Commonwealth's Attorney seeks death penalty against McMahan
The death penalty may be on the table for a Tennessee man accused of killing a local grandmother last fall.
Bradley Allan McMahan, 35, of Louisville, Tenn., is charged with Murder and first-degree Burglary in connection to the death of 59-year-old Johnnie Faye Davis, whose body was discovered inside her Eubank home the morning of November 1.
In a pretrial conference on Thursday, Commonwealth's Attorney Eddy Montgomery advised Pulaski Circuit Judge David Tapp that he would soon be filing a capital notice in the case. Though McMahan was officially represented by public defender Kerri Hicks, DPA (Department of Public Advocacy) Capital Trials Manager Teresa Whitaker was also on hand to advise that her office had received the case and she would be soon be assigning an attorney with her office to represent McMahan.
Court records indicate that Montgomery filed notice Monday that his office would be seeking the death penalty against McMahan amid aggravating circumstances. In Kentucky, death penalty consideration is generally reserved for murder cases in which the homicide occurs during the commission of another violent crime or where the accused has a prior murder conviction.
According to preliminary hearing testimony last fall from Detective John Hutchinson of the Pulaski County Sheriff's Office, authorities responded to the scene on Goodhope Church Road around 6:43 a.m. on November 1. Once inside the home, the officers found Davis lying unresponsive in the foyer -- with blood covering her face from what turned out to be a broken nose and the electric cord from a nearby oscillating fan wrapped around her neck.
Davis lived with her two grandchildren, who had been getting ready for school when the assault began. Det. Hutchinson said Davis' 11-year-old grandson recognized the assailant as his mother's ex-boyfriend. The boy reportedly ran to the bedroom of his 15-year-old sister, where together they barricaded the door and left the home through the bedroom window to seek help at a neighbor's house.
McMahan was located later that afternoon by Somerset Police Department at the Dollar General on East Mt. Vernon Street. Once in custody, the suspect allegedly admitted that he strangled Davis but claimed that "she came at him with a knife and it was self defense."
Preliminary autopsy results were consistent with Davis dying from strangulation. Det. Hutchinson also testified that blood evidence taken from the home and McMahan's truck, as well his clothing, have been sent to the Kentucky State Police lab for testing.
On Thursday, the prosecution noted that those results could take three to four months to come in. Judge Tapp said he would issue an order to expedite the results, then asked Montgomery to meet with whomever McMahan's new attorney will be to determine the case's status before the next pretrial conference. That hearing has been scheduled for May 17.
McMahan remains lodged at the Pulaski County Detention Center in lieu of a $1 million cash bond.
http://www.journal-times.com/kentuck...omV0OUOlP7ZLgQ
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