Ahliyah Nachelle Irvin- Prosecutors are Seeking the Death Penalty!! Trial was to start in March, now moved to Oct. 7. See more below.

Silvahalo . She was a beautiful girl.

lindamarie wrote:Silvahalo . She was a beautiful girl.

Yes she was. Only one Ahliyah Irvin.

In :45 min. she was dead and gone.
Rest in peace precious one.

Davis bound over in murder, rape of child
Posted: June 13, 2012 - 10:43am

By Steve Fry
THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL
Relatives and friends of an 8-year-old girl gasped Wednesday when they heard what the child said to her attacker as he allegedly sexually assaulted her and when the man told a detective he beat the child in the face to silence her.

Following Wednesday’s testimony at a two-day preliminary hearing, Shawnee County District Court Judge David Debenham ordered Billy Frank Davis Jr. to stand trial on:

■ Two alternative counts of capital murder in the killing of Ahliyah Nachelle Irvin.

■ The first-degree murder of Ahliyah.

■ Rape.

■ Aggravated kidnapping.

■ Two counts of aggravated burglary.

■ Burglary.

Debenham also certified Davis to be tried on two counts of misdemeanor criminal damage to property.

Debenham will arraign Davis at 9 a.m. Tuesday.

The last witness to testify, Topeka police Detective Scott Dickey, said Davis admitted to kidnapping and choking Ahliyah in the basement of an apartment at 2413 S.E. Belleview, Apt. F.

“Why are you doing this to me?” Ahliyah asked Davis as he sexually assaulted her, Dickey testified.

After he was apprehended in a creek in the 4000 block of S.E. Truman on the morning of March 13, Dickey interviewed Davis. Davis first said he didn't remember anything, then admitted kidnapping the girl from an apartment at 2421 S.E. Belleview and taking her to a basement in an apartment at 2413 S.E. Belleview.

When she wouldn't quiet down, "he placed her in a naked choke hold, and she got quiet," Dickey said on questioning from District Attorney Chad Taylor.

But on cross-examination by defense attorney Mark Manna, Dickey said Davis told him he thought she was asleep after he choked her because she was snoring, and when he placed her in a clothes dryer, she was still alive.

Davis had seen lights outside the apartment so he stuffed her in the dryer, the detective said. After police left, Davis intended to remove her from the apartment and transport her elsewhere either to dump her body or drop her off alive, Dickey said.

"He told me that his intention was that he was going to take her out and she wouldn't remember" the events, Dickey said on questioning by Manna.

Dickey testified Davis told him he was suffering a flashback to his military service in Iraq and at times on the night of March 12 and 13, he thought he was back in Iraq clearing a house during combat.

Davis told Dickey he suffered post-traumatic stress disorder and sometimes couldn't remember things. Davis also said he was drunk after drinking a bottle of vodka and was high from using cocaine the night of the assault.

Earlier Wednesday, Shawnee County coroner Donald Pojman testified Ahliyah may have asphyxiated after she was placed into the dryer. As the coroner testified, the child’s mother, Angela Ortega, cried in the arms of a sister.

On cross-examination, Pojman testified Ahliyah may have been choked into unconsciousness and put into the dryer, where she asphyxiated because of the compression of her body.

Ahliyah also suffered scrapes and bruises on her face, cuts and bruises inside her lips, scrapes on her neck and chest, and injuries to the genital and anal areas, and she was missing a tooth, Pojman said.

In other testimony, Carey Ziegler, a Kansas Bureau of Investigation forensic biologist, said that based on tests of swabs collected from various sites, she “could not exclude” the defendant by sometimes high numbers.

A sample taken from a pair of adult blue underwear showed there was a 1 in 14 trillion chance the defendant couldn’t be excluded from contributing the seminal fluid, and there was a 1 in 11 sextillion chance the victim couldn’t be excluded from blood found on the underwear.

In testifying, Ziegler noted there are 6 billion to 7 billion people on earth.

On questioning by Manna, Ziegler said no seminal fluid was recovered by using a rape kit on the victim. Dickey said Davis told him he manually sexually assaulted the victim.

Ziegler said she performed examinations on seven samples: four from the underwear and one each from a back door, a wall and a window grate.

Linda Kriner, a friend of the victim's family, said she was happy with the work of Taylor and deputy district attorney Jacqie Spradling in getting Davis bound over for trial.

But when Manna blamed PTSD and mental illness for Davis' conduct, "it's very hard for me to watch him play that card," Kriner said. "To use PTSD and mental illness, it's pouring salt into the wound."

