UPDATE: Antoinette Davis Accepts Plea Deal, Gets At Least 17 Years For Death Of 5 Year Old Daughter Shaniya

Oct 19, 2013

Antoinette Davis, her head bowed and her face wet with tears, apologized in the courtroom Friday after accepting a plea deal that will send her to prison for at least 17 years for the murder of her daughter Shaniya.

Davis, 29, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, first-degree sex offense and other charges after a judge ruled that, at her Oct. 28 trial, prosecutors could use the incriminating statements she made to police.

In those statements, Davis admitted giving her 5-year-old to Mario McNeill so he could have sex with her to settle a $200 debt. Six days later, in November 2009, Shaniya's body was found dumped in woods off N.C. 87.

Davis faced life in prison if convicted of first-degree murder. But Friday afternoon, during a motions hearing in Cumberland County Superior Court, she accepted the plea and apologized to Shaniya's father, Brad Lockhart.

"I want to say I did what I could as a mother," Davis said. "... I was there to protect my daughter. He knew that. And I knew he felt the same way himself."

Shaniya had lived with Lockhart, but he wanted the child to have a relationship with her mother after she had appeared to get her life in order. So he let Shaniya live with Davis.

"I wanted my baby back," Davis said. "I wanted my baby with me. I wanted my baby back with her brother. I didn't really think about her surroundings, which I should have. I admit I was wrong about that. ... I never said I was a perfect mother, but I was a good mother. I did what I had to provide for them. I did what I had to to make sure they were all right. I didn't have any help from anybody."

Asked if he wanted to speak on behalf of Shaniya, Lockhart came forward and stood next to the lawyers' tables. He looked directly at Davis as he spoke with deliberation, his emotions on display.

She glanced at him once, with reddened eyes.

"This plea doesn't take away this deep pain," Lockhart told her. "I forgave you a long time ago, and I'm sure Shaniya did, too. Your attorney said you weren't always the best at making decisions, and I knew that about you. That's why every time you called, I helped you provide even though Shaniya was living with you. I've questioned it a lot, that you owed McNeill money. Why didn't you call me? I never told you no. That's something that bothers me."

Lockhart said he hoped that her incarceration will give Davis time "to really come to peace with all this. I've still got a lot to do on that, too."

Davis also pleaded guilty to first-degree kidnapping and conspiracy in relation to rape, sex offense, indecent liberties; sexual servitude with a child; child abuse prostitution; child abuse sexual offense; and human trafficking.

Prosecutors dropped a first-degree rape charge.

"A first-degree murder was going to have its challenges," District Attorney Billy West said. "We felt the charges she's pleading to today were appropriate for her role in the case."

West said the plea agreement came with Lockhart's "full blessing and support. It holds her accountable."

D.W. Bray, one of Davis' lawyers, said she took the plea without admitting any of the underlying allegations.

"She took the plea because this was in her best interest," he said. "She's been an inmate of great behavior. She had no prior criminal behavior coming into this, no significant contact with the law coming into this. So our next step is to the Court of Appeals."

Senior Resident Superior Court Judge Jim Ammons sentenced Davis to 17 1/2years to 21 years in prison, with credit for time served. She must receive substance abuse treatment and psychological counseling, Ammons ordered.

A relative of Davis, who identified himself as an uncle, was in the courtroom but left immediately after the hearing.

Earlier Friday, Ammons ruled that Davis' admissions to police during a Nov. 14, 2009, interview were admissible in her trial. Davis told detectives during the three-hour interview that McNeill was supposed to have sex with her daughter, not kill her.

Her lawyers argued that Davis was coerced during the interview and was not read her rights.

Ammons denied the defense's motion to suppress the statement, ruling that Davis had made it "freely and voluntarily."

McNeill, 33, is on death row after a jury convicted him in May of 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.

Shaniya's case received national attention almost immediately after Davis reported her missing on the morning of Nov. 10, 2009. She called 911 just before 7 a.m., saying her daughter had vanished from a mobile home where they were staying off Murchison Road.

The report kicked off a nationwide search involving the FBI and the U.S. Marshals Service. Pictures of Shaniya aired on national television programs, and Fayetteville police received hundreds of tips.

Surveillance video emerged from a Sanford hotel showing McNeill carrying a child through the lobby. He turned himself in to police on Nov. 13, and Davis was arrested the next day after her last interrogation with detectives. Shaniya's body was found six days after her disappearance in thick woods off N.C. 87.

Before concluding Friday's proceedings, Ammons ordered Davis to stand in his courtroom.
"I saw you on that videotape. 'All he was supposed to do was have sex with her. That's it. That's all. That's it,' " Ammons said to Davis. "You could have saved your daughter's life, but you did not. You had the opportunity and the means to save Shaniya's life, and you did not.
"You are not a good mother. This did not have to happen. Take her away, please."

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GOOD!!!!! She makes me sick..and the father does also. Nuff said..