Judge: Rock Hill murder suspect poses ‘great danger’ to witnesses; bond denied

A Rock Hill man accused of killing the father of three children in a jealous rage tried to intimidate witnesses from his jail cell, prosecutors told a judge Thursday.

Circuit Court Judge Lee Alford called Donquavious Davis, 20, a “danger to the community” and denied bond.

Davis, who has convictions dating back to elementary school, prosecutors say, faces charges of murder and burglary and a weapons charge in connection with the June 29 shooting death of Santario McCoy, 24. Davis, who had fathered a child with a woman McCoy was seeing, is accused of hitting McCoy with a pistol and shooting him once in the chest at a home on Baker Street Extension.

From jail, prosecutors said, Davis wrote letters to one of the people he was with that night, the mother of one of his children. “I mean, come on, Baby Mama,” Davis wrote, prosecutors say, in an attempt to get her to not testify that she saw him at the scene of the shooting.

Davis, in jail since he turned himself in after a two-day police manhunt, also wrote letters to witnesses in the case – including McCoy’s mother – to try to keep them from talking, 16th Circuit Deputy Solicitor Willy Thompson said.

McCoy’s mother, Lynette Mullins, told Judge Alford that Davis does not deserve a bond because “he turned our world upside down.”

Davis had fought with McCoy in a previous incident, Thompson said, and he told people he was with, “Oh, hell, no!” when he saw McCoy with the woman.

Davis was with one of at least three girlfriends at the time he confronted McCoy over a different woman, Thompson said. Davis has convictions for shooting someone with a BB gun, drug charges and selling a gun to another person at school. He faces a pending charge of criminal domestic violence involving the woman who was with McCoy when he was shot, Thompson said.

Thompson called Davis “a dangerous man” who clearly had the means to hide from police after the shooting.

Days after the killing, investigators charged Demetrious Graham with accessory after the fact after finding him in possession of what Thompson called the murder weapon. Graham told police he bought the gun from Davis for $40 after the shooting, Thompson said. Graham remains jailed under $80,000 bond.

Deputy assistant public defender Melissa Inzerillo, Davis’ attorney, said Davis is not a flight risk because he willingly turned himself in to police after finding out he was wanted. She also pointed out that the gun was “found in the hands of another person,” not Davis.

“We have our own view of the facts,” Inzerillo told Judge Alford.

Alford disagreed, calling Davis a danger to the community and a flight risk if he were freed on bond. The judge also cited his own concerns about the allegations that Davis contacted witnesses.

Both the murder and burglary charges carry potential sentences of up to life in prison if Davis is convicted. No trial date has been set.

This story was originally published November 13, 2014 at 10:06 AM with the headline "Judge: Rock Hill murder suspect poses ‘great danger’ to witnesses; bond denied."