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Judge Seals Arrest Record Of Man Freed In Slaying Case

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By ELAINE SILVESTRINI | The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 12, 2008

Updated: 08/12/2008 05:47 pm

TAMPA - He wasn't convicted of anything, but Itiba Davis's life was wrecked after he was charged with murder.

Now he hopes a judge's ruling sealing his arrest record will help make things right.

Davis was cleared and released from jail after serving several months awaiting trial on a murder charge.

Actually, it was "exactly 273 days in jail," said Itiba Ikido Davis. "It turned my life completely upside down. It changed everything for me. Nothing is the same since then. It's all hard."

Prosecutors decided two years ago they couldn't go forward with a murder charge against Davis, 24, after three eyewitnesses recanted their statements implicating him in the July 24, 2005, slaying of Rodney Valery, who was shot in the back as he walked out of Tropix nightclub on East Skagway Avenue.

Although he was never convicted, after he was released from jail, Davis had a hard time finding a place to live because the arrest turned up on background checks when he tried to rent apartments, said his attorney, Daniel J. Fernandez.

"When I would go apply for a job or an apartment, they would say this and that about the arrest," Davis said. "I would tell them I wasn't convicted." They would still ask questions. He took a letter from his attorney, and that didn't answer the questions. "I wasn't convicted, so I don't understand why it would be so hard still," he said.

He said he lost out on about three apartments and about four jobs. He's staying with someone now and hopes the court ruling will help him get a place of his own. "I know it will be a better chance for me," he said.

He said he's looking for warehouse work. "I'm looking for offers now" in shipping and receiving or pulling orders.

The ruling "makes me very happy," Davis said after the ruling. "I'm glad for Danny. He's the best attorney in the world. He worked real hard for me."

Fernandez told Judge Manuel Lopez that Davis was "1,000 percent cooperative" with police and took multiple lie detector tests to clear his name. Police are looking at other suspects, Fernandez said.

Assistant Hillsborough County State Attorney Ron Gale said Davis was legally eligible to have his record sealed. Gale said that although he had no legal basis to object, he wanted the judge to know the victim's family didn't want the record sealed.

Without commenting, Lopez granted the defense request.

After the brief hearing, Fernandez said Davis is "respectful" and "trying to make his way" in life.

The victim, Valery, was shot twice in the back.

Police initially suspected a man who, like Valery, was from the Virgin Islands and had drug arrests on his record. That man was ruled out.

Valery's brother mentioned a second possible suspect, but police couldn't find a connection to Valery's death. The investigation, however, led to that man's brother -- Itiba Davis, another Virgin Islands native.

Witnesses initially identified Davis as the shooter.

When Davis spoke with detectives, he waived his right to an attorney and told police he was home with his sick girlfriend the night Valery died. The next morning, he said, the couple went to Tampa General Hospital. Police verified he was at the hospital by 8 a.m. Davis and his girlfriend passed lie detector tests, police reports state.

He was arrested in August 2005. The charges were dropped in May 2006.

"I wouldn't say he's bitter or angry," Fernandez said. "He's doing the best he can to cope with some very difficult memories. To be in a jail cell 24 hours a day with nothing to do but think you're an innocent man, that's pretty difficult to deal with."

Fernandez said he hopes Davis has a good life. "Hopefully, he'll define himself by the best that is in him, not the worst that has happened to him."

Reporter Elaine Silvestrini can be reached at (813) 259-7837 or esilvestrini@tampatrib.com.

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