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Jury convicts shooter in joyriding case
The man shot into a car of teenagers, killing one, as they tried to flee a botched car break-in.
By CHRIS TISCH
Published January 20, 2006
LARGO - On a March night two years ago, a group of teens wanted to go to a party. They decided to steal some cars in St. Petersburg to get there.
Minutes later, one of the kids, 15-year-old Devon M. Davis, was dead of a gunshot wound to the head.
Prosecutors charged the man who shot him with manslaughter. Randall C. Gray had caught one of Davis' friends trying to break into his girlfriend's car that night. That boy ran to a waiting getaway car, a stolen Jeep in which Davis was a passenger.
Gray fired into the window, killing Davis, a John Hopkins Middle School eighth-grader.
Late Wednesday night, a jury took about two hours to convict Gray of the crime. Judge Thomas McGrady remanded Gray, 21, to jail. Gray is scheduled for sentencing March 10.
Gray also has unrelated criminal charges pending and, with those cases factored in, faces a minimum of just under 12 years in prison. His maximum sentence could be 55 years, prosecutor Doug Ellis said.
"He shot an unarmed 15-year-old in a passenger seat," Ellis said. "You don't shoot somebody for trying to steal your car."
Gray claimed the gun went off accidentally during a struggle.
Ellis said Davis' partners were charged as juveniles with auto theft and burglary. He said those cases were pleaded out.
On March 20, 2003, Davis and three friends stole two cars, including the Jeep, so they and some friends could get to a block party. They also burglarized at least two autos, Ellis said.
They tried to steal a third car, which belonged to Gray's girlfriend. Gray caught one of them in the act. The boy ran to the Jeep. The driver tried to leave, but the Jeep stalled, Ellis said.
Gray then fired into the side window, hitting Davis in the right cheek. The people in the Jeep, including Davis' cousin, drove him more than 3 miles northeast, before dumping his body in a yard behind a home near Lake Maggiore. Then they drove the Jeep into the lake.
Gray was arrested the next day.
[Last modified January 20, 2006, 01:46:11]
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