STORY: "Appeals court orders new trial for Dennis Davis" by reporters Brandi Grissom and Jody Serrano, published by the Texas Tribune on August 30, 2013.
GIST: "A Texas appeals court
on Friday ordered a new trial for Dennis Davis, who is serving 36 years in prison for the 1985 murder of Natalie Antonetti of Austin. In an opinion, the 3rd Court of Appeals agreed with Davis' assertion
that his trial counsel was ineffective and did not present witness
testimony relevant to the case, among other claims. Davis said his
counsel did not offer evidence of a neighbor who claims he saw another
person — not Davis — holding a club or small bat at Antonetti's home the
morning she was bludgeoned to death. "Because we conclude that Davis has established that his counsel's
performance fell below an objective standard of reasonableness and
prejudiced his defense, we will reverse the trial court's judgment and
remand this cause for a new trial," according to Friday's court
opinion.........Last year, Travis County prosecutors convicted Dennis Davis of the
murder after chasing down tips from his estranged wife and a string of
ex-girlfriends. A jury agreed with prosecutors that Davis had been
abusive and jealous and flew into a rage and bashed Antonetti’s head in
with a bat as she slept on her couch on Oct. 13, 1985. But the case against Davis, now 62, was based largely on the
testimony of people recounting events more than two decades old. Less
than a year after Davis was sentenced to 36 years in prison, Travis
County prosecutors are re-examining the case, searching for DNA that
might answer new questions about whether another man — one whose DNA has
been connected to two eerily similar killings — could be linked to
Antonetti’s murder.........Just months after Davis began his sentence,
Michael Morton
was exonerated in the 1986 murder of his wife, Christine Morton. He had
served 25 years of a life sentence. New DNA evidence showed that
another man,
Mark Norwood, was linked to the crime. Norwood’s DNA was also found at the scene of the unsolved 1988 murder of Debra Masters Baker. Norwood, a 57-year-old Bastrop dishwasher, faces trial in
ChristineMorton’s murder and remains a suspect in the Baker murder. His
lawyer, Russell Hunt Jr., has said Norwood has denies killing anyone. Just like Antonetti, the other two women were bludgeoned in the head
as they slept. The assailant entered their homes in the early morning
hours through unlocked doors. Little or nothing was stolen, and none of
the women were sexually assaulted. The three women were all brunettes in
their 30s. And each of the murders occurred on the 13th day of the
month. The women also lived in close proximity to Norwood, who worked as a
handyman and carpet installer in the 1980s. Norwood lived about 12 miles
from Morton, a few blocks from Baker and about nine miles from
Antonetti. After reading about the striking similarities in a Texas Tribune
report,
Pryor said the district attorney’s office decided to re-examine the
evidence in the Antonetti case. Items from the crime scene, including
clothes and furniture coverings, will be examined to determine if enough
DNA exists to test the biological material and compare it to Norwood’s
DNA. “In any murder case you’re going to get some weird
coincidences,” Pryor said. “DNA is where we should put the weight if we
have it and not coincidences.” McDonald said he hopes that if investigators find
DNA, they also compare it to Odem. Meanwhile, he is preparing to file an
appeal of Davis’ conviction arguing that there was too little evidence
to find him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt."
The entire story can be found at: