Friday, October 27, 2000
Friday, October 27, 2000 |
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Armed robbery sentence reversed
By JOHN
MUNFORD
The Georgia Supreme Court has reversed a ruling from the Georgia Court of Appeals regarding a man convicted for armed robbery in Fayette Superior Court in 1997. The Supreme Court ruled that Superior Court Judge Johnnie Caldwell should not have sentenced Tommie Coleman Davis to life in prison without parole for the armed robbery of a residence on Wagon Wheel Way in unincorporated Fayette County. The ruling will eventually lead to a resentencing for Davis with a maximum penalty of life in prison with the possibility of parole. Georgia law calls for persons committing a second "serious violent felony" to be sentenced to life in prison without parole, as Davis was sentenced. At the time, Caldwell ruled that Davis was convicted in 1991 for armed robbery in DeKalb County. He had pled guilty under the first offender act, however, meaning that he could serve time on probation and the conviction would eventually be wiped off his record. The Supreme Court pointed out that Davis' first offender status had not been revoked when he was convicted of armed robbery in Fayette County. Thus, it was not considered a "conviction." "Revocation of the first offender probation status is necessary to constitute a conviction ... and that did not occur here," the opinion said. The recent Supreme Court ruling will eventually require that Caldwell resentence Davis to a regular life sentence or a shorter length of time, said Davis's attorney Lloyd W. Walker. Walker said the court of appeals had upheld Caldwell's sentence, but the Supreme Court justices thought differently. First offender status allows a person with a clean criminal record to be placed on probation for certain types of crimes. The Supreme Court's opinion on the case was unanimous. In 1997, Davis was convicted by a jury of armed robbery and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime. According to police reports, Davis and two others stole the van and several items from the residence on Wagon Wheel Way and Davis had in his possession a .380 caliber handgun during the offense, which witnesses testified that he pointed at the victims.
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