Lawyer pleads innocent

HOT SPRINGS - A Hot Springs lawyer and her brother pleaded innocent to manslaughter Friday morning, more than two years after detectives found a business associate of theirs shot dead on the attorney’s property.

Andrea Davis and her brother, Matthew Davis, appeared in Garland County District Court four days after a special prosecutor issued arrest warrants that accuse the siblings of growing upset with Maxwell Anderson, 34, in a botched methamphetamine deal that ended with Matthew Davis blasting Anderson in the chest at close range with a Smith & Wesson Governor revolver, which can fire .410 shotgun shells.

In the courthouse that sits across the street from her shuttered law practice, Andrea Davis, 36, also pleaded innocent to use of a communication device in the furtherance of a felony in Anderson’s February 2012 killing.

She also pleaded innocent to three counts of theft of property and one count of burglary stemming from a break-in at a Garland County public defender’s home that was reported Jan. 2.

Matthew Davis’ attorney, Little Rock lawyer Bill James, and the court agreed to bail of $25,000 on his charge.

Andrea Davis’ attorney, Jeff Rosenzweig, argued that his client should have the benefit of the same bail amount.

Although her brother lives and works in Alameda, Calif., Andrea Davis lives in Hot Springs, as do her parents and her two children, Rosenzweig argued. Andrea Davis does not present a “flight risk,” he said, and with her law license suspended in February, Davis poses no risk of skipping town to start a new law practice somewhere else.

“I recognize there are more charges on Ms. Davis, but there are differences [between her and her brother],” Rosenzweig said. “Again, she has no place to go.”

Garland County District Judge David Switzer was unconvinced and set the total bail amount for Andrea Davis at $75,000, citing “the sequence of events” of the recent charges that came on the heels of her arrest on two felony counts of theft by receiving.

Both of the Davises were released from the Garland County jail early Friday afternoon

On Feb. 29, 2012, Andrea Davis called 911 and told law enforcement officers that Anderson had attacked her at her 251 Ledgewood Drive home and that her brother defended her and himself.

Deputies reached the home and found Anderson dead outside. They also noted signs of a struggle inside the house.

Accounts from Andrea and Matthew Davis said Anderson, a business associate, had gone to the home and an argument ensued, leading Anderson to attack Andrea Davis with a golf club and later pull a knife on Matthew Davis.

But detectives said they found differences in the siblings’ accounts and conflicting physical evidence, and noted that text-message records indicated that Anderson was killed over a botched drug deal.

Two days before Matthew Davis fatally shot Anderson, who was able to limp outside before collapsing on Andrea Davis’ driveway, Andrea Davis and Anderson texted arrangements for the Davises to buy $1,200 in methamphetamine, according to detectives.

Over the next few days, there was a steady flow of phone calls and vitriolic text messages among the three as the Davises grew more and more concerned that Anderson had ripped them off, detectives said.

“The calls and heated text continue[d] into Wednesday, up until just prior to [Anderson’s] death,” detectives wrote in the affidavit. “In furtherance of that [drug felony], we believe the confrontation at the Davis residence over the drugs and money led to the death of [Anderson].”

A week after Anderson’s death, the man’s girlfriend found an 18.8-gram stash of methamphetamine, valued at about $1,200, hidden in the couple’s locked mailbox, according to detectives.

At Friday’s hearing, Rosenzweig and James both argued that Anderson’s shooting was clearly an act of self-defense, saying Anderson was the real “aggressive” party.

Rosenzweig also questioned whether Andrea Davis could even be charged with manslaughter if she was not the one who did the killing.

“There’s some, I think, significant legal question as to whether you can be an accomplice to a negligent act,” Rosenzweig said.

He also questioned the merits of the Hot Springs police investigation that resulted in Andrea Davis’ burglary and theft-of-property charges.

Court records showed that detectives recovered DNA from a Newport cigarette butt found in the ashtray of Garland County Public Defender Mark Fraiser, who reported Jan. 2 that several guns and other items were missing after someone broke into his home.

Detectives noted that Fraiser was a Marlboro smoker, and the DNA on the Newport butt matched Andrea Davis.

Rosenzweig said Davis was often a guest at Fraiser’s home and that it was natural that her DNA could be found on the property.

More than two years after Andrea Davis and her brother were initially questioned in Anderson’s death, Rosenzweig suggested that “pressures” beyond the facts of the case, whether they came from the community, Anderson’s family or elsewhere, prompted the prosecutor to seek charges that Rosenzweig thinks will be beaten at trial.

“It’s very random when nothing changes. There’s nothing in the [affidavit of arrest] that wasn’t known the day of the incident. There’s been no change,” Rosenzweig said. “I think people get excited about this case, and when there’s excitement, people see what they want to see.”

Multiple calls for comment from the Garland County sheriff’s office over the past week about the two-year investigation have not been returned.

After setting Andrea Davis’ bail for her new criminal charges, Switzer sentenced her to 15 days in jail, as well as $2,000 in fines and fees, after she was found guilty of five counts of contempt of court.

The first count occurred in early 2013, when Andrea Davis did not appear in court as scheduled. Rosenzweig said she missed court that day because it was the same day that Attorney General Dustin McDaniel publicly announced he had been in an “inappropriate” relationship with Davis not long before he ended his gubernatorial campaign.

Rosenzweig said he would appeal Switzer’s guilty verdict by the end of the day Friday.

After a brief discussion in court, Switzer chastised the suspended attorney who regularly appeared in his courtroom.

“I’m really disappointed with having to do this,” Switzer said. “All these years on the bench, and you’re the first lawyer I’ve ever had to hold in contempt. I find it distasteful for me to be in that position.”

Andrea Davis’ next court appearance is set for 9 a.m. April 8. Matthew Davis’ next appearance will be May 6.