Man Deemed Insane When He Shot At Willcox Cops Takes Plea For 10 Years In Prison

Christopher Lee Davis [Photo courtesy Cochise County Sheriff's Office]

A Willcox man was sentenced Monday to 10 years in prison for opening fire on several police officers during a 2018 incident even though two psychiatrists deemed him to have been legally insane at the time.

Christopher Lee Davis pleaded no contest to two counts of aggravated assault of a police officer stemming from a Feb. 15, 2018 incident that started when officers responded to a report of shots fired near a residence. He admitted firing additional rounds toward officers and their patrol cars before eventually surrendering.

Davis, 37, entered the plea as part of a negotiated agreement with the Cochise County Attorney’s Office which stipulated to a 10-year sentence followed by seven years of supervised probation. He was given credit by Judge Timothy Dickerson for 1,054 days spent in custody from arrest to sentencing.

Court records show one officer suffered bruising after being struck by shrapnel in his protective vest while others relayed to court officials how the incident impacted them psychologically and emotionally. During the sentencing hearing, Dickerson commented on the “great restraint” shown by officers during the incident.

Davis reportedly suffered mental health issues related to his military service. His problems continued after he moved to Cochise County despite efforts to obtain treatment from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

After his arrest, Davis was reviewed by three psychiatrists and found to be incompetent to understand the charges against him or to assist with his defense. He was deemed a candidate for a court-mandated restoration to competency program he entered in 2019.

In addition, two of the psychiatrists -chosen by the defense and the county attorney- informed Dickerson they believed Davis was legally insane at the time of the 2018 shooting. (The third was only asked to determine if Davis was restorable to competency for purposes of moving ahead with the prosecution.)

Defense attorney David Wilkison was assigned to the Davis case in early 2019. He spent months negotiating a Guilty Except Insane (GEI) plea deal which took the psychiatrists’ legal insanity diagnosis into consideration.

The GEI plea required Davis to spend 10.5-years in the Arizona State Hospital (ASH), without credit for the nearly three years already spent in jail. And if ever deemed releasable during that period, Davis would be transferred to the Arizona Department of Corrections to finish off his confinement due to the violent nature of his offense.

However, once Davis was restored to competency he was free to reject the GEI deal, which he did in October at the same time he asked Dickerson to remove Wilkison from the case.

On Nov. 30, Davis stood with his new attorney, Legal Advocate Xochitl Orozco, to plead No Contest to assaulting officers D.R. and J.R during the February 2018 incident. Then this week he was sentenced per provisions of a non-GEI plea deal which requires Davis to serve at least 85 percent of the prison term before being eligible for release.

With credit for time served, Davis will be likely be in prison for less than six years after which he serves probation. Dickerson warned Davis that non-compliance with probation could result in a return to prison for up to 12.5 years.
Powell, the prosecutor, told Arizona Daily Independent that the non-GEI plea deal Davis accepted was identical to one offered to the defendant early on in the case.

“This was an agreement supported by the officers involved and a recognition that although the defendant faced decades in prison at trial, a lesser term was warranted because of his documented mental health issues,” Powell said, adding that throughout the process Davis “repeatedly expressed a desire for closure.”

Under Arizona law, GEI is an affirmative defense when there is no doubt a defendant committed a criminal offense but the defendant’s mental condition at the time of the offense is called into question. Such GEI defenses are rarely approved by courts because it requires showing “by clear and convincing evidence” that a defendant suffered from a mental disease, defect, or condition so serious that the person could not appreciate the wrongfulness of the offense at the time.

“The condition must be of such severity that the defendant was unaware the criminal act was wrong,” says criminal defense attorney Bernardo Garcia, who was not involved in the Davis case. “Conditions such as withdrawal from alcohol or drugs, impulse control or psychosexual disorders do not constitute legal insanity. Likewise, conditions like sudden loss of control, passion, moral decadence, or depravity do not quality for GEI unless the defendant suffers from an underlying abnormality or a disease.”

Garcia, who is based in Phoenix, specializes in representing clients with mental health issues. He explained that in GEI cases involving acts of violence, a court orders the defendant confined for a period equal to the time that would have been served in prison if found guilty.

“The defendant will serve his term of confinement in a mental health facility rather than a state prison, during which the defendant will be placed under the jurisdiction of and periodically reviewed by the Psychiatric Security Review Board or PSRB,” Garcia explained. “If the review board finds the person to be restored to a mental state where they are safe to rejoin society, they may be conditionally released into the community. The PSRB will continue to maintain jurisdiction over the individual for the term of confinement.”

Editor’s Note- The article has been updated to reflect that the GEI plea deal would have required Davis to complete his confinement in prison, not in the community, if deemed releasable from ASH during the 10.5-year period