Georgia man sentenced in carjacking murder

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Posted 7:52AM on Wednesday, July 17, 2002

EVERGREEN, ALABAMA - A man who pleaded guilty to capital murder for the shooting death of a Montgomery forester while on the run from Georgia authorities was sentenced to life in prison. Herlan O'Brien Davis, previously convicted of killing a convenience store customer during the same flight from police last year, was sentenced on Tuesday by Conecuh County Circuit Judge Sam Welch. Co-defendant Angela Shantee Anderson, 22, testified against Davis in a plea agreement that saw prosecutors drop a charge of capital murder against her. She pleaded guilty to theft and faces 20 years in prison, 15 of them suspended. On Monday Davis, 23, pleaded guilty, avoiding the death penalty. He testified that he killed Wallace Lee Smith Jr. while robbing him of his 2000 Ford pickup on State Road 41. ``He won't be out to murder anybody else,'' said Debbie Smith, Wallace Lee's widow. ``Every day of my life is extremely hard and I hope every day of his life in the state penitentiary is even harder. If God wants him dead, God will get him there.'' Defense attorney Paul Hardin Jr. said the verdict was what he expected and his intention was to prevent Davis from going to the electric chair. Davis and girlfriend Angela Anderson fled Columbus, Ga., in early March 2001 when Davis became a suspect in a murder there. He was also wanted on weapons charges and probation violations. The couple wound up at the home of Anderson's grandmother in Camden, Ala. In Camden, Davis shot down 39-year-old Bruce Cunningham, a customer at a convenience store, according to testimony in Wilcox County Circuit Court in April. Witnesses said Davis fled in Cunningham's 1995 Nissan, picking up Anderson as the two left Camden. Just south of the Monroe County line, Davis wrecked the Nissan and began trying to flag down traffic on Alabama 41 as the car caught fire, police say. Witnesses testified they saw Davis pull a man from a white pickup. Authorities say that man was Smith, a 42-year-old forester from Montgomery who apparently stopped to help the stranded motorists. Smith was found dead of a gunshot wound along the road, his pickup stuck in a nearby ditch. Davis and Anderson were captured hours later hiding in a creek after dozens of officers combed the dense woods in remote northern Monroe County. Davis was convicted of capital murder in Cunningham's slaying in April. He has not yet been sentenced. Federal carjacking and weapons charges are still pending against him. The trial in connection with Smith's slaying was moved to Evergreen because of pretrial publicity in Monroeville.