Former Florida security guard who shot fiancee 4 times in back guilty of second-degree murder
DAYTONA BEACH FL July 21 2018 — A Port Orange man was found guilty Friday of the lesser charge of second-degree murder after he punched his fiancée hard enough to break her jaw in two places and then shot her four times in the back.
Jamal Kareem Davis had been charged with first-degree murder, which carried a mandatory life in prison without parole. Davis will still face up to life in prison on the second-degree murder conviction when he is sentenced by Circuit Judge Dennis Craig at a later date.
Besides the murder count, the jury which deliberated for about 4½ hours at the S. James Foxman Justice Center, also found Davis guilty of two counts of child neglect, each a third-degree felony punishable by up to five years in prison.
Davis, 37, killed his fiancée Justine Clawson, 24, in their unit at the Victoria Gardens Apartment in Port Orange shortly after she returned from work at the Hair Cuttery about 9:30 p.m. on the night of Aug. 26, 2016.
Davis had been arguing over the custody of his son with Clawson, who had two children, a son with Davis and a daughter with an ex who lived in Louisiana.
Davis said Clawson was considering returning to the ex in Louisiana.
Clawson’s then 2-year-old daughter was in the bedroom when Davis punched and shot the child’s mother. Davis’s 1-year-old son was in the children’s room.
After the killing, Davis took the two children and left them in their car seats outside the closed Manny’s Pizza House off Nova Road in Ormond Beach.
Davis then tried to kill himself by driving his Cadillac CTS into an oak tree.
Davis, who was represented by Richard Zaleski Jr., took the stand during the trial and said he had been in fear for his life when he shot Clawson.
Davis, who had worked as a security guard for five years at The Pavilion in Port Orange, was calm and polite during his testimony.
During the trial, Davis would often be writing on a pad or would sometimes lean over to talk to his attorney.
Davis said the woman had struck him in the past and was bipolar and was still moving after he punched her. He said he did not know he had broken her jaw.
Prosecutors Heatha Trigones and Sarah Thomas told jurors that the only injury Davis suffered the night he killed Clawson was a busted knuckle.
Davis admitted during cross-examination that he told police his hand hurt that night from punching Clawson.
Daytona Beach News Journal
