Davis attorneys raise allegations of police misconduct

By Dave Lieber
Star-Telegram Staff Writer

On the face, these questions raised by attorneys for the Davis estate sound preposterous. Yet if they are true, the 1999 drug raid shooting was a mistake of the gravest nature. Such egregious acts would mean that current and former members of the department could be found guilty of conspiracy, obstruction of justice, perjury and other serious crimes, not the least of them being murder.

But are the allegations true?

The answer may not be known until a trial, which would not come until next year at the earliest. But in no uncertain terms, Hill told me last week, "The man had a gun. The man pointed it directly at me, and it cost him his life."

However, legal motions filed in federal court by attorneys for the Davis estate contain allegations that jump from the pages:

"The placement of a gun into the crime scene by a member or members of the North Richland Hills Police Department, in an effort to make it appear that Troy Davis was armed and dangerous, when he was not, [was done] in order to justify the killing of Troy Davis by defendant Allen Hill, and absolve the NRHPD and its officers from liability."

How could Fort Worth lawyers Jeff Kobs and Mark Haney, representing the estate and seeking millions in damages from the city, make such a bold claim? What evidence do they offer? How strong is their theory?

In its response, the city denies any conspiracy, but does not make a detailed point-by-point refutation. City Attorney George Staples told me, "There is no evidence of a conspiracy. We're not required to address speculation. Without any evidence, there is nothing to address."

Let's examine the allegations the Davis lawyers say are based on what they found when they examined evidence and took depositions in the case of the Estate of Troy Davis v. the City of North Richland Hills.

When Hill led the charge into the house the morning of Dec. 15, 1999, things were not as he expected. In addition to the adjustment from bright sunlight to relative darkness inside, the layout of the house did not match a diagram previously drawn by police. A doorway to the living room was not where Hill thought it would be.

But there wasn't much time. Within seconds of shouting, "Police," Hill fired two shots -- both of which struck Davis, who stood somewhere near the entryway to the living room.

Hill testified that he shot Davis in the entryway, but the lawyers assert that explanation is inconsistent with the physical evidence found in the house and with Davis' bullet wounds.

Shell casings, for example, which should have been ejected back and to the right of Hill at a 20-degree angle, did not eject into the hallway. Instead, one casing was found in the hallway near the entrance of the living room. The other was in the living room.

Shell fragments that passed through Davis' body were also found in the living room. Blood was found in the living room, too.

The lawyers asserted, "All of this evidence, unless defendant Hill was using some kind of magic bullets like you see in children's cartoons that can change direction in midflight and weave their way around obstacles, indicates that Troy Davis was shot while in the living room of the Davis home."

Davis' injuries, the lawyers say, were inconsistent with Hill's version, too. The bullets passed through his body at a downward angle. The living room is a step down from the hallway.

Hill said in testimony that he placed his gun on the couch to tend to Davis. Other officers at the scene said they saw a black handgun on a couch near where Davis fell.

Three hours later, when the crime scene was investigated, a gun said to belong to Davis was found between the cushions of the couch. The lawyers said Davis' fingerprints were not found on the gun.

The crime scene was under the control of Sgt. Andy Wallace. Paramedics removed Davis' body before crime scene investigators arrived. This was a serious error, the lawyers wrote, "because there is a lot of information that the investigators can determine from where a body is located and positioned in relation to other evidence, which might assist in determining how the death occurred."

Police did not maintain a proper log of who entered and left the crime scene, the lawyers say. The log, the lawyers wrote, was undated, unsigned, failed to identify all of the officers who were at the crime scene and what those present were doing.

When the police photographer began taking photos of the crime scene, Wallace ordered him to go outside and take photographs of the exterior, the motion states. Before going outside, the photographer did not take any photos of a gun on the couch.

The lawyers wrote, "Shortly after the killing of Troy Davis, when plaintiff Barbara Davis [Troy's mother] was in custody, handcuffed and taken into the garage of the Davis home, and before she was transported to the NRHPD, she was approached by defendant Wallace. Defendant Wallace was upset and agitated, and he asked her if Troy Davis had access to a gun. Barbara Davis informed defendant Wallace that Troy Davis had a gun, which he kept in his bedroom between the mattress and box springs of his bed."

A sequence of photographs taken at the crime scene show changes were made to Davis' bed. A towel was removed from a bedpost. The position of the mattress, blankets, bed ruffle, pillows and boxes under the bed changed, the lawyers wrote, "which evidences that his bedroom was materially altered during the course of the NRHPD investigation."

After the shooting, Police Chief Tom Shockley and Wallace met at the Davis home. Later, they talked by cellphone. "Both defendant Wallace and Shockley denied any memory of the content of their conversations," the lawyers wrote.

Hill told me that these allegations "sadden me more than they anger me. They are wasting so much energy chasing this for the shock aspect and the lawsuit aspect. They are missing the key issue. They should be looking at why we were there and who and what got the SWAT team to the front door.

"The man had a gun. The man pointed it directly at me and it cost him his life. The question I have is, should we have been there to begin with?"

City Attorney Staples told me that with all the hostilities in the department involving former and current officers, all the involved parties still agree that a gun was seen on the couch by at least three of the officers. One of them, he said, put a couch cushion over the gun to protect it.

He added, "You could theorize that little green men came down. You could theorize that Dave Lieber is a great reporter, but there is no evidence of that. ... Anybody can theorize."

Dave Lieber's column appears Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays.

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(817) 685-3830 dlieber@star-telegram.com

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