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Defendant In 5 Polk Slayings No Longer His Own Lawyer

News Channel 8 photo by PAUL C. LAMISON

Leon Davis is accused of gunning down two men outside a BP gas station near Lake Alfred on Dec. 7, then killing two women, one of them pregnant, a week later.

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By NATALIE SHEPHERD | News Channel 8

Published: November 20, 2008

Updated: 11/20/2008 05:01 pm

BARTOW - Judge Michael Hunter has granted Leon Davis' motion to dismiss his standby counsel, Stephen Fisher, in a pair of cases involving five slayings.

Hunter appointed Bartow lawyer Robert Norgard to represent Davis, who has been representing himself until today.

The judge told Davis, "This is a two-way street. I'm not going to suggest you haven't had difficulties in the past, but you have to make this work."

Fisher and Davis agreed they would not be able to work together. Davis told the court he had trouble reaching Fisher's office by phone.

Davis is accused of gunning down two men outside a BP gas station near Lake Alfred on Dec. 7. The men, Pravinkumar Patel and Dashrath Patel, were outside the store changing the gas-price sign when the shootings happened.

A week later, authorities say, Davis doused 26-year-old Yvonne Bustamante and her sister-in-law, Juanita "Jane" Luciano, with gasoline and ignited them. Bustamante was pregnant.

Investigators say Davis walked into a Nationwide Insurance office on Central Avenue in Lake Wales on Dec. 13 and attacked the women. Bustamante's son was delivered by Caesarean section but died.

Davis faces five counts of first-degree murder and is being held without bail.

Bustamante's aunt, Alicia Littleton, has been at all of Davis' hearings.

"It's important to me because I show that I love my niece and I care for what happened to her, and it's hard. It's not easy," she said.

Littleton is happy Davis decided to ask for a lawyer. She hopes the case will move along more quickly.

"I'm glad that it's -- I feel like it's going to go easier."

Investigators say both attacks happened during robbery attempts.

Reporter Natalie Shepherd can be reached at (813) 225-2703.

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