A 31-year-old Little Rock man accused of raping a woman in a bloody and disfiguring attack then making her swear on a Bible not to disclose what he'd done to her has been sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Sentencing papers filed on Tuesday show Dejon Claude Davis pleaded guilty to rape in exchange for the 10-year term imposed by Pulaski County Circuit Judge Barry Sims. Under the terms of the plea agreement negotiated by Deputy Prosecutor Katie Hinojosa and Public Defender Bill Simpson, kidnapping and battery charges were dropped in exchange for Davis' plea. Rape is a Class Y felony that carries a potential life sentence.
Davis, diagnosed with bipolar disorder, has been jailed since his June 2019 arrest, two days after Little Rock police were called to a Hot Springs hospital where they found a 31-year-old woman with scratches and cuts to her hands, face and back, including a bite mark on her face that required stitches to close, court filings show.
The woman told investigators that the night before, she'd gone to meet a man at the Spring Valley Apartments, 8701 Interstate 30, in Little Rock to have sex for money.
The woman said he knocked her down, pulled off her pants and raped her while choking her and holding her down. She said she was able to get on top of the man and fight him and that he bit her on the face in the struggle.
The woman said she had a box cutter in her purse but her attacker was able to get it first, putting the blade to her throat. He threatened to kill her and dump her body in the river, she told police.
She told police that after the fight, the man made her swear on a Bible that she wouldn't tell anyone what had happened. The woman said she told the man she was thirsty so he had her drive them to a nearby convenience store where he bought her a drink then had her return him to the apartments and she left. The woman said she went along with him because she was afraid of what he might do otherwise.
She told investigators she'd left behind a pair of gold-hoop earrings and that there was blood on the Bible
The woman said she'd had a prior sex-for-money encounter with the man but she did not know his name because they'd communicated only through a texting phone app.
The woman was able to show police the man's apartment, and then picked Davis' photograph out of a police lineup of possible suspects.
Police got a search warrant and found a Bible with apparent blood on it, gold-colored earrings and blood spatter in the residence, court filings show.
Questioned by police, Davis, who has a prior conviction for robbery, initially denied the accusations until confronted with some of the evidence investigators had collected. Davis said he'd paid the woman for sex and that during the act she'd tried to push him away, complaining that he was hurting her. Davis told police he continued and a struggle broke out with the woman scratching his mouth with her fingernails and he bit her, according to court records.
Investigators further noted that Davis had multiple scratches to his stomach and lower back.
Davis, a father of one, was diagnosed with bipolar disorder by state doctors following a court-order mental examination requested by his lawyer.