Land Park slaying suspect silent as Sacramento prosecutor announces plan to seek death penalty
The man accused in last September’s rape, murder and arson at a Land Park home made a brief court appearance in Sacramento on Friday, where a prosecutor formally announced plans to seek the death penalty.
Troy Davis, 52, appeared in a courtroom cell inside the Sacramento County Main Jail, where he is being held without bail in the slaying of 61-year-old Kate Tibbitts and her two dogs.
Deputy District Attorney Matt Chisholm announced that the Sacramento D.A.’S office has decided to seek the death penalty in the case, a decision prosecutors filed in court papers last month.
Davis, shackled at his ankles and waist and wearing orange jail garb, made no obvious reaction to the announcement and did not speak during the hearing.
When Davis was arrested last year, Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert’s office filed charges that included a special circumstance alleging he killed Tibbitts in the process of a burglary.
Norm Dawson, one of Davis’ public defenders, told visiting Judge Roy Hashimoto in Sacramento Superior
Court that defense attorneys may return with evidence to argue that Davis should not face the death penalty, and prosecutors have said they will evaluate it if necessary.
Dawson has previously told The Sacramento Bee that the Public Defender’s Office had offered a deal to have Davis agree to a sentence of life without parole, but that Schubert’s office rejected the offer.
Davis is scheduled to return to court in August.
He is accused of breaking into Tibbitts’ home, attacking and killing her, killing her dogs and then setting the house ablaze.
The case has sparked outrage, both because of the nature of the crime in a quiet neighborhood like Land Park and because Davis is a parolee who prosecutors argue should have still been in jail at the time of the slaying.
Davis had been charged last June in a vehicle theft case and but was released from custody before appearing before a judge, court records say.
His release came despite the fact that he had a criminal history of two felony strikes and a criminal history in Sacramento and Santa Cruz counties dating back to 2013.
That record includes charges of resisting an officer, battery on an officer, possession of methamphetamine, threatening an officer, misdemeanor sexual battery and assault and battery. After his release from the Sacramento jail in June, Davis disappeared until his arrest in September following Tibbitts’ slaying at her 11th Avenue home.
Even with the decision to seek the death penalty, Davis may never face that prospect if convicted. Gov Gavin Newsom declared a moratorium on capital punishment and ordered the dismantling of the death chamber in 2019, a decision that would have to be reversed by a future administration if California is to resume executing inmates.