People v. Davis

• Decision Date: 03 May 1993
• Docket Number: Docket Nos. 132398,138005
• Citation: 503 N.W.2d 457,199 Mich.App. 502
• Parties: PEOPLE of the State of Michigan, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. David Richard DAVIS, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: Court of Appeal of Michigan — District of US

Page 457

503 N.W.2d 457

199 Mich.App. 502

PEOPLE of the State of Michigan, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. David Richard DAVIS, Defendant-Appellant.

Docket Nos. 132398, 138005.

Court of Appeals of Michigan.

Submitted Jan. 6, 1993, at Lansing.

Decided May 3, 1993, at 9:15 a.m.

Released for Publication July 30, 1993.

Frank J. Kelley, Atty. Gen., Thomas L. Casey, Sol. Gen., and Mark E. Blumer, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the People.

Bleakley & McKeen, P.C. by Thomas H. Bleakley, Detroit, for defendant.

Before MURPHY, P.J., and MICHAEL J. KELLY and WAHLS, JJ.

MURPHY, Presiding Judge.

Defendant was convicted after a jury trial of first-degree murder, M.C.L. § 750.316; M.S.A. § 28.548, and sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole. Defendant appeals from his conviction, and also appeals from the trial court's denial of costs. We affirm defendant's conviction, but reverse the trial court's denial of costs, and remand to the trial court for a determination of costs.

This case arises from the death of Shannon Mohr, defendant's wife. Ms. Mohr died on July 23, 1980, in what initially appeared to be a horseback-riding accident. The facts leading to her death are, to say the least, bizarre. In the mid-1970s, defendant, a former pharmacology student, dated Kay Kendall. During that relationship, defendant told Kendall about a murder committed using succinylcholine (SCH), a muscle relaxant that can result in suffocation if injected. Defendant described the use of SCH to kill someone as the "perfect crime." In 1978, defendant created a false identity, obtaining a Florida driver's license under the name of David Meyer Bell. Defendant then asked Ms. Kendall to marry him. Ms. Kendall decided that she could not marry defendant, and they broke off the relationship in April 1979.

That same month, defendant began an intense relationship with Jeanne Hohman. After approximately one month, the couple discussed marriage. Defendant indicated that the couple could get married in Las Vegas, but Ms. Hohman was reluctant. They again discussed marriage in July 1979, but Ms. Hohman was still undecided.

On August 4, 1979, defendant attended the wedding of Tom and Regina Davis. Before the wedding, defendant asked Tom Davis whether any single women would be attending the wedding. Shannon Mohr, the murder victim, met defendant at the wedding. Unbeknownst to Jeanne Hohman, defendant and Mohr began an intense relationship. Defendant and Ms. Mohr were married in Las Vegas on September 24, 1979. On October 2, 1979, defendant and Ms. Mohr purchased life insurance policies, each with a face value of $110,000 and each person naming the other as the beneficiary. The policies contained double indemnity clauses for accidental death.

Approximately one week before defendant married Shannon Mohr, he told Jeanne Hohman that he could not see her for about one year and that he was doing something dangerous that he could not disclose to her. Defendant told Ms. Hohman that it would appear that he was married, and that she should ignore anything that she read about him in the newspapers. Ms. Hohman believed that defendant was working for the government. About one month later, defendant resumed his relationship with Ms. Hohman without revealing that he had married Ms. Mohr. During this period, defendant told Ms. Hohman that the government would pay him about $250,000 for his secret work. In June 1980, Ms. Hohman asked defendant how much longer the secret government assignment would continue. Defendant indicated that it would continue for three or four more weeks.

After defendant married Ms. Mohr, he purchased two riding horses and kept them at his farm. On July 23, 1980, defendant and Ms. Mohr rode the horses to the home of their neighbors, the Brittons. Defendant did not allow Ms. Mohr's nephew, who was staying at the farm with Ms. Mohr's mother, to accompany them, nor did defendant permit his dogs to accompany them, although the nephew and the dogs usually did so. Defendant also did not allow the Brittons' son to ride with them back to defendant's farm, although the Brittons' son had ridden with them in the past.

After visiting the Brittons, defendant and Ms. Mohr rode through a small wooded area. About twenty-five minutes later, defendant rode swiftly back to the Brittons' farm. Defendant was excited and sweating and had blood on his shirt. Defendant told the Brittons that Mohr had fallen from her horse and was seriously injured and should be taken to the hospital immediately. Defendant and Richard Britton drove to the edge of the wooded area, where Ms. Mohr was lying with her shoes off, her blouse undone, and her skin a bluish-gray color. Ms. Mohr was taken to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

Police investigating the site discovered a half-buried rock covered with blood and Mohr's untied shoes about eight feet from the rock. Ms. Mohr's shoes were given to defendant and have not been located since. Mr. and Mrs. Britton later returned to the accident scene, where they noticed circular bruises on two branches, as though horses had been tied there. They also observed horse manure about seven feet from each branch, further suggesting that horses had been tied there.

