Ex-cop sentenced to life with parole in 57 years

An ex-cop who killed his pregnant mistress was sentenced to life with parole eligibility in 57 years, but spared the death penalty yesterday. This case will be appealed to the Ohio Supreme Court, who may turn down the case because Cutts was not sentenced to death. Bobby Cutts, 30, killed his pregnant girlfriend Jessie Davis, 26, on June 14, 2007 presumably because he did not want to pay more child support to Davis. Cutts was convicted of aggravated murder for the death of Chloe, his unborn daughter and murder for Jessie's death.

Cutts took the stand in his own defense Feb. 11. Attempting to explain Davis' death, Cutts told jurors it was an accident and that he panicked on June 14. Cutts, along with co-defendant Myisha L. Ferrell, dumped the body at a Summit County park. Nine days later, Cutts led investigators to the decomposed remains.

Prosecutors stated that if it wasn't for Cutts' testimony or Ferrell's involvement, Cutts may have gotten away with murder.

[Prosecutor Chryssa]Hartnett said Cutts might have gotten away with the murders if not for his own actions: Involving Ferrell and leading investigators to the bodies. Except for cell-phone records, there was no hard evidence. Hartnett said Ferrell's testimony was an "integral part" of the convictions. "Her testimony helped shed light on the mechanism of death," though jurors heard a soft version, she said.

Assistant Prosecutor Dennis Barr told jurors Cutts' story makes no sense.

Barr said Cutts wanted Davis and her fetus dead because of mounting debt and child support for a fourth child.

"He knew when he was suffocating Jessie, when he was strangling Jessie, he was killing that baby inside her. You don't hide the body unless you're trying to cover up a criminal act, a purposeful killing, especially when you're a trained police officer sworn to serve and protect," Barr added.

Cutts was charged with aggravated murder in the deaths of Davis and her fetus. If he is convicted he could be sentenced to death.

Defense attorney Fernando Mack conceded that Cutts must take responsibility for dumping her body and leaving their son home alone for more than 24 hours. But he said those actions don't prove Cutts killed them.

"They don't even come close," he said, pointing out that no witnesses testified that Cutts had been complaining about child support payments or about Davis' pregnancy.

Mack also reminded jurors that the medical examiner could not determine the cause of Davis' death and that a key witness, Cutts' friend Myisha Ferrell, didn't testify that Cutts strangled Davis.

Mack also told jurors that Cutts tried to perform CPR and revive Davis with bleach.

"The panic is increasing now," Mack said. "He knows that this is not supposed to be, not because he went in there with the intent to commit murder but because something escalated and got out of control."

Barr responded in his rebuttal by reminding the jury of what Blake told an investigator: "Mommy's crying. Mommy broke the table. Mommy's in the rug," and later "Daddy's mad."
"How can a 2½-year-old make that up?" Barr asked. "That's evidence that Bobby committed aggravated murder."

The penalty phase of the trial took place Monday, with deliberations taking place Tuesday to Wednesday, with Cutts testifying that he finally took responsibility and did not deserve to die for killing his “girlfriend” and their child.

"Bobby Cutts deserves the maximum sentence allowed by law in the state of Ohio. That's the sentence of death," Barr said.

Defense attorney Fernando Mack said the murder was "a situation that got out of hand" and a death sentence would orphan Black, their toddler son.

"This penalty is to be used sparingly," Mack said.

As the jurors began deliberating, the victim's father, Ned Davis, sobbed quietly as he hugged the defendant's mother, Renee Jones, in the courtroom.

Jurors found Cutts not guilty of aggravated murder in the death of Davis but convicted him of a lesser charge of murder. He was convicted of aggravated murder in Chloe’s death. He faced the death penalty because of the aggravated murder conviction, but also faced life with no parole for either 20, 25, or 30 years.

"Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I'm asking you to spare my life," Cutts said in an unsworn statement, which exempted him from cross-examination by prosecutors.

Apologizing to the teary-eyed members of Davis' family sitting in the front row, Cutts said he could not express in words how he felt knowing that he had killed her and the baby.

Prosecutors told the jury that Cutts killed Davis and the unborn baby at her Lake Township home to avoid making child support payments for the child.

For more than a week, Cutts denied knowledge of her whereabouts as thousands searched in the area. He finally led authorities to the body in a park, wrapped in a comforter.

Cutts, who also was convicted of abuse of a corpse, burglary and child endangering for leaving Blake alone, resigned as a patrolman from the Canton police department.

At the sentencing, neither Cutts nor his family spoke, but Jessie's family did. Her mother, Patty Porter, asked for a parolable sentence because she forgave Cutts, but not the rest of Jessie's family.

"I would have never been able to raise Blake and hate you," she said. Davis' sisters questioned if Cutts even knew how to tell the truth. "You sat there and you lied," Audrey Davis told Cutts. "I just hope that one day you'll be able to look at your son and tell him the truth. It just makes me sick. ... I'll just never understand it." Despite the request of Cutts' attorneys, Brown ran all the sentences consecutive, except for the two aggravated murders. Those he ran together because they related to Chloe's death.

While deliberating Cutts' fate, jurors were deciding if Cutts should serve a life without parole sentence or have a shot at parole in a very long time. When their sentence was decided, Cutts' parole eligibility date was set 57 years in the future.