Judge Davis Testifies That Girlfriend Started Fight

During the final day of arguments Wednesday in his trial on a battery charge, Municipal Court Judge Joseph K. Davis denied he assaulted his pregnant girlfriend during an argument in November.

Instead, Davis said, Anna Monica Garcia attacked him in a fit of rage after he informed her that their live-in relationship was over. The judge said he had decided to end his liaison with Garcia after learning that she had been associating with her former boyfriend.

“Her reaction was a total loss of control,” Davis, 41, said in a low voice, recalling his version of the events of Nov. 23. “She came at me, flailing with her arms. When she got to the chair, I reached for her, to block and keep her from punching my lights out. Then the chair flipped and she fell on top of me.”

That scenario, outlined again by defense attorney Jan Ronis during his 40-minute closing argument, differs considerably from the picture painted by prosecutors. Deputy City Atty. Casey Gwinn told jurors in his closing remarks that Davis beat Garcia because he was angry over her apparent infidelity.

“If Monica Garcia was, indeed, seeing (her ex-boyfriend), then that would provide the best motive we have in this case for his violent behavior toward her,” Gwinn said. “He kicked, he choked, he knocked her around, he threw her down, because she was unfaithful.”

Davis, appointed to the municipal bench in 1980, is facing a misdemeanor battery charge in connection with the episode at the Tierrasanta town house the couple shared. After the fight, Garcia called 911 to summon police and made a citizen’s arrest of Davis. She also obtained a court order temporarily barring Davis from their home.

Since then, however, the 24-year-old woman has recanted her story about the beating. In a letter to Gwinn earlier this month, Garcia accused the deputy city attorney of lying about her willingness to see Davis prosecuted and said Gwinn is “determined to press charges against Judge Davis whether or not he did anything wrong.”

Garcia did not testify during the trial, and her whereabouts are unknown.

Davis was one of seven witnesses to testify Wednesday in the closing chapter of a proceeding that even presiding Superior Court Judge James Edmunds has described as “a Peyton Place” episode.

Davis, visibly under strain, testified that the couple’s troubles began when he received a telephone call Nov. 21 from the wife of Garcia’s former boyfriend, Larry Saddler. The woman told him that Garcia had been seeing Saddler and asked the judge to tell her to stay away from him.

When Davis confronted Garcia with the allegation the next morning, she “went into a rage” and left, threatening to harm Anna Saddler, Davis testified. The judge then moved out, believing that “the trust had been breached” and their relationship was finished.

The same day, according to the Saddlers’ testimony Wednesday, Garcia arrived at their home at 7 a.m. Bursting in the door, she knocked Larry Saddler to the floor, entered the bedroom and attacked Anna Saddler, wrestling with her on the bed and attempting to hit her with a telephone, they said.

Ultimately, Larry Saddler physically removed Garcia from the home. The defense maintains that that fracas caused the bruises the prosecutors contend were inflicted a day later by Davis.

The next day, Davis said, he returned to the couple’s home at Garcia’s request. Their “tempers flared up pretty high” and when he told her they were through and that he had given the landlord 30 days’ notice, Garcia “came right at me swinging.”

After the scuffle, Davis testified, Garcia “bolted out the door” and told him: “I’m going to fix you.”

According to defense attorney Ronis, Davis is the innocent victim of “a spurned, emotional lover.” As he wrapped up his case Wednesday, Ronis brought in a parade of character witnesses--including U.S. District Judge Earl B. Gilliam--who praised Davis’ honesty and integrity.

“The real question,” Ronis told the jury in concluding remarks, “is who is entitled to greater believability, Judge Davis, a law school graduate and former city attorney . . . or a woman who has not even come into the courtroom to make an accusation?”

A verdict is expected today.