A 26-year-old Little Rock woman was sentenced to five years on probation Tuesday for her role in a fatal encounter between a friend and an acquaintance almost three years ago.
Tiana Latice Davis pleaded guilty to manslaughter, a Class C felony, for the July 2020 attack at the South Hughes Street home of Shannon Martin, 47, of Little Rock, court records show
Davis received the probationary sentence in exchange for her guilty plea to Pulaski County Circuit Judge Leon Johnson. The plea agreement, negotiated by deputy prosecutor Whitney Ohlhausen and defense attorney Ron Davis, involved dropping a misdemeanor battery charge and the most serious charge against her, Class B felony residential burglary.
According to police reports, Martin shot and killed 25-year-old Omnii Grace Miller of Little Rock, after Miller and Davis, along with unidentified others, showed up at Martin's home as part of a feud with Martin's daughter.
Martin called 911 to report that a group of people had driven to the residence to attack her daughter. That call was followed a minute later by Martin who said the group were acquaintances of her daughter's and were trying to damage Martin's car and windows. The dispatcher reported hearing sounds of a disturbance.
Six minutes later, police received a third 911 call reporting that someone had broken through the front door, with Martin next reporting she had shot someone who had come through the door.
Police arrived to find the front door broken and Miller dead in the living room. Police found a bullet and shell casing on the living room floor and seized a blue pistol from the kitchen. Officers brought everyone at the scene, Davis, Martin and Martin's daughter, 29-year-old Priscilla Alexis Brown, in for questioning. Davis, who had never been in serious trouble with the law before, was arrested that same night and spent two days in jail before posting $150,000 bond.
Davis told police that she had driven Miller to the residence, with Miller's sister following in another car. She said Brown had invited them inside until Miller and Brown started arguing, which led to a fistfight outside between the women. Davis said she and Miller then left the area.
Davis said she realized she'd left her phone at the Martin home so she and Miller drove back to get it. Miller went into the house while she stayed in the car, Davis said, telling police she next heard fighting. She said she went inside but ran out when Martin shot Miller, with Davis describing how she waited down the street for police to arrive.
Davis said she didn't know whether Miller had broken through the front door. The interview with police ended when Davis said she wanted to talk to her lawyer, then declined to answer more questions at the advice of counsel.
Brown told police that she and Miller had been friends and that Miller had come to the house to hang out, bringing Davis with her. She said Miller started an argument with her, which led to them fighting outside. The report doesn't state what prompted the discord between the women.
Davis joined the struggle to help Miller, Brown said, telling police she was able to get back inside as her mom came out and stopped the fighting. Miller and Davis banged on the doors and windows for a bit before leaving the property, Brown said, telling police she and her mother had called 911 to report the fight.
A few minutes later, Miller and Davis came back, beating on the front door to get Davis' phone back, Brown said. The door broke open with Miller and Davis entering the residence, Brown told police, stating that Davis was reaching and grabbing at her. Brown said her children, a toddler and an infant, were in the house when the women forced their way in.
Brown said her mother then came out of the back bedroom and shot Miller, with Davis fleeing the home. Brown said she and her mother called 911 and then tried to help Miller.
Martin, who was cleared of wrongdoing for the shooting, told police Davis and Miller had come to the house that night to see her daughter, used the bathroom, then they and Brown stepped outside. Martin said she heard screaming and looked out to see her daughter being attacked by Miller and Davis, along with a third person. Martin said she got her daughter inside but the other women went to bang on her doors and windows before leaving. After they left, Martin said she went outside and found a cellphone, which she carried back into the home.
A short while later, someone started beating on her front door, Martin said. Worried for her grandchildren's safety, Martin said she called out to the assailants, warning that she'd shoot them if they came inside.
Martin said that when she heard the door start to break, she got her gun and returned to the living room as a commotion broke out, telling police she found her daughter being attacked by several women, Miller and Davis among them. She said she opened fire, shooting twice at most, and hit Miller, with the other women fleeing at the gunfire. Martin said she next called 911 and then tried to render aid to Miller, leaving her gun in the kitchen.
Martin turned over outside security videos from the home that showed Miller and Davis arriving at the residence along with a third woman and substantially confirming Martin and her daughter's version of events, although the shooting inside the residence was not recorded. The 911 calls also supported Martin and her daughter's accounts, with Martin telling dispatchers that she had to shoot an "Audrey Miller " who had come into Martin's home. Her daughter's 911 call also describes Martin shooting Omnii Miller, according to police reports.
Miller's 26-year-old sister, Tierra Cashmere Ryan Bento, told police that her sister had asked her to meet at the Martin home, stating she arrived separately and that she was outside in her own car and saw a fistfight break out between Miller and Brown in front of the house. Bento said she didn't know who started it but that she tried to break it up.
After the fight, she left but then went back to the residence, telling investigators that when she arrived she heard a neighbor yelling that someone had been shot. Bento said she got out of her car and found Davis in the yard who told her that someone had fired a gun.
Bento said she asked to go inside and get her sister but then saw Martin in the doorway with a firearm so she left to go tell her mother what had happened.
Miller and Bento's mother, 54-year-old Christian Zeigler, questioned why Martin would ever be afraid of her daughter, telling investigators the families had known each other for about 20 years. Zeigler said Miller and Brown had been in fights several times before.