Witnesses testified that defendant said that he and Ms. Mohr had been riding through the woods single file when he heard her scream, turned around, and saw her lying on the ground near her horse. Defendant stated that he dragged her to the side of the woods and then rode to the Brittons' house for help. Witnesses further testified that shortly after Ms. Mohr's death, defendant informed them that Ms. Mohr had not had life insurance.

While at the hospital, defendant indicated that Ms. Mohr's body would be cremated. Ms. Mohr's parents objected to cremation and argued with defendant. Mr. Britton persuaded defendant to allow Ms. Mohr's parents to take her body with them when they returned to Ohio. Ms. Mohr's body was temporarily placed in a funeral home in Hudson, Michigan, awaiting transport to a funeral home in Toledo. Ms. Mohr's clothing was removed at the funeral home and apparently has been lost. Ms. Mohr's body was then moved to a funeral home in Toledo and embalmed.

While at the hospital on July 23, 1980, Shannon Mohr's mother noticed scratches on defendant's face and hand. On July 24, 1980, defendant visited Regina Davis, who observed that defendant had straight scratches on his face. Defendant claimed that he received the scratches from tree branches while riding. On July 25, 1980, a funeral director, Roberta Scherting, also observed the scratches and noted that defendant had makeup on his face.

On or about July 29, 1980, defendant and Jeanne Hohman left for Florida. They stopped in Toledo, where defendant dropped her off at a mall, claiming that he had some errands. Defendant then returned some pillows to Shannon Mohr's parents at their home in Toledo and told them that he was going to a desert to think. He did not disclose that Jeanne Hohman was traveling with him. According to Ms. Hohman, defendant did not tell her that he had been married to Shannon Mohr nor did he tell her that she had died in an accident and had been buried a few days earlier, nor did defendant behave as though someone close to him had died. Defendant and Ms. Hohman stayed in Florida one week, after which Ms. Hohman flew back to Michigan.

Ms. Mohr's parents became suspicious about the cause of her death when they reflected on defendant's denial of the existence of her life insurance policy. When the Mohrs learned that defendant was attempting to collect on the $220,000 life insurance policy, they filed an interpleader action in federal court. Defendant defaulted by not appearing in the lawsuit.

On August 25, 1980, Drs. Steven Fazekas and Renata Fazekas performed an autopsy of Ms. Mohr's exhumed body. When Mohr's parents suggested that she died as the result of foul play, the Fazekas instructed the toxicology laboratory at the Medical College of Ohio (MCO) to perform a full-spectrum drug scan. Tissue samples were sent to the toxicology laboratory at MCO. Dr. Robert Forney, Jr., was the Director of Toxicology at the MCO laboratory. The tissue samples were maintained in cold storage awaiting testing instructions. Thomas Carroll, a toxicologist at the laboratory, did a routine toxicology scan on the tissue samples and found a significant peak on the gas chromatograph, but was unable to identify the chemical that produced the peak. Forney and Carroll then sent prepared tissue samples to other laboratories with mass spectrometers, including the Michigan State Police crime laboratory. None of the other laboratories duplicated or identified the peak obtained at MCO. Carroll and Forney continued their analysis and reviewed their results for possible error as a source of the unidentified peak.

Michigan State Police Detective Sergeant Donald Brooks, investigating Ms. Mohr's death, hypothesized that Ms. Mohr had been chemically immobilized before her death. He interviewed several veterinarians who had worked at defendant's farm, and one suggested SCH. In addition, Tori Abrams, Shannon Mohr's cousin, testified that in the summer of 1980, she visited Ms. Mohr at defendant's farm. Ms. Abrams observed ten or twelve syringes banded together in the refrigerator and medicine bottles labeled Anectine, a brand name for SCH, in the freezer.

SCH consists of molecules of acetylcholine (ACH), which is crucial to the chemical reaction between nerve endings and muscle fibers. SCH blocks the chemical reaction, effectively paralyzing voluntary muscle activity and respiratory ability. SCH acts within seconds of intravenous injection, but more slowly with subcutaneous injection. Suffocation would result within approximately five minutes of the injection of the drug.

When Brooks suggested the possibility of SCH to Carroll and Forney, neither was receptive. SCH theoretically should not have produced the...