Kriner, the sister of Melinda Weeden, who is the best friend of the Ahliyah's mother, attended the two-day preliminary hearing.

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THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
June 19, 2012 - 11:09 am EDT

TOPEKA, Kan. — The Shawnee County District Attorney plans to seek the death penalty against a Topeka man who is charged with killing an 8-year-old neighbor girl whose body was found in a clothes dryer.

District Attorney Chad Taylor notified attorneys for Billy Frank Davis Jr. on Tuesday that he will seek the death penalty for the March death of Ahliyah Machelle Irvin.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports (http://bit.ly/Msdiea) the decision was announced after an arraignment hearing for Davis. He pleaded not guilty to 10 charges including first-degree murder, two alternative counts of capital murder and rape. The trial was scheduled to begin March 4, 2013.

Relatives said the girl was sleeping when she was snatched from her apartment. Her body was found after a brief search of her housing complex.

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___

Prosecutors to seek death penalty in child's murder

Posted: June 19, 2012 - 9:48am

By Steve Fry
THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL
Prosecutors from the Shawnee County District Attorney’s office handed the formal notice to Billy Frank Davis Jr.’s defense attorney Tuesday morning, saying they were seeking the death penalty in the slaying of Ahliyah Nachell Irvin, 8, whose body was found in a clothes dryer in the basement of an apartment.

District Attorney Chad Taylor walked to the defense table to hand the four-page notice to attorney Mark Manna at the end of the hearing to arraign Davis on Tuesday.

Aggravating circumstances listed by the district attorney to seek the death penalty if Davis is convicted of capital murder are: the defendant committed the crime to avoid or prevent arrest or prosecution; the defendant committed the crime in an “especially heinous, atrocious or cruel manner;” and the victim was killed because of her prospective performance as a witness in a criminal case.

Davis waived being tried within 180 days. District Judge David Debenham scheduled a three-week bloc starting March 4, 2013, for a trial.

Except for the first count, Davis pled not guilty to the 10 charges. When Debenham asked for his plea to count 1, which is an alternative charge of capital murder, Davis first said "innocent," but quickly corrected himself to say "not guilty."

About 40 spectators, all of them family and friends of the dead child, watched the proceedings. Randy Irvin, the father of the child, and Angela Ortega, the mother of the child, held hands as Davis made his plea.

The 10 counts with which Davis has been charged include:

■ Two alternative counts of capital murder in the killing of Ahliyah.

■ The first-degree murder of the child.

■ Rape.

■ Aggravated kidnapping.

■ Two counts of aggravated burglary.

■ Burglary.

Debenham also has certified Davis to be tried on two counts of misdemeanor criminal damage to property.

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Posted: Tue 10:25 PM, Sep 25, 2012A A Reporter: Melissa Brunner Email

TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) - The attorney for the man accused of raping and killing an eight year old girl wants his trial moved out of Shawnee County.

Billy Frank Davis is charged with capital murder in the March death of Ahliyah Irvin.

Attorney Mark Manna wants statements Davis made to investigators withheld, saying they were not voluntary. Court documents show it's among 24 motions in all that Manna has filed. The change of venue request is another.

Other motions include requests Davis be allowed to appear in civilian clothing and without restraints, and that so-called gruesome photographs not be shown in the trial.

Manna also asks that he be allowed to question the cost effectiveness of the death penalty, while another motion deals with challenging prospective jurors based on their religious opposition to the death penalty.

Davis has a pre-trail hearing January 14. His jury trial is set to begin March 4th.

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Posted: October 10, 2012 - 6:09pm

JUNE 2012 FILE PHOTO/THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL
During a June 2012 preliminary hearing, District Attorney Chad Taylor presented formal notice to the attorney representing Billy Frank Davis Jr. that the prosecution would seek the death penalty in the slaying of Ahliyah Nachell Irvin, 8, whose body was found in a clothes dryer in the basement of an apartment.
CHARGES AGAINST BILLY FRANK DAVIS JR.:
■ Two alternative counts of capital murder in the killing of Ahliyah.
■ First-degree murder of the child.
■ Rape.
■ Aggravated kidnapping.
■ Two counts of aggravated burglary.
■ Burglary.
■ Two counts of misdemeanor criminal damage to property.

By Steve Fry
THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL
Statements capital murder defendant Billy Frank Davis Jr. made to Topeka police following the slaying of 8-year-old Ahliyah Nachelle Irvin in March should be excluded from his trial, a defense attorney contends.

Statements by Davis were coerced from him and were involuntary, attorney Julia Spainhour said in a motion seeking to suppress the statements.

