The Ghost Of David Coffin

Megan admits that she initially told police she didn't know how David died. In all the horror, she says, she forgot. But she now remembers she told friends about the shooting after talking with Scott Davis.

She maintains she did not tell Davis that David had been shot in the head.

Asked if he thinks Megan is lying, Morris tells Maher, "I think Megan said it. Whether she was hysterical and doesn't remember it, or is lying about it, I don't know."

But Sheila Ross says the real liar is Scott Davis. He did himself in, she says, by spinning an elaborate tale about being a victim. "Like he's being haunted by the ghost of David Coffin. And he started realizing all of the mistakes that he may have made in perpetrating the crime. And then he impulsively tries to cover up what he had done," she says.

Police testify they found nothing to corroborate Scott Davis' story, no evidence that someone took a shot at him, and no signs that he had shot an assailant, despite his claims that he shot at someone five times in his small backyard.

"Getting shot with a shotgun is fairly traumatic so it should have left some indication if he had been hit. And we didn't locate anything like that," Patrolman Michael O'Connor testifies.

Ross says Scott Davis kept digging himself a deeper hole. "It's his impulsiveness that did him in because he's always trying to outthink the police. He's trying to outthink everybody. Outsmart everybody," she says.

She says Davis even tried to enlist a friend to provide a false alibi. Instead, that friend turned on Scott Davis and called the authorities.

But Christine Bradley, a paralegal on his team whom Scott Davis has been dating, insists there was nothing to cover-up. "I was sitting next to an innocent man," she says.

When the defense lays out its case, Dr. Davis takes the stand. He tells jurors about the toll the accusations first took on his son ten years ago.

"He was sounding panicked and terrorized. I never ever heard him like that before," Dr. Davis testifies. "I think its consistent with being accused of a crime he did not commit."

Davis also provides his son an alibi for Saturday evening, around the time the state believes David's house was ransacked. "He came over to my house," Dr. Davis testifies. "It was around 6:30, I remember I was watching the news."

That takes prosecutor Kellie Hill by surprise. Dr. Davis acknowledged on the stand that it was the first time he had told anyone in law enforcement that his son was at his house on Dec. 7th.

Sheila Ross says she thinks Dave Davis was lying.

But the state cannot dismiss the fact that David's stolen Porsche was found burning around the time Scott Davis had a meeting at work.

"Scott Davis may not have lit the actual match to the Porsche," Ross says. Asked if she believes Davis got somebody else's help, Ross says. "I absolutely believe that it is possible that somebody else helped him. Yes."

After nearly six weeks in court, and more than 60 witnesses, the trial ends without Scott Davis taking the stand.

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[craigzz]

I found it hilarious the way Scott Davis's Psychiatrist father, defended his murdering son so vehemently, even to the point of perjuring himself on the stand. I will find it hard to look at any psychiatrist now with any respect.

Yes, your son is a cold blooded murderer, one of those people you spent years giving your 'expert' opinion about, pretty ironic aye ?

[delwriter]

I think David was a handsome, very alluring gay man living as a straight....Can't help but think he'd still be alive if he'd embraced his true self. What a horrible thing.

[posbornejr]

Great piece gleaned from a very complicated set of facts. The real question now is why Paul Howard allowed this case to languish for 10 years when the evidence that ultimately convicted Davis in 2006 was present-and even stronger-in 1996. I don't think Howard wants that question posed in the next election.

[curtgre]

How did Megan know that David was dead when Craig came up to the house while it was on fire? The fireman did not know at that time!!!!!!!

[ollie1169]

Gonna watch this at 5 Paces. Who's with me?