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Life in prison for woman's killer

A judge tells Eric G. Davis that he forfeited his right to live in society by killing his wife.

By JOSE CARDENAS
Published April 17, 2007

CLEARWATER - To her family, 26-year-old Krystal Lee Davis was a young woman just coming into her own.

She loved her four children, relatives told a judge Monday. And she wanted to give them a better life.

But her decision to leave her husband cost her her life, the family said. Eric G. Davis shot her seven times in their Safety Harbor home on March 1, 2006.

"Not a day goes by that I don't miss her terribly," her mother, Vikki Pallonetti, said during sentencing proceedings for Eric Davis Monday. "There are little children who will grow up without a mother."

And two of Krystal's four children will grow up with their father in prison, Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Judge Nancy Ley decided.

Telling Davis that "you have forfeited your right to live in society," Ley sentenced him to life in prison without parole.

Authorities had charged Davis with first-degree murder. But he escaped a mandatory life sentence last month when a jury found him guilty of second-degree murder.

Defense attorney Edward Liebling asked Ley Monday to give Davis something less than life.

"The judge finally stepped up," Krystal's older sister, Karina Wilson, said after the sentencing.

Eric Davis, 28, shot Krystal in their duplex on Maple Way Street. She had recently told him that she was seeing someone else.

Prosecutors argued the murder was premeditated.

In a recorded jail visitation, Davis told a friend that he went in the house to "cast her death certificate." During the shooting, he reloaded the gun.

Liebling argued that Davis is mentally ill and his statements about how and why he shot Krystal were not reliable.

But Assistant State Attorney Robin Augello asked that Davis be put away for life because he is dangerous and has not shown remorse.

In a letter Davis wrote to a friend recently, Davis said he enjoyed seeing the murder scene pictures of Krystal during the trial, Augello said.

"He's probably as close to a monster as we are going to find," Augello said.

During Monday's hearing, Krystal's family spoke mainly about having lost a sister and daughter.

She was born in La Jolla, Calif., and was raised there and in New York, her family said. When the family moved to Florida, Krystal attended Clearwater High School.

She went through her struggles as a teen mother, Wilson said. But she loved her firstborn, Phoenix Joseph O'Brien, who is almost 10.

"Krystal always wanted children," said Pallonetti, who lives in Palm Harbor.

She gave birth to Phoenix and Liam Michael O'Brien with her first husband. Liam is now 8.

She had two children with Davis: Skyler Ryann Davis and Hailey-Jade Victoria Davis. They are now 6 and 4, respectively.

Davis did not work, Krystal's family said. He had been involved in the exotic dancing scene and got Krystal involved.

She got the kids ready for bed at 4 p.m. and went to her job as a dancer at a club. She returned at 1 a.m.

"Krystal worked extremely hard to support her family," said Wilson, who lives in Tampa. "She said she wished she did not have to make her life that way."

But her best role was that of a mother, her family said.

When Phoenix asked why the sky was blue, she told him a story that involved blueberries.

When he wanted to know why his best friend had a different skin color, she told him all people are special.

She wrote poems and letters to her kids, too.

"Don't worry, my sleeping baby," Pallonetti quoted her in court. "Mommy will always be here for you."

Krystal had met someone else, her family said. She was getting ready to leave Davis.

"I'm so proud of my sister for trying to leave him," Wilson said.

Her daughter would have found her niche in art and writing, Pallonetti said.

Her oldest two children live with their paternal great-grandparents. Her younger two live with Vicki Hendry, a longtime friend of Davis.

"They will know that she died trying to make their lives better," Wilson said.

Jose Cardenas can be reached at 727 445-4224 or jcardenas@sptimes.com.

[Last modified April 16, 2007, 22:39:05]