Spainhour said Davis, who was questioned by Topeka police for six hours, was suffering a mental disorder and distress, as well as alcohol and cocaine withdrawal.

That means his statements weren't freely and voluntarily made, "but were a product of the coercive actions of the interrogating detectives," Spainhour said.

In opposing suppression of Davis' statements, chief deputy district attorney Jacqie Spradling countered that his actions on the night the child was kidnapped, sexually assaulted and killed "demonstrate a clear thought process during the commission of his crimes and discussion with law enforcement."

The motion to suppress statements is among a series of motions filed by the defense before Davis goes before a Shawnee County District Court jury.

Davis, 29, next is to appear in court on Jan. 14, 2013, for a motion hearing. His projected three-week jury trial is to start March 4, 2013. If convicted of the child’s slaying, Davis could face the death penalty.

In the suppression motion, the defense said Davis "repeatedly" told police:

■ He suffered from mental disorders and memory loss, which were triggered by alcohol and cocaine in the past.

■ He didn't remember events occurring after he drank large amounts of alcohol and consumed a large amount of cocaine.

Spainhour contends the Davis statements must be suppressed because prosecutors can't show he understood his constitutional rights to remain silent and to have a lawyer present or that he understood giving up those rights.

Spainhour also contends police questioning was coercive because Davis was functioning under the influence of alcohol, cocaine, and mental disorder and distress.

"Under the particular circumstance of this interrogation, the police tactics and methods used upon Mr. Davis' weakened, irrational and disordered mind coerced Mr. Davis to make statements and produce memories which were not voluntary, accurate or reliable," Spainhour said.

Spradling cited a series of cases in which the judge said a homicide defendant's confession to police after he consumed drugs and alcohol was voluntarily and freely given. One judge noted the defendant was intelligent enough to "attempt to rid himself" of responsibility through evasive tactics.

"Therefore, this defendant's statements to law enforcement should be admitted," Spradling said.

In another motion, Davis asked District Judge David Debenham to move the trial outside of Shawnee County, adding the defense would provide testimony to support the request when the motion is heard.

Spradling asked Debenham to deny the motion "as an unsubstantiated and unproven request."

Spradling said Kansas law allows a trial to be moved outside the county where the case is pending if the judge determines there is "so great a prejudice against the defendant that he cannot obtain a fair and impartial trial in that county."

The defense burden to move the trial must be proven by "demonstrable reality and not mere speculation," Spradling said, citing case law.

Other defense motions included whether Davis can appear in court in civilian clothing, defense opposition to showing photographs of the victim before she was killed and after her death, court orders to ensure decorum in the courtroom so that Davis receives a fair trial, the selection of jurors, and several motions dealing with sentencing if Davis were convicted.

During a preliminary hearing, a police witness testified that in an interview with a police detective, Davis first said he didn't remember anything, then admitted kidnapping Ahliyah from an apartment at 2421 S.E. Belleview and taking her to a basement in an apartment at 2413 S.E. Belleview.

When she wouldn't quiet down, he choked her, she became quiet, then he stuffed her into a clothes dryer, the police witness said.

Davis told the detective he suffers post-traumatic stress disorder, was experiencing a flashback to his military service in Iraq, and at times on the night of March 12 and 13 he thought he was clearing a house during combat.

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Defendant charged in rape, kidnap, killing of 8-year-old

Posted: January 14, 2013 - 12:27pm
By Steve Fry
THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL

Based on a defense request, the March 4 jury trial of capital murder defendant Billy Frank Davis Jr. was postponed on Monday for nine months.

The four-week trial of Davis, who is charged with choking an 8-year-old Topeka girl to death, will start Oct. 7, Shawnee County District Court Judge David Debenham ruled during a pretrial hearing for Davis.

But the lengthy jury selection process to choose 12 jurors and five alternate jurors will start two weeks earlier when 300 prospective jurors will come to the Shawnee County Courthouse to fill out questionnaires.

Davis is charged with:

■ Two alternative counts of capital murder in the killing of Ahliyah Nachelle Irvin, of Topeka.

■ One count of first-degree murder of the child.

■ Rape.

■ Aggravated kidnapping.

■ Two counts of aggravated burglary.

■ Burglary.

■ Two counts of misdemeanor criminal damage to property.

If convicted of the child’s slaying, Davis could face the death penalty.

Defense attorney Mark Manna sought the postponement because the defense would be "fundamentally unprepared" to handle the guilt stage and sentencing phase of the capital case if the trial started March 4.

