FAYETTEVILLE -- Judge Joanna Taylor declared a mistrial Thursday morning in the capital murder trial of Mark Edward Chumley.
Christopher Lee Treat, a co-defendant, said in his testimony Chumley is a convicted felon.
Legal lingo
Mistrial is the termination of a trial before its natural conclusion because of a procedural error, statements by a witness, judge or attorney that prejudice a jury, a “hung” jury, or the failure to complete a trial within the time set by the court. A mistrial may be declared by the judge on his own initiative or upon the motion of one of the parties. If a mistrial is declared, the jury is dismissed, and the judge directs that the lawsuit or criminal prosecution be set for trial again, starting from the beginning by selecting a jury.
Source: uslegal.com
Taylor immediately halted proceedings, and the defense moved for a mistrial. Taylor granted the motion, explaining the statement was inadmissible because criminal history is not allowed to be discussed during the guilt phase of a trial.
The state was seeking the death penalty against Chumley.
The judge further explained she could do nothing to erase the taint of the unanticipated statement and mistrial was the only available remedy because of the hypersensitive nature of death penalty cases.
The case has been tentatively reset to Oct. 15.
Chumley, 48, is charged in Washington County Circuit Court with accomplice to capital murder in the killing of Victoria Annabeth Davis, known as Tori, on Aug. 19, 2015. Police said Davis, 24, of 433 S. Hill Ave., was held captive at her home for hours and beaten by her husband, John Christopher Davis, 28, and four others, including Chumley. She died of blunt force trauma.
John Davis pleaded guilty earlier this year to being an accomplice to first-degree murder and was sentenced to 37 years in prison. The other defendants are Christopher Treat, 32; his wife, Desire Amber Treat, 32; and Rebecca Lee Lloyd, 39.
Legal proceedings against the co-defendants also will be delayed because some were expected to testify against Chumley in exchange for plea bargains.
Prosecuting Attorney Matt Durrett said the mistrial after two and a half days of jury selection and several hours of testimony was a "gut punch."
Jury selection was arduous and intense because jurors must be willing to consider the death penalty or life in prison without parole.
"To say this was unfortunate would be a huge understatement, but it was inadvertent -- he didn't know that he couldn't say that -- and unfortunately, these things happen," Durrett said. "A judge in this situation is required to err on the side of caution, and she just didn't feel that instructing the jury to disregard it would solve the problem. She felt she had no choice but to grant a mistrial."
Durrett said the ruling headed off the possibility the case would be overturned on appeal.
"Everything that is done in a case like this, especially if a jury returns a sentence of death, there's going to be extra scrutiny. You're going to have multiple sets of eyes reviewing everything that we do a year from now," Durrett said.
Attorneys on the defense team had no comment on the outcome.
Christopher Treat was testifying about the night Tori Davis was killed when he made the unprompted statement. He said Chumley told him Tori Davis was trying to get him in trouble.
"I was told she was trying to put me back in prison," Treat said. "She was going to tell my parole officer I was hanging out with a convicted felon. I didn't know Mark Chumley was a convicted felon at the time."
Treat told jurors Chumley repeatedly called him and his wife and invited them to a cookout at the Davis home.
"He said you don't want to miss this," Treat said.
When the Treats arrived about 10 p.m. the Davises, Rebecca Lloyd and her three girls and Chumley were on the front porch. After the children went in, things changed, he said. John Davis and Chumley had baseball bats.
"He said he wanted to talk about Tori's snitching," Treat said.
Treat said there were rumors going around that Chumley brought methamphetamine to the Davis home and he improperly touched one of Lloyd's girls. He said Chumley was upset about the rumors and blamed Tori Davis.
Tori Davis dropped her blanket and Chumley hit her with a bat and told her to cover back up, Treat testified.
"We were told if we didn't participate, we'd end up in the same position," Treat said.
The group then began hitting Tori Davis with bats. Treat said it was 20 times or more.
"I hit her in the back," Treat testified. He said he saw others hit her in the knees, sides and elsewhere.
"Pretty much everywhere she could be hit except the face," Treat said. Chumley told them not to hit Tori Davis in the face, even though Chumley jabbed her chin a couple of times with a bat, Treat said.
Treat's testimony ended with his comment about Chumley's criminal record.
Earlier Thursday, John Brooks, who was the crime scene technician for Fayetteville police at the time, described the scene he walked into. Tori Davis' body was on the floor in a small building on the property. She was wearing only a tie-dye T-shirt, and there was a used syringe next to her.
"I could tell there was trauma to her body; it was just apparent. I've never seen anything like that," said Brooks, who worked major crime scenes for 14 years.
Jurors were shown the graphic images Brooks took showing the extent of the bruising, cuts and scrapes on Tori Davis' body. Many of the bruises were long, appearing to mirror the shape of baseball bats, and they covered every part of her body.
Ron Wood can be reached by email at [email protected] or on Twitter @NWARDW.
NW News on 05/04/2018