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Cutts Verdict

(Charge, description, verdict, possible sentence)

• Count 1--Aggravated Murder for Jessie's death: NOT GUILTY, FOUND GUILTY ON LESSER CHARGE OF MURDER (15 years to life)
• Count 2--Aggravated Murder for causing termination of Jessie Davis' pregnancy: GUILTY (Death penalty or life in prison)
• Count 3 --Aggravated Murder for death of unborn daughter, Chloe: GUILTY (Death penalty or life in prison)
• Count 4--Aggravated Burglary for trespassing into Jessie Davis' home: GUILTY (10 years)
• Count 5 & 6--Gross Abuse of a Corpse involving treatment of corpse of Jessie Davis and her unborn child:GUILTY & GUILTY (1 year each count)
• Count 7--Child Endangering for leaving Blake Davis home unattended: GUILTY (6 months)

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CANTON -- Former Canton police officer, Bobby Cutts Jr., has been convicted in a Canton courtroom for the murder last summer of his pregnant girlfriend, Jessie Davis, and the aggravated murder of his unborn daughter, Chloe.

The jury returned its verdict mid-morning on Friday. It was the fourth day of deliberations and the jury had collectively debated the charges for a total of 24 hours across those four days.

The verdicts (see above for exact details) were read in open court at around 10:45 a.m.

Cutts showed little emotion during the reading of the verdicts.

Before deliberations began, the judge instructed the jury they could consider lesser murder charges against Cutts, which do not carry the same legal specifications as aggravated murder, including premeditation. Murder does not carry the death penalty as a potential punishment. The jury chose to use this option on the first count, which involved Jessie's Davis' death.

The jury however went on to find Cutts guilty on the remaining charges including two counts of Aggravated Murder for the unlawful termination of Jessie's pregnancy and the death of their unborn daughter, Chloe. Cutts now faces the possibility of a death sentence for the conviction on those two counts.

Doris Harmon, a friend of the Cutts family spoke to Channel 3 afterwards. "I can't really say that I feel like he deserved death, because I don't feel anybody really deserved death. But I know if you take the life of someone else that you have to consider someone else taking yours." Harmon added, "Only thing I can say is that I'm praying for both families."

The jury also convicted Cutts on aggravated burglary for breaking into Jessie's house to commit the attack and two counts of abuse of a corpse for Jessie and Chloe. The jury also convicted Cutts on child endangering for leaving his son Blake alone in Jessie's home after her murder.

It was Blake's heartbreaking words to his grandmother, Patricia Porter, that made blood run cold. Porter went to Jessie's home when she could not locate her daughter. She says she found Blake alone, in a dirty diaper and when asked where his mother was, Blake replied, "Mommy in rug. Daddy's mad." The judge ruled that those words from little Blake, who is now in the custody of his maternal grandmother, were admissable in court.

Jessie had last been seen alive on June 13th in surveillance pictures at a North Canton area grocery store.

Jessie's disappearance captured national headlines and brought in EquuSearch, a nationally known volunteer organization that has helped in dozens of missing persons searches, including the search for Natalee Holloway in Aruba.

The team brought in its specially trained searchers, including dogs and horses and high tech equipment. People by the thousands, moved by Jessie's disappearance, also turned out to help. They scoured the area near Jessie's home for days. At one point, Cutts himself turned up to help search.

Nine days after the search began, Bobby Cutts Jr. led police to Jessie's body in a park in Summit County. The body which had been wrapped in a comforter and left under the scorching summer sun was badly decomposed by the time it was located. Medical Examiners say they could not determine exactly how Jessie died, but ruled the death a homicide.

Cutts tearfully testified during the trial that he accidentally killed Davis by putting an elbow to her throat during a dispute. But prosecutors said he strangled her to avoid paying more child support.

Prosecutors hammered Cutts on the stand on why he never called 9-1-1 to help Jessie or the baby, why he misled investigators and why it took him 9 days to finally take authorities to the body, ending the anguish of Jessie's family. Cutts testified that he had had "a week of bad decisions."

The prosecution's case hinged on the testimony of Cutts' high school friend, Myisha Ferrell, who Cutts contacted after Jessie's murder to enlist her help in hiding the body.

Ferrell cut a plea deal and was given a two year prison sentence in exchange for testifying against Cutts.

The verdicts today are not the end of this case. The same jurors must now come back at the end of February to begin the mitigation phase. It is essentially another trial, which will include witnesses. The purpose of the mitigation phase is for the jury to decide whether to recommend the death penalty or life in prison on the aggravated murder convictions.

Once the jury makes it recommendation, the judge will then impose sentence (but may take the recommendation under advisement for a few days first).

If a jury recommends life in prison over the death penalty, the judge cannot impose the death sentence on his own. However, if the jury recommends the death penalty, the judge could choose to impose a life in prison sentence instead. This would be exceptionally rare. In most all cases, the judge follows the will of the jury.

It is to be assumed that Cutts' defense team will file an appeal.

The jury contained no minorities.

Cutts will remain behind bars at the Stark County Jail where he has been incarcerated since being taken into custody back on June 23, 2007, the day Jessie's body was recovered.

The mitigation or sentencing phase of the trial is scheduled to begin on February 25th.

Following the verdict, Cutts' laywer, Fernando Mack told reporters that his client was doing "okay" after the conviction. Mack said he could not comment further because the gag order imposed by the judge remains in place prohibiting the players in the case from talking to the media.

Court observers however were talking after the verdict, where the opinions on whether Cutts should be given the death penalty varied.

One man who didn't give his name said, "[I] feel sorry for him, both families, you know. It's a very tragic thing. But justice has to be prevailed, ya know. So really, I have sympathy for both families."

One unidentified woman said emphatically, "He should pay with his life. Absolutely." But another had a different opinion saying, "I don't believe in a life for a life. Two lives were lost already."

Another man on the street told Channel 3, "I think he'll get what he deserves, I really do. It's a shame. It's bad enough what happened to her, but she's nine months pregnant and I could never imagine ever doing something like that."

While another said he felt the jury did the best it could, in such an emotionally charged case, "I feel they made a fair decision, presented with the facts. And I'm really happy with the effort they put forward in this process."

© 2009 WKYC-TV/The Associated Press