In a capital murder case, jurors first decide whether to convict a defendant. If they do, jurors then decide whether to recommend the judge invoke the death penalty on the defendant.

The defense team of two attorneys and an investigator are collecting the defendant's military and medical treatment records, Manna said. Defense attorneys have records from Fort Riley but not from other sites, including Germany and Fort Benning, Ga., he said.

Manna said he hoped a third attorney would be assigned to the Davis case to act as a mitigation investigator.

District Attorney Chad Taylor, one of two prosecutors handling the case, said his office didn't object to postponement of the trial.

On Sept. 23 and 24, 150 prospective jurors will be called to the courthouse each day to complete the questionnaires. Those reporting for duty will be assigned to several courtrooms to fill out the forms.

"What we need is 300 people to show up on those two days," Debenham said. The trial is expected to last about four weeks.

When jury selection starts Oct. 7, small panels of prospective jurors first will be asked about their general qualifications to serve as jurors. Then they will be questioned individually about their beliefs about the death penalty and what each knows about details of the crime.

Jury selection is expected to take about one week.

During a two-day preliminary hearing in June, a police witness testified that in an interview with a detective, Davis first said he didn't remember anything, then admitted kidnapping Ahliyah from an apartment at 2421 S.E. Belleview and taking her to a basement in an apartment at 2413 S.E. Belleview.

When she wouldn't quiet down, he choked her, she became quiet, then he stuffed her into a clothes dryer, the police witness said.

Davis told the detective he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, was experiencing a flashback to his military service in Iraq, and at times on the night of March 12 and 13 he thought he was clearing a house during combat.

On Monday, Debenham denied a defense motion to move the Davis trial to another county because there "simply" wasn't evidence that there is so much prejudice that Davis couldn't receive a fair trial in Shawnee County.

Manna didn't conduct a venue study to determine there was bias in Shawnee County against his client because the Northeast Kansas Conflicts Office didn't have the funds to do the study, he said.

Manna urged the judge to not allow prosecutors to display gruesome photographs during the trial because it would predjudicial to Davis. Debenham scheduled a hearing in September when photographs to be shown during the trial will be examined.

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Posted: March 12, 2013 - 5:33pm


Ahliyah Irvin, 8, was killed March 13, 2012, in Topeka. Billy Frank Davis Jr., of Topeka, has been charged in connection with the little girl's death.

By Ann Marie Bush
THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL

Sherry Mason remembers the last day she saw her 8-year-old niece.

It was March 4, 2012.

“There was something wrong with her,” Mason said. “That’s why my heart hurts.”

Mason didn’t have a chance to find out what was wrong with the little brown-eyed girl because nine days later Ahliyah Nachelle Irvin was sexually assaulted, choked and placed in a clothes dryer.

It has been one year since Ahliyah was killed — one year that the family has waited for justice, Mason said.

“It’s been hell,” she said. “It’s as if it were just yesterday. I still have tears. It was such a big loss.”

Billy Frank Davis Jr., 29, of Topeka, has been charged with:

■ Two alternative counts of capital murder in the killing of Ahliyah.

■ One count of first-degree murder of the child.

■ Rape.

■ Aggravated kidnapping.

■ Two counts of aggravated burglary.

■ Burglary.

■ Two counts of misdemeanor criminal damage to property.

If convicted of the child’s slaying, Davis could face the death penalty.

Mason and Erica Kilgore, who also is Ahliyah’s aunt, said the family is still waiting for answers. And while the community has moved on, Ahliyah’s mother, aunts and siblings can’t.

SMILES AND LAUGHTER
Ahliyah loved Hello Kitty, Justin Bieber and painting her fingernails.

“She was definitely a girly girl,” Mason said. “She loved to dress up.”

But she wasn’t afraid to put on a pair of jeans and play with the boys.

“She smiled every day,” Kilgore said. “If you had a bad day, Ahliyah would brighten it just with her smile alone.”

Ahliyah was born Feb. 8, 2004, in Topeka, to Angela Ortega and Randy M. Irvin Sr. She had two sisters and two brothers, including Randy, 7, who now lives with Mason.

Ahliyah was a second-grader at Highland Park Central Elementary School. The family had moved several times, and at the time of her death, she and her siblings had been staying with a family friend at the Highland Park Townhomes.

Family members described Ahliyah’s last day as normal. She had gone to school, played outside and eaten dinner before falling asleep on the main floor of the townhome.

Between 4:35 and 4:40 a.m., Angela Ortega, Ahliyah’s mother, discovered her daughter was missing.

The police were notified shortly after 4:45 a.m.

