Sikeston woman who killed man with car goes on trial

CHARLESTON, Mo. -- Both the prosecution and defense agreed Savannah R. Davis, 29, of Sikeston, Missouri, hit John Sharber with her car July 11, 2014, and he later died of his injuries. But they presented different motivations and circumstances for the defendant.

"When you hear all the evidence, all you're going to hear is an accident," 34th District Public Defender Susan Warren said in her opening statement. "A young person made some bad choices. There was no recklessness."

Davis' trial began Tuesday in Mississippi County Court in Charleston. She is facing charges of first-degree involuntary manslaughter, armed criminal action and kidnapping.

Davis originally was charged with second-degree murder, but New Madrid County Prosecuting Attorney Andrew Lawson filed amended charges.

A jury and an alternate -- eight women and five men -- were selected from a pool of 56 Mississippi County residents.

Lawson and Warren made opening statements, and Lawson delivered the state's case Tuesday with the exception of one witness, a Sikeston, Missouri, Department of Public Safety detective Lawson said will document Davis' movements after she struck Sharber, 57, of Sikeston, with her maroon Ford Taurus.

The detective is expected to testify today. Warren will deliver the defense's case today.

Lawson showed a surveillance video from the Sikeston Wal-Mart, located in New Madrid County, showing Davis' car hitting Sharber during former DPS detective Chris Rataj's testimony.

Sharber pulled into the back portion of the parking lot in a silver pickup truck, and Davis later pulled in to meet him, parking to Sharber's right.

Sharber exited the vehicle at 9:06 p.m., and the two appeared to talk for two minutes with Davis in her vehicle.

Davis then drove forward. Sharber hit into the hood of her car, went under the vehicle. Davis then backed up, hitting Sharber a second time.

Two people came to assist Davis -- James Whitten and Erica Taylor -- and helped place Sharber into the backseat of Davis' vehicle. Another person was in Davis' vehicle, Lawson said.

"The car coming forward and then backward took less than two seconds?" Warren asked Rataj, who affirmed it did.

Forensic pathologist Russell Deidiker testified Sharber died of cranial cerebral injuries. Those injuries included a subdural hemorrhage that caused bleeding around Sharber's brain and swelling Deidiker said was evident when he performed the autopsy.

Sharber also had a fracture at the base of his skull and brain bruising, Deidiker said. The injuries were consistent with Sharber hitting the back of his head with substantial force on a solid surface.

Assistant prosecuting attorney Austin Crowe inferred this as Sharber hitting his head on the Wal-Mart parking lot.

"It could have been immediately fatal, but not in my opinion," Deidiker said. "It could have been immediately incapacitating, at least of voluntary movements."

Crowe asked whether Sharber would have recovered if he had received immediate medical attention.

"I can't say immediate medical attention would have been successful," Deidiker said, "but the longer you wait, the more dire the circumstance becomes."

Whitten, testifying after Rataj, said he approached Davis when he saw Sharber lying on the ground.

"I asked her what was going on," Whitten said. "She said it was her friend, and she was trying to get him in the car and back to his wife. ... He was breathing, but he was out of it completely."

In response to questioning by Warren, Whitten said it was not apparent Sharber was injured, and there was no blood.

He said he thought Sharber might have been inebriated.

"You never saw her on the phone calling 9-1-1?" Lawson asked.

Whitten said he didn't.

"If you knew she ran over him, would you have called 9-1-1?" Lawson asked.

Whitten answered, "Yes."

In his opening statement, Lawson said Davis drove to Morehouse, Missouri, then stopped once in Cape Girardeau before driving to Saint Francis Medical Center, citing Davis' interview with DPS officers. She was spooked by police on William Street near the hospital, Lawson said. Before driving to the hospital, Davis put paper towels over her license plates and wore a bag with eye holes, Lawson said.

"She decided to dump the body in a parking space that was nowhere near the emergency room," Lawson said.

Davis then drove to Blytheville, Arkansas, to hide, Lawson said.

Former Saint Francis security guard Cameron Green testified there was a helicopter pad between the parking space where Davis left Sharber and the emergency room.

Green and two nurses approached Sharber about midnight, Green said.

"We tried to turn the guy over and get him to wake up," he said. "His eye was swollen shut."

Green said Sharber was snoring, and he thought Sharber might have been impaired.

Warren, Davis' public defender, said in her opening statement Davis did not know she had hit Sharber and repeatedly talked to another person in the vehicle about trying to get him up.

Davis said she didn't do this on purpose, Warren said.

At one point, Sharber squeezed Davis' hand on the drive, Warren said.

Davis spoke to someone at Saint Francis, but the person did not speak English, adding to Davis' nervousness, Warren said.

"She thought he could wake up and could explain it to everyone," she said.

Warren also said Davis and Sharber were having an affair, and she had just met Sharber earlier that night to get some money.

Davis had a new phone and had called Sharber 22 times that night, Rataj said.

bkleine@semissourian.com

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Pertinent address: 200 N. Main St., Charleston, MO