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She finally comes to court, but will not say much

Testifying for her brother's murder trial, a woman says she can't recall much, contradicting her prior statements.

By CAMILLE C. SPENCER
Published September 2, 2006

NEW PORT RICHEY - It's no secret that Sonia Davis doesn't like talking about the upcoming murder trial of her brother, Harvey Gene Davis.

Although she's a key witness, Sonia Davis has repeatedly refused to accept subpoenas for the December trial, prompting her arrest in March on a contempt of court charge.

Then at a pretrial hearing Friday, faced with questions about the night she visited her brother's house and found his girlfriend dead, Sonia Davis said she couldn't recall the details.

Not even after the tape of Davis' 911 call was played. Not even when the prosecutor reminded her of her previous statements to detectives.

"I don't recall," she said between sobs.

That landed Sonia Davis, 36, in jail again Friday, this time on a charge of perjury. She was held in lieu of $2,500 bail.

"She is obviously a material witness," said Assistant State Attorney Mike Halkitis. "We have others, but no one who really admitted to what happened that night."

But now, Halkitis said, "She said she doesn't remember anything from that night."

He doubts her memory is faulty.

"At a deposition in April, she realized that in order to help her brother, she would say, 'I don't recall,' " Halkitis said.

Charles Rose, a criminal law professor at Stetson University College of Law, said inconclusive answers can constitute perjury.

"It's got to be an affirmative statement of falsehood on the stand," Rose said Friday. "A statement of 'I don't know,' when in fact you do, is a lie, and can constitute perjury."

And, he added, "It's not uncommon for family members related to defendants to change their testimony."

Court records show that Harvey Davis called his sister at 1:55 a.m. June 29, 2004. He asked her to come to the home he shared with his girlfriend, New Port Richey dispatcher Debbie Fossett.

Sonia Davis went to the Beechwood Drive home and found her brother in the driveway. According to Sonia Davis' previous statement to detectives, her brother said Fossett was dead and that he had choked her.

Sonia Davis previously told detectives her brother had a blank expression on his face, "as if he wasn't there." She looked through the front door and saw Fossett's body in a living room chair.

During her testimony on Friday, a visibly shaken Sonia Davis cried so often that Circuit Judge Stanley Mills ordered a recess.

Sonia Davis went to the ladies room in the courthouse, squatted on the tiled floor and sobbed for about 20 minutes, an attorney later told Mills.

When she returned, Sonia Davis told Halkitis that she didn't recall making the 911 call and giving her statement to detectives.

She was arrested after the hearing and taken to the Land O'Lakes jail.

Camille C. Spencer can be reached at 727 869-6229 or cspencer@sptimes.com.

[Last modified September 2, 2006, 07:17:58]