Family members and friends frantically scoured the complex. They said they knocked on doors, including the one where Davis was staying.

Police arrived, and family members and friends waited.

An officer found Ahliyah’s body at the complex about 45 minutes later.

DAY TO DAY
Mason and Kilgore said the family gets by “day to day.” Ortega isn’t living in Topeka any more.

“Once a week, she breaks down,” Mason said of her sister. “She is really, really hurting.”

Attempts to reach Ortega were unsuccessful.

Ahliyah’s brother Randy has been “fearful, scared and mad,” Mason said.

“He doesn’t really want to enjoy his life any more,” Kilgore said.

Randy designed his sister’s headstone, but hadn’t been to the cemetery to see it until Feb. 8, the day his sister would have turned 9. Kilgore bought six Hello Kitty balloons for Ahliyah’s birthday, and family members took turns writing on them with permanent marker.

Mason had promised Randy he wouldn’t have to visit his sister’s grave until he was ready. He accompanied the family on Ahliyah’s birthday, but he told Mason he didn’t want to ever go back. It is too difficult for him.

BILLY FRANK DAVIS JR.
Records show Davis was serving two years of intensive supervised probation when Ahliyah was killed.

Shawnee County District Court Judge Mark Braun sentenced Davis on March 5, 2012, after he pleaded no contest to aggravated assault and aggravated battery. The convictions stemmed from a Dec. 30, 2011, attack in a central Topeka apartment where gunshots were fired and a man was beaten with a chair.

Corrections department records show Davis had prior convictions in 2009 and 2010 in Geary County that included criminal threat, domestic battery, criminal damage to property and violation of a protective order.

In an interview with a Topeka police detective after Ahliyah’s death, Davis said he didn’t remember the incident. Later, according to Topeka Capital-Journal articles, he admitted kidnapping Ahliyah and taking her to a basement at 2413 S.E. Belleview.

He said when she wouldn’t quiet down, he choked her, she became quiet, then he stuffed her into a clothes dryer.

Davis also told the detective he suffers post-traumatic stress disorder. Defense attorneys told a judge they were collecting the defendant’s military and medical treatment records.

Davis’ jury trial had been scheduled for March 4. At the defense’s request, the trial was postponed until Oct. 7.

Defense attorney Mark Manna sought the postponement because the defense would be “fundamentally unprepared” if the trial started in March. If a defendant is convicted in a capital case, the case then enters the sentencing phase where jurors must decide whether to recommend the death penalty.

FAMILY TIES
Ahliyah’s aunts and other family members have attended Davis’ hearings.

“I don’t ever take my eyes off of him,” Mason said. “And I know he can feel it.”

Mason and Kilgore plan to sit through each day of the jury trial, too, even it if hurts them to listen to the details of what happened to their niece.

“If she went through it, I have to be there,” Mason said.

The aunts hope by sharing their story, the community will remember their “angel.”

“I just want this to be eye-opening for people,” Kilgore said. “It can happen to anyone.”

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Brother speaks about his murdered sister
8-year-old living with aunt after Ahliyah Irvin's death

Posted: April 7, 2013 - 9:52pm
By Ann Marie Bush
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Randy Irvin quietly reads his thoughts about his sister Ahliyah Irvin, who was murdered in March 2012.

“It is hard,” Randy says. “I didn’t want Ahliyah to be dead. She was the best sister ever. We love her so much and miss her so much and care about her a lot.”

Ahliyah Nachelle Irvin was sexually assaulted, choked and placed in a clothes dryer at the Highland Park Townhomes.

Billy Frank Davis Jr., 29, of Topeka, has been charged with two alternative counts of capital murder in the killing of Ahliyah; one count of first-degree murder of the child; rape; aggravated kidnapping; two counts of aggravated burglary; burglary; and two counts of misdemeanor criminal damage to property.

If convicted of the child’s slaying, Davis could face the death penalty. His trial has been scheduled for Oct. 7.

Randy, who is a second-grader at Bishop Elementary School, began living with his aunt, Sherry Mason, right after his sister’s death.

“I got guardianship of him in May,” Mason said.

Mason said her sister — the mother of Randy and Ahliyah — had moved to Olathe but is back in Topeka and receiving help with her grief. Randy recently spent the night with his mother.

“I know my sister just needs guidance,” Mason said.

She also said it is the family’s “ultimate goal” to reunite Randy and his mother permanently.

Randy has been attending therapy.

“It has been helping me a lot,” he said. “But I still miss her. We say prayers to her every day and can’t wait to see her again.”

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OMG that poor little boy, my heart breaks for him!