Trial Anticlimax: Convicted Killer’s Statement Unread

Convicted killer John Galen Davenport, the last of four Orange County men to win new death penalty trials by order of the old state Supreme Court under then-Chief Justice Rose Elizabeth Bird, had prepared a six-page statement he wanted to read to jurors Wednesday.

The highly unusual defense request had been approved by Orange County Superior Court Judge Everett W. Dickey.

But when the time came, Davenport’s lawyers backed down, providing an anticlimax in the trial of a man fighting to avoid the death penalty.

Defense attorneys had also asked Dickey to guarantee that prosecutors would not be allowed to question Davenport about his crimes after he read the statement. The judge refused.

Davenport did testify Wednesday, but did not read the statement, and answered only one question. His lawyers had introduced paintings and sketches that Davenport produced while in prison. Davenport was asked only to confirm that the artwork was his own, which he did.

Victim Was Impaled

Davenport, now 34, was convicted 8 years ago in the March 27, 1980, stabbing death of Gayle Ann Lingle, 30, whom he had met at a Tustin bar. She was found nude in a vacant field at Myford Road and Michelle Street in Irvine. She had been stabbed 16 times and, significantly to Davenport’s trial, had been impaled on a 4-foot-long wooden stake. Jurors found that the stake met the legal definition of torture, which allowed them to return a death verdict.

Davenport had been released from prison only a short time before Lingle was killed. He had served four years for a stabbing attack on another young woman.

The Supreme Court upheld Davenport’s conviction in the Lingle death. But the court threw out the death verdict on technical grounds and ordered a new penalty trial. Three other defendants in Orange County--Rodney Alcala, Marcelino Ramos and Theodore Frank--won similar new trials from the Bird court. All have received new death sentences and are back on Death Row.

At Davenport’s new trial in Santa Ana, both sides completed their cases Wednesday. The new jury must decide only one issue: whether Davenport should be returned to Death Row, or receive a lesser sentence of life in prison without parole.

The defense lawyers used Davenport’s family, who live in Utah, in an attempt to show jurors his more positive side.

One Davenport sister, Lori Fausett, told jurors that “Johnnie is my backbone . . . when he calls (from jail), he always makes things better.”

Another sister, Joy McKendrick, testified that “it’s Johnnie we turn to when we have troubles. . . . When Leslie (a Davenport brother) died, it was Johnnie who got us through it, even though he was in prison and could only call.”

Niece’s Testimony

A 14-year-old niece tearfully testified that she had been raped, and that emotional support from her uncle, Davenport, had helped her the most in dealing with it.

On cross-examination by Deputy Dist. Atty. Jeoffrey L. Robinson, one nephew testified that his uncle has always denied killing Lingle.

Defense lawyer Gary M. Pohlson has avoided letting jurors know that Davenport still maintains his innocence. But prosecutor Robinson will no doubt emphasize the point, based on the testimony.

Lawyers on both sides Wednesday were wondering whether the show of family support for Davenport will offset for jurors the devastating testimony against him from the first stabbing victim, Suzanne Tewes. She miraculously survived more than 20 stab wounds from an attack after he broke into her apartment.

Tewes fought back tears last week when she testified about the 15-year-old incident. Jurors at Davenport’s 1981 trial said Tewes’ testimony was the key to their vote for the death penalty.

Judge Dickey on Wednesday declined to release a copy of Davenport’s statement until he discusses the matter with defense lawyers.