FAYETTEVILLE -- A jury took about an hour and a half to find Mark Edward Chumley guilty of capital murder late Friday afternoon for the torture and brutal killing of a Fayetteville woman in 2015.
They'll come back Monday morning to decide whether he will live or die.
Chumley, 49, was charged in Washington County Circuit Court with accomplice to capital murder in the killing of Victoria Annabeth Davis, known as Tori, on Aug. 19, 2015. Police said Davis, 24, of 433 S. Hill Ave., was held captive at her home for hours and beaten by Chumley and others. She died of blunt force trauma but was also raped with a baseball bat and hooked up to a battery charger before she died, according to testimony.
Chumley's first trial in May ended in mistrial. He now faces life in prison without the possibility of parole or the death penalty, the only options available under Arkansas' capital murder statute.
"What happened to Victoria Davis in the early morning hours of Aug 19, 2015, was nothing short of horrific," Prosecutor Matt Durrett told jurors in his closing argument. "This was done with purpose and with intent, with a mean spirit and an evil heart to make someone suffer and to make someone die. He wanted her to die a horrible, excruciating death."
The other defendants are John Christopher Davis, 30, who was Tori's husband; Christopher Treat, 32; his wife, Desire Amber Treat, 32; and Rebecca Lee Lloyd, 39.
Davis pleaded guilty earlier this year to being an accomplice to first-degree murder and was sentenced to 37 years in prison in exchange for his testimony against Chumley. The Treats have been offered plea deals for 35 years, according to prosecutors. Both testified Thursday against Chumley.
"These are not sophisticated people. These are not bright people. These people are easily manipulated," Durrett told jurors. "Mark Chumley was the one running the show; This defendant, he was controlling everything. He was responsible."
Chumley was paranoid and thought he was being set up on drug or child sexual abuse charges and believed Victoria Davis was behind it, according to testimony. Chumley was also angry because he thought Victoria Davis knew about a girl Chumley referred to as a granddaughter being sexually abused on her property and had done nothing about it.
"The motive behind this murder pertains to Mark Chumley. He wanted Tori to feel what he felt. That's the explanation for being raped with a bat and left in that house to die," Durrett told jurors. "He's being set up and the person behind it, in his mind, is Victoria Davis."
Desire Treat described the beating and Chumley's role Thursday.
"We were taking turns," she said. "Mark would say, 'Somebody else hit her.'"
Davis told jurors Thursday that Chumley was the first to hit Tori with a bat. He also said Chmley manipulated and threatened him into participating.
"Mark Chumley told me she was cheating on me with my brother," Davis said. "And, Mark Chumley knows I have an anger problem, the slightest little anything can set me off."
Davis said Chumley told him he would kill him if he tried to stop things and sent him for a battery charger and connected it to Tori Davis' breasts and plugged it in. Later, Chumley ordered the group to take Tori Davis to a small house on the property and shot her up with some substance, Davis said.
Tori Davis' body was locked in that house when police arrived.
Durrett told jurors Friday the state made plea bargain offers to the co-defendants in exchange for their cooperation because Chumley was the ring leader.
"Sometimes we have to cut deals with bad people to get the worst," Durrett said.
Scott Parks, an attorney with Chumley's defense team, told jurors in his closing argument Davis killed his wife and the group then schemed to lay the blame on Chumley.
"Mark Chumley was not there when Chris Davis killed his wife in that little house," Parks said. "Mark had gone to bed and everybody else was out there destroying evidence. Their plan was to pin it all on Mark."
Parks said Davis admitted to the killing in a 911 call the day following the murder. But, prosecutors said Chumley beat John Davis severely then made the 911 call and made Davis confess to police.
Parks also told jurors the Treats had a long-running dispute with Victoria Davis and participated to exact revenge.
"They enjoyed every minute of what they did to Victoria," Parks said.
Parks urged jurors Friday to come back with a second-degree murder verdict for Chumley's role in the killing.
NW News on 10/20/2018