February 11, 2009 3:27 PM
- Text
Ex-Cop Testifies In Pregnant Lover's Death
(AP)
A former police officer accused of killing his pregnant lover testified Monday he swung his elbow at her when she wouldn't let him leave her home.
Sobbing on the witness stand, Bobby Cutts Jr. said he was at Jessie Davis' home to pick up his son and was telling her to hurry.
Beginning to cry, Cutts said Davis grabbed him and told him he couldn't leave. He said he pulled his arm away and threw his elbow back.
He told jurors it landed in her throat area and she fell hard.
"I didn't mean to hurt her," Cutts sobbed as he clutched at a handful of white tissues.
Cutts testified that he performed CPR, then tried to use bleach to revive her - a large bleach stain was found in her room.
"She wasn't responding and I knew she was dead," Cutts testified.
He said he recalled thinking, "No way this is happening, this is not happening."
Defense attorney Fernando Mack asked why he didn't call police.
"How do you explain that?" he said raising his voice. "I just wanted to go get my son. I didn't want anybody to get hurt."
Cutts testified that he didn't want his 2½-year-old son Blake to see his mother, so he put Davis' body in the bed of her truck and went to a friend's house. Blake was sleeping.
After he picked up Ferrell, he said he drove around in a panic, not knowing what to do.
"I can't keep driving around with her body in the back of this truck," he said.
While driving he saw a dirt road leading to a park and pulled in.
"I stopped," said Cutts, then looked up to the ceiling.
"Did you leave Jessie at that location?" Mack said.
"Yeah," Cutts said between sobs.
He then spent the rest of the day trying to convince himself nothing had happened.
"This isn't real. It's not happening," Cutts said. "If I go along with my day, it'll all go away."
He picked up his daughter bought her a snow cone maker, mulched his yard and went to work that evening. He even called Davis.
"I was hoping I would call her home and she would answer and this whole thing would be over," he said.
Cutts could receive the death penalty if convicted of killing Davis, who was nine months' pregnant with his child when she died last June.
The former Canton officer has pleaded not guilty to aggravated murder and other charges.
Prosecutors have said Cutts was feeling the pressure of his crumbling marriage, financial debt and supporting several children.
As defense attorneys began presenting their case earlier Monday, a witness said scientists couldn't find blood on items taken from his home.
Kylie Graham, a criminalist for Stark County crime lab, testified that she couldn't confirm blood on gloves, a sweat shirt and other clothing collected from former Cutts' house on June 20, five days after Davis was reported missing.
Investigators found a large bleach stain on the carpeting in Davis' bedroom and could not find any blood evidence in the room. Gary Rini, an independent forensic science consultant, testified that bleach won't make blood stains undetectable.
"It actually enhances the ability to detect blood because it dilutes it and spreads it in a further area," Rini said.
Cutts' attorneys told the jury during opening statements that there was no evidence linking Cutts to Davis' killing. Prosecutors warned the jury that common sense, not DNA evidence, would determine the case.
Cutts' friend, Myisha Ferrell, is the case's key witness and testified earlier that Cutts demonstrated to her that he choked Davis with his arm.
By Joe Milicia
Sobbing on the witness stand, Bobby Cutts Jr. said he was at Jessie Davis' home to pick up his son and was telling her to hurry.
Beginning to cry, Cutts said Davis grabbed him and told him he couldn't leave. He said he pulled his arm away and threw his elbow back.
He told jurors it landed in her throat area and she fell hard.
"I didn't mean to hurt her," Cutts sobbed as he clutched at a handful of white tissues.
Cutts testified that he performed CPR, then tried to use bleach to revive her - a large bleach stain was found in her room.
"She wasn't responding and I knew she was dead," Cutts testified.
He said he recalled thinking, "No way this is happening, this is not happening."
Defense attorney Fernando Mack asked why he didn't call police.
"How do you explain that?" he said raising his voice. "I just wanted to go get my son. I didn't want anybody to get hurt."
Cutts testified that he didn't want his 2½-year-old son Blake to see his mother, so he put Davis' body in the bed of her truck and went to a friend's house. Blake was sleeping.
After he picked up Ferrell, he said he drove around in a panic, not knowing what to do.
"I can't keep driving around with her body in the back of this truck," he said.
While driving he saw a dirt road leading to a park and pulled in.
"I stopped," said Cutts, then looked up to the ceiling.
"Did you leave Jessie at that location?" Mack said.
"Yeah," Cutts said between sobs.
He then spent the rest of the day trying to convince himself nothing had happened.
"This isn't real. It's not happening," Cutts said. "If I go along with my day, it'll all go away."
He picked up his daughter bought her a snow cone maker, mulched his yard and went to work that evening. He even called Davis.
"I was hoping I would call her home and she would answer and this whole thing would be over," he said.
Cutts could receive the death penalty if convicted of killing Davis, who was nine months' pregnant with his child when she died last June.
The former Canton officer has pleaded not guilty to aggravated murder and other charges.
Thousands searched for the 26-year-old Davis in the area surrounding her home in the days she was missing after her death and before Cutts led authorities to the body.
Prosecutors have said Cutts was feeling the pressure of his crumbling marriage, financial debt and supporting several children.
As defense attorneys began presenting their case earlier Monday, a witness said scientists couldn't find blood on items taken from his home.
Kylie Graham, a criminalist for Stark County crime lab, testified that she couldn't confirm blood on gloves, a sweat shirt and other clothing collected from former Cutts' house on June 20, five days after Davis was reported missing.
Investigators found a large bleach stain on the carpeting in Davis' bedroom and could not find any blood evidence in the room. Gary Rini, an independent forensic science consultant, testified that bleach won't make blood stains undetectable.
"It actually enhances the ability to detect blood because it dilutes it and spreads it in a further area," Rini said.
Cutts' attorneys told the jury during opening statements that there was no evidence linking Cutts to Davis' killing. Prosecutors warned the jury that common sense, not DNA evidence, would determine the case.
Cutts' friend, Myisha Ferrell, is the case's key witness and testified earlier that Cutts demonstrated to her that he choked Davis with his arm.
By Joe Milicia
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