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Jury to hear witness threat case against Scott Davis
Testimony alleges witness intimidation
By Elise Franco
Youngstown
A witness-intimidation case against Scott Davis, brother of convicted murderer Michael Davis, was bound over to the Mahoning County grand jury.
Scott Davis, 19, of Silliman Street, was in Youngstown Municipal Court on Friday for a preliminary hearing on two counts of felony intimidation.
After hearing testimony from a witness and the Youngstown police detective working on the case, Judge Elizabeth Kobly sent the case to the grand jury.
Davis also is charged with unauthorized use of property, assault, aggravated menacing, resisting arrest and obstruction of official business and is scheduled to appear on those charges Jan. 4 before Judge Robert Milich of Youngstown Municipal Court.
He remains in the Mahoning County jail on $100,000 bond.
Randy Altman testified during the hearing Friday and told Judge Kobly that Davis threatened him and his fiancee Nov. 29, during and immediately after a court hearing in Judge Milich’s courtroom on the aggravated-menacing charge.
Altman, the alleged victim of menacing, said he’d been subpoenaed by the court to attend the hearing. He said that while Davis was sitting in the courtroom, he turned to Altman’s fiancee and mouthed obscenities to her.
“I read his lips,” Altman said. “He said he was going to ‘hurt her.’”
He said Davis also quietly addressed the two of them as he was being escorted out of the courtroom.
“He looked at me and said he was going to [expletive] kill me,” Altman said.
A police report was filed with Youngstown police after the hearing.
Youngstown police Detective Sgt. William Blanchard also testified Friday, stating that though he didn’t hear what was said, he did observe Davis speaking to someone while walking out of the courtroom.
“I saw him make a statement to someone as I was leading him out of the courtroom,” Blanchard said. “He had a very scowling look on his face.”
Davis’ younger brother, James Davis, 18, also faces misdemeanor charges of aggravated menacing, disorderly conduct, assault, obstruction of official business and resisting arrest. His bond is $40,000. He also is due back in court Jan. 4 before Judge Milich.
Michael A. Davis is serving time in prison for setting the East Side house fire that killed six people Jan. 23, 2008. He received a 310-year sentence from Judge R. Scott Krichbaum of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.