to affidavits. He said he watched as Anderson staggered out of the house, knife in hand, and collapsed on the drive.

Detectives found the knife, according to their reports, but it wasn’t in Anderson’s hand. It was tucked in his belt.

Investigators also found discrepancies in the accounts given by the Davis siblings and found scratches on Anderson’s face that indicated a physical struggle that neither Andrea nor Matthew Davis alluded to during their interviews with detectives.

Analysis of the Davises’ and Anderson’s cellphones told detectives that it was not a failed business deal but a failed drug deal that prompted the deadly argument that day.

According to arrest affidavits, Davis texted Anderson about acquiring $1,200 in “turkey,” slang for methamphetamine, and also asked about picking up some “gravy,” a street name for heroin, as well.

The transaction was set up two days before Anderson was shot, according to detectives, who noted that the next few days of phone records detailed a flurry of calls and angry text messages as Andrea and Matt Davis started to suspect that Anderson, had ripped them off.

“The calls and heated text continue into Wednesday, up until just prior to [Anderson’s] death,” detectives wrote. “In furtherance of that [drug felony], we believe the confrontation at the Davis residence over the drugs and money led to the death of [Anderson].”

Before her arrest Thursday, Andrea Davis had been a practicing criminal-defense lawyer in the Hot Springs area for several years until her license was suspended in February.

The Supreme Court Committee on Professional Conduct issued an emergency suspension, one Davis did not protest, after news that she had been arrested in January and charged with two felony counts of theft by receiving after detectives found stolen cargo trailers and other items on her property.

Before her legal problems, Davis achieved notoriety after a 2012 custody-case filing by her ex-husband accused her of having affairs with several area lawyers, including Attorney General Dustin McDaniel.

In early 2013, McDaniel admitted having had an “inappropriate” relationship with Davis, and not long after, dropped his 2014 gubernatorial bid.

Davis is expected to appear in Garland County District Court at 8:30 a.m. today for her initial hearing.