Atlanta murder case on “48 Hours” Saturday
April 5, 2007 at 9:27 am by Scott Freeman in NewsThere’s a rule in homicide: Most victims put themselves in the position to be killed. They’re involved with the drug trade. They cross a criminal. They’re cheating on someone or stealing from someone or stepping into a situation where they’re over their head. It’s rare that a murder involves an honest-to-god innocent victim. But that was David Coffin. His only crime was falling in love.
Coffin moved to Buckhead from Connecticut in the 1990s; he was the heir to a $19 million family trust. He was shot to death, with his own handgun, and then the killer burned down his house and destroyed all the evidence.
Scott Davis, the son of a prominent Atlanta forensic psychiatrist (who studies the criminal mind for a living and was often an expert witness for the prosecution), was originally charged with murder. The connection? Coffin was dating Davis’ ex-wife.
“48 Hours,” the CBS News show, will spend its entire hour Saturday at 10 p.m. on the case. The murder remained unsolved for 10 years. Davis moved to California, where he ran for governor in 2003 on the same ballot as Arnold Schwarzenegger.
I wrote a feature story on the case in 1997, a year after the murder, for Atlanta Magazine. Davis remained free for another 10 years before he was put on trial and convicted in December. He is now serving life in prison.
April 7th, 2007 at 1:50 pm
The real question is why Paul Howard let this case languish for 10 years when all of the evidence present for a conviction in 2006 existed in 1996. Hmm . . .
April 14th, 2007 at 2:26 pm
A major question is whether the DA’s office will indict Dr. Dave Davis for perjury in his testimony which attempted to provide an alibi for his son, Scott Davis, on the night the murder weapon was stolen.
Dr. Davis – a nationally known forensic psychiatrist (the first certified forensic psychiatrist) and consultant to the Secret Service as well as a multitude of other law enforcement agencies – asserted for the first time ten years after his son, Scott Davis, was initially charged; that the Defendant Scott Davis was at his house watching the news at the time the murder weapon was stolen from the victim’s house. This false testimony of Dr. Dave Davis was pivotal; one juror became convinced of the guilt of Scott Davis in that she stated what innocent man would allow his Dad to lie on the stand. Dr. Dave Davis’ false testimony and the obviously contrived testimony of the Defendant’s brother and son of Dr. Dave Davis sent Scott Davis up the river for life.
I guess it didn’t work out for the Davises.
Perjury is a serious offense and costs, notwithstanding impeding justice, society literally hundreds of millions of dollars in adjudicating cases that probably would not have otherwise been adjudicated. Unfortunately, lying in judicial proceedings has become accepted because it is very rarely prosecuted. Witnesses and litigants would be much more reluctant to lie if they thought there might be consequences for doing so and lengthy prolonged adjudications and trials averted.
INDICTING DAVE DAVIS IS THE PERFECT CASE TO SEND A MESSAGE TO THE COMMUNITY THAT PARTICIPANTS IN JUDICIAL PROCEEDINGS SHOULD THINK TWICE BEFORE LYING.
April 26th, 2007 at 8:40 am
Indeed highly suspicious testimony on the part of Dr. Davis and Breton Davis. Might be difficult to get a conviction on perjury grounds though.
October 6th, 2007 at 8:56 pm
Scott Freeman interviewed Dr Dave Davis in his article which appeared in Atlanta magazine. If Scott Davis was at Dave Davis’ house watching television when the murder weapon was stolen, he would have let Scott Freeman know. Dave Davis would also have let the prosecutors and investigators know rather than let his son sit in jail (Scott Davis was in jail for 6 months until Dave Davis bailed him out by pledging his Tuxedo Rd home).
And Scott Davis would have let someone know during this ten year period. It is preposterous to think both Scott Davis and his Dad – noted forensic psychiatrist Dave Davis – would not have let anyone know of this very important alibi.
US Congressman Pat Swindell was convicted of perjury for testifying he couldn’t remember a conversation about an $ 800,000 loan on his house.
I don’t think there would be any problem convincing a jury that both Dave Davis and his other son Breton Davis lied in attempting to establish an alibi for Scott Davis.
THE DA’S office needs to be encouraged to indict Dave Davis.
December 11th, 2008 at 12:57 am
Dave Davis, at least at the time, had very tight connections with the District Attorneys office because of the work he did for them. I have to wonder if that is what helped his son in the beginning. How many suspects that are in jail are NEVER indicted and yet sit there for six months???? Think about how under normal circumstances, or at least it seems, most suspects are indicted very quickly after being held without bail. This did not happen with Scott Davis.
I definitely agree that Dave Davis should have been held accountable for perjuring himself during this case! I wonder if it is too late at this point. Scott Davis was finally brought to justice….maybe (read hopefully) the same with happen with Dave Davis!
I know this is a bit late but the case is on Court TV this week and I was reading about the case on the Internet.