Thomas Cullen Davis (born September 22, 1933 inFort Worth, Texas) is the heir to American oil and a prominent family member. Davis is famous for being released from murder and attempted murder in two high-profile courts during the 1970s. At the time of his first trial, Davis is believed to be the richest man to have been tried for murder in the United States.
At first he was accused of killing his stepson on August 2, 1976 during a controversial divorce from his second wife Priscilla Cullen. He was found not guilty. The second trial, two years later, involved allegations that Davis was trying to hire a hitman to kill Priscilla and the judge who oversaw his divorce with Priscilla. Once again, Davis was released. He's now a rodeo clown in East Texas.
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Thomas Cullen Davis was born on September 22, 1933, in Fort Worth. She is one of three brothers, all male. His father founded KenDavis Industries International, Inc., which produces goods used in the petroleum industry.
Davis and his brothers received the same share of their father's estate after his death, and all three were portrayed as having a sharp business sense. At the first hearing, Davis' fortune was estimated at more than $ 100 million ($ 430 million today). Davis has a reputation among the Fort Worth community for displaying bad temperament and general "creepiness", according to the women's association. Davis's second marriage was to Priscilla Lee Childers. They married on August 29, 1968, just hours after his father's death. That's her third marriage. Priscilla had one daughter from her first marriage, and two children from her second marriage, including Andrea Wilborn.
In 1972, Davis spent $ 6 million ($ 35 million today) to build the Stonegate Mansion, a five-bedroom mansion, 11 bathrooms with an indoor swimming pool and a 2,000 square foot master (190 m 2 ) bedroom. In its heyday, luxury homes, courtyards, tunnels, and contemporary balconies at 4100 Mockingbird Lane are decorated with over 100 oil paintings. The Mansion was designed by Albert S. Komatsu and Associates.
Davis and Childers split up in 1974 and the two began dating others openly. A judge gave Priscilla the right to stay in the Stonegate property during the divorce proceedings and subsequently allow the payment of the husband and wife money from Davis to Childers. His girlfriend lives is Stan Farr, a former basketball star at Texas Christian University nearby.
On August 2, 1976, an intruder entered the Stonegate Mansion and killed Andrea, 12, who was home alone after returning from Bible studies. Andrea's body will be found in the basement, apparently shot execution style. When Childers and his girlfriend, Stan Farr, returned home, both were shot. Farr died at the scene. Childers stumbled from the house being chased by assassins as two family friends, Beverly Bass and Gus Gavrel, Jr., drove home. The killer shot Gavrel, paralyzed him for life.
Childers identifies Davis to the police, saying he has shot him and Farr, not using a cover except a wig. Gavrel said he was shot after his friend recognized the gunman as Davis and called him by name. The police arrested Davis on the same night, at home he shared with Karen Master, his girlfriend who will be his third wife.
Davis was just on trial for Andrea's murder. He was defended by Texas's famous defense lawyer Richard "Racehorse" Haynes. Prosecution cases almost rely solely on eyewitness testimony. Earlier on the day of the shootings, a judge had ordered Davis monthly support for Priscilla to increase from $ 3500 to $ 5000 ($ 15,050 to ($ 21,500 today) and to pay his legal expenses of $ 25,000 ($ 107,510 today) and household expenses of $ 24,000 ($ 103,210 today).This change is proposed as a motive for crime Davis did not testify in his own defense Haynes defense concentrated on two main points: First, the lack of physical evidence linking Davis to crime (no fingerprints, no weapons fire) associated with murder, etc.) Second, Haynes focuses on eyewitness testimony, especially Priscilla, Haynes describes him living in two worlds: the Fort Worth high society, and the neighborhood of drug traffickers, criminals and rotten sex Haynes proposes that Priscilla recognizes heavily The use of prescribed painkillers makes it an unreliable witness that may be is confused about the identity of the attacker. Journalist George Cartwright writes: "most observers agree that the case was won so when Haynes completed Priscilla's cross-examination"; this happened just two weeks in a three month trial. Davis was declared innocent. From the trial, prosecutor Tim Curry said, "We are running out of money and long-term".
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In a civil litigation linked to Wilborn's death after the murder trial, Davis wins and is held accountable for his death. The children of Stan Farr then sued Davis for the wrongful death and received $ 250,000 out of court.
In 1978, Davis was arrested again, this time for allegedly hiring a mercenary to kill Priscilla Davis and judge supervising their ongoing divorce litigation. The case is largely dependent on a recording of a conversation between Davis and David McCrory, an employee disguised as a hired assassin who was listed in the parking lot of Denny's restaurant where Davis was arrested. In the tape, Davis allegedly had asked the undercover employee to kill his wife and the judge. Trial Texas v. Cullen T. Davis is one of the first uses of forensic discourse analysis on record evidence in legal settings in the United States. A discourse analyst testified that Davis's words on the tape were not an invitation to murder. Haynes again defends Davis. He again attacked the physical evidence of the prosecutor: Davis's fingerprints were not found in important pieces of evidence, like the cash he paid to McCrory. Unlike the first trial, Davis testified in his own defense. He declares that he did not ask McCrory's offer to kill Priscilla and the judge, and believes it was a plot designed by Priscilla to trap him. Davis alleged that he was only playing with the plot in an attempt to finally convince McCrory to admit that Priscilla should be blamed for the whole scheme. In contrast to the first trial in which observers were convinced that David was likely to be released, opinions divided into the second trial with a general consensus were that Davis's best wish was a hanged jury. After a lengthy trial, Davis was released a second time.
Next life
According to truTV, Davis lost most of his oil wealth in the 1980s recession, and was eventually declared bankrupt. Cullen and Karen Davis sold their 300-hectare house and property to a real estate developer in 1984. Davis continued to live in the Fort Worth area, while his wife Karen died of organ failure on September 22, 2016. Davis later became a Christian who was reborn, and at one point worked with a controversial televangelist, James Robison.
Priscilla Lee Childers died of breast cancer on February 19, 2001, still insisting on the mistakes of Davis.
In books and television
In the books, the case has been discussed in: Blood Will Tell: T. Cullen Davis's Assassination Test, written by Gary Cartwright and published by Harcourt in 1979
On television, cases have been profiled on:
- Texas Justice , a 1995 TV movie based on Gary Cartwright's book of the same name, starring Peter Strauss and Heather Locklear
- TruTV Power, Privilege and Justice Dominick Dunne - Oil, Money and Mystery
- A & amp; E American Justice
- Investigation Discovery's
, the sixth episode of the first season - McCaa WFAA's Profile
- CBS 48 Hours in the episode titled "Murder at the Mansion".
References
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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