Missouri v. Davis: 6-year-old dragged to his death
Kim L. Davis faced capital murder for dragging 6-year-old Jake Robel to his death.
(Court TV) — Christy Robel left the keys in the ignition and her 6-year-old son Jake in the backseat of her sport utility vehicle when she parked for a few minutes outside a Independence, Mo., sandwich shop.
Before she could return from ordering food at the the counter less than 25 feet away from where she parked, a man just released from the county jail decided to steal the car because he got tired of waiting for his sister to arrive to drive him home.
When Christy saw Kim L. Davis get into her car, she dashed out of the shop to rescue her son. The scene attracted several horrified witnesses who rushed to Robel's aid. One even tried to get Davis out of the driver's seat before he drove out of the parking lot.
While Christy had managed to grab her son, Davis had already started to speed off before he was completely out of the car — with 40-pound Jake ensnared by the seatbelt.
Oblivious to Christy's screams, Davis took off and made his getaway more than four miles down a highway at 80 miles per hour with Jake tumbling alongside the car like a rag doll.
Other motorists pursued Davis honking and flashing frantically. Ignoring their signals, Davis allegedly pressed on until drivers boxed him in and forcibly removed him from the car. Motorists had stopped hoping to help Jake, but by then all they could do was cover his mangled, lifeless body.
Davis claims that he never knew Jake was in the car, and had no idea that the little boy was being dragged.
But prosecutors say otherwise. Davis was charged with first-degree murder, accused of knowingly causing Jake Robel's death.
Charged with murder, armed criminal action, first-degree and kidnapping, Davis faced the death penalty if convicted by a Kansas City jury.
KIM DAVIS, FAMILY MAN
Davis, 36, is the father of six children, who range in age from less than a year to 18, by three different women. Davis' relatives, including several of his children, appeared in court to support him during the trial.
His family members tried to explain why Davis stole the car that day. Al Adams, Davis' brother-in-law says Davis felt very uncomfortable in Independence, Missouri, a mainly white middle-class suburban city.
Police had just let him out of jail, where he was held for a week on a drug paraphernalia charge, — knowing that his release was a mistake.
There was an outstanding warrant for his arrest in connection with a parole violation, and Davis wanted out of there before the mistake was discovered.
He had already been waiting for several hours for his sister to pick him up, and when he came across Robel's car with the keys in it, "it was an opportunity."
Davis had no money and wanted to get out of town before police discovered their mistake in releasing him. Stealing the car seemed to be a way out, he could always turn it in later when he was on home turf, says Adams.
According to his loved ones, Davis is not the monster the state makes him out to be, claiming Davis has always been supportive and loving toward his family. Davis worked with his brother-in-law who operated a cleaning and maintenance business. His sister Patrice says that he often pitched in to help with her younger daughter, who suffers from sickle-cell anemia, by babysitting and administering medication.
JAKE'S LAW
In the days following Jake's death, grief and outrage spawned activism. Jake's aunt, Susan Robel, and some neighborhood activists lobbied for a law that would require law enforcement officers to check for outstanding warrants before releasing or transferring an inmate.
The effort was inspired by the fact that a records check revealing the outstanding warrant may have kept Kim Davis behind bars.
The proposed law would require that all law enforcement officials conduct warrant checks before releasing or transferring a prisoner. Failure to do so could result in disciplinary action or termination of employment.
The law called "Jake's Law," has been enacted in Missouri and Kansas. A federal law is also being proposed to make it mandatory nationwide.
THE STATE'S CASE
The cornerstone of the state's case, presented by prosecutors Robert Beaird and Joe Marquez, is made up of eyewitness accounts from those who saw the incident at different points, from the parking lot to where Davis was captured.
Their star witness, Christy Robel, says she begged Davis to allow her to take her son out of the car, but that Davis refused, demanding she "get away from the car."
Robel says she fell down but managed to grab her son and hold him against her before being able to rip him away from the car when Davis peeled off.
Eyewitnesses describe the action that follows, from the time Davis gets into the car, to the excruciating moments when Christy Robel tries but fails to retrieve her son, to a high-speed pursuit down the highway, and finally concluding with citizens detaining Davis at a busy intersection.
Those at the scene describe Robel's frantic efforts to retrieve her son as she chased the car out of the parking lot. Other witnesses recall hearing her cries and running to aid her, and still other motorists recount in harrowing detail their efforts to stop Davis when they realize that the object being bounced along the ground is the body of a child. According to some witnesses, at times the child's body bounced as high as half way up the height of the vehicle.
The state's position is that Davis knew the child was still tied to the seatbelt but did not stop because he was too intent on making his escape. Prosecutors are convinced that Davis had to have heard and seen the child, because witnesses located further away from the incident responded to the screams of Christy Robel.
Even during his getaway, the scraping and banging of Jake's 40-pound body against the rear wheel should have made Davis aware that the body was being dragged behind him, according to prosecutors.
Prosecutors argue that it defies common sense that Davis could remain oblivious to the fact that he was dragging a child to death, when so many witnesses recognized the danger immediately and tried to get his attention.
To underscore their contention that Davis was singleminded in his escape, prosecutors rely upon the testimony of motorists who managed to box Davis in to prevent him from going any further. These drivers say he got out of the car, and upon seeing the body said, "God I didn't do that," and then got back into the car to try to get away.
Drivers who assisted in detaining him say how they had to snatch the keys out of the ignition and toss them out of the car, and forcibly detain him by using rope to tie him up until police arrived at the scene.
The state sought the death penalty based three statutory aggravators — that Kim Davis had been convicted of a prior felony, robbery; that the crime involved torture, making the murder unreasonably brutal; and that the murder of Jake Robel was committed while the defendant was engaged in the perpetration of kidnapping.
THE DEFENSE'S CASE
"God, I didn't do that," was an indication of the defendant's state of mind, and proof that Kim Davis had not committed first degree murder, according to the defense.
Davis concedes that he was trying to steal the car in a rash, impulsive act. But he denies that he knew at any time the child was being dragged. Davis claims he was distracted by loud traffic noise and the car radio. Defense lawyers say Davis believed Jake made it out of the car when he watched his mother grab him and hold him against her chest.
A key witness for the defense was a motorist who says that Davis did stop after he realized he was dragging something behind him. Prosecutors, however, argue that Davis was forced to stop because of heavy traffic.
Defense lawyers William Shull and Christopher Slusher contend that Davis' actions do not constitute first-degree murder, but involuntary manslaughter.
I hope this creature gets everything that is coming to him. For that poor baby to die that leaves me speechless. 
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