By Alicia Cruz
The Black Urban Times
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| Photo/memorytorch.net |
The trial of the Fayetteville man accused of murdering and raping five-year-old Shaniya Davis in 2009 is underway after Superior Court Judge Jim Ammons ruled that 32-year-old Mario Andrette McNeil is capable of helping in his defense.
Jurors heard opening statements before a packed courtroom in the McNeill murder trial held at the Cumberland County courthouse almost two weeks ago. Almost immediately, Ammons ceased the proceedings in order to ascertain the mental stability of McNeil and declare if he was able to assist in his own defense.
Prior to the start of opening statements, Ammons ruled last Monday on a motion by McNeill's lawyers to prevent prosecutors from telling the jury that McNeill knew where Shaniya's body had been hidden. He said the state can tell jurors that McNeil's first two attorneys, Allen Rogers and Cory Brewer, told Fayetteville police where to find Shaniya's body, and may say those attorneys represented McNeil, but may not say where the information came from.
The ruling is based on attorney-client privilege. The judge said McNeil offered the information in expectation of a benefit (having the death penalty taken off table) that did not exist. He ruled there was never a deal presented by police or state prosecutors in exchange for information, despite what Brewer and Rogers advised him.
During their opening statements, prosecutors stated that evidence would reveal how McNeil sent text messages to several women during the early morning hours of November 10, 2009, the night Shaniya went missing. Two of the women he sent text messages to resided in the Sleepy Hollow mobile home park near Sleepy Hollow Dr and Murchison Rd in Fayetteville.
The state contends that McNeil, who lived in a home with his child's mother at the time of the kidnapping and murder, left his home intoxicated and under the influence of cocaine. He headed to the trailer home in Sleepy Hollow reportedly to have sex with one of the women in the home, but she was asleep by the time McNeil arrived. The woman was Brenda Davis, the maternal aunt of little Shaniya Davis.
After this, the state says the accused then entered the trailer home, where Shaniya lived with the aunt McNeil texted, the Aunt's boyfriend and two children, Shaniya's mother, and brother.
McNeil then allegedly removed Shaniya from the home and took her to a motel in Sanford, N.C. where he told the desk clerk that Shaniya was his daughter and that the two were en route to Virginia to see the child's mother.
It was at this time that McNeil was caught on surveillance camera carrying Shainya to an elevator in the motel. Prosecutors say he allegedly raped the child in the room and then took her out to a desolate area off N.C. Highway 7 along Walker Road in Lee County to dispose of her body. A subsequent autopsy ruled Shaniya’s cause of death as asphyxiation. She had also been raped.
At the time of her horrific death, Shaniya was spending time with her mother after a lengthy estrangement. Shaniya's father, Bradley Lockhart, allowed Shaniya to spend time with Davis, who gave birth to another child following her arrest.
McNeil's defense attorneys maintained that their client simply thought he was helping the family by taking Shaniya to a motel in Sanford, but is unaware of what occurred after that.
Prosecutors also claimed that pornographic images of a minor were found on McNeill’s cell phone at the time of his arrest. McNeill, however, denied that the female in the raunchy pictures was a minor, adding that they were photographs of his then-girlfriend, Brends Davis, Shaniya's aunt, whom admitted she dated McNeil for more than 2 months prior to the murder of her niece. Brenda Davis denies the photos found depict her.
The discovery of the alleges pornographic photographs only added to McNeil's mounting legal woes since police added second and third-degree child sexual exploitation charges,in addition to the charges he faced for Shaniya's murder, kidnapping and rape.
In regards to Shaniya's murder, McNeil is charged with first-degree rape of a child, first--degree murder, first-degree kidnapping, human trafficking with a child victim, sexual servitude with a child victim, sexual offense of a child and indecent liberties with a child.
Prosecutors except the trial to last at least three weeks as they present approximately 357 exhibits of the crime. There are eight women and four men on the jury, with three of the four alternates being women.
Shaniya's mother, Antoinette Davis also faces charges that she allegedly sold her daughter into sexual slavery in order to pay a purported drug debt. Davis had no criminal record and was gainfully employed at a nursing home whn she was arrested for her role in the murder of her daughter.
Davis was released in 2010 from the Central Women’s Prison in Raleigh, but has not responded to repeated requests for an interview. She remains free in lieu of a $51,000 bond.
The Black Urban Times spoke with a legal assistant at the office of Davis' attorney, D.W. Bray and was told that Davis is still facing filing a false police report, resisting a public official (both misdemeanors), child abuse for the purpose of prostitution and human trafficking a child victim, both felonies.
No word on a trial date for Davis.
Judge Ammons denied requests by McNeil's lawyers to delay the trial for 60 days, as well as a request to drop the possibility of the death penalty. Jury election began in February 2013.
***Alicia Cruz is a published journalist having worked for several print and online media outlets such as the Halifax Media Group, Daily News; the New Jersey Newsroom, the Black Urban Times, Yahoo News, CNN iReport and others. Miss Cruz set record high numbers for her coverage of the Shaniya Davis story,the devastating earthquake in Haiti and later, Murder in Memphis: The Monique Johnson Story. Miss Cruz hails from the South Bronx, New York. A former military wife, avid traveler and her drive to expand community journalism and her education has taken her to many cities within the U.S. Our dedicated contributor/reporter, the mother of three, currently resides in Southern New Jersey with her Fiance, a Senior ranking U.S. Marine and decorated veteran of the Gulf War, Desert Storm, Operation Iraqi Freedom and Afghanistan. Follow her articles and leave her messages if you have press releases or news items to publish. editor@theblackurbantimes.com or nj.newsroom.cruz@gmail.com
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