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Date: 12-14-2017

Case Style:

United States of America v. William Scott Davis, Jr.

Eastern District of North Carolina Federal Courthouse - Raleigh, North Carolina

Case Number: 5:14-cr-00240-BR

Judge: W. Earl Britt

Court: United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina (Wake County)

Plaintiff's Attorney: Ethan A. Ontjes and Adam F. Hulbig

Defendant's Attorney: Tom Manning

Description: Raleigh, NC - Federal Jury Convicts Virginia Man for Cyberstalking and Communicating Interstate Threats

William Scott Davis, Jr., a 57-year-old resident of Hampton, Virginia, was convicted following a three-day trial before Senior United States District Judge W. Earl Britt. The jury found DAVIS guilty of cyberstalking and communicating interstate threats.

The evidence at trial showed that DAVIS’ parental rights to his daughter were conclusively terminated in 2009, following protacted litigation with authorities in Wake County, where DAVIS was residing at the time. During the same time period, DAVIS was charged with multiple fraud offenses in Wake County relating to the forgery of his daughter’s birth certificate and convicted by a jury of his peers. Following the termination of his parental rights and his state fraud conviction in 2009, DAVIS initiated a relentless campaign of harassment and intimidation directed towards a female detective with Cary Police Department, a female prosecutor with the Wake County District Attorney’s Office, and a female attorney in Raleigh for their roles in different aspects of the process. The evidence at trial established that in the summer of 2014, DAVIS sharply escalated his campaign to include email communications sent from Virginia to all three women in North Carolina which contained detailed threats of violence and rape. In addition, DAVIS stalked the Raleigh attorney by threatening her life and the lives of her family, as well as impersonating an FBI agent.

Mr. Higdon said: “The proper functioning of our social services and judicial systems requires that all its participants - prosecutors, law enforcement officers, and attorneys - be free from threats and harm. Our systems cannot function where those participants face threats, intimidation or the real risk of harm. This case is an example of the steps the United States Department of Justice and the United States Attorney’s Office will take when these public servants face these risks. Make no mistake, we will stand firmly behind our fellow prosecutors and our law enforcement and social services partners!”

The case was investigated by the Raleigh Police Department and the Federal Burean of Investigation.

18 U.S.C. 2261 provides:

§2261. Interstate domestic violence

(a) Offenses.—

(1) Travel or conduct of offender.—A person who travels in interstate or foreign commerce or enters or leaves Indian country or within the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States with the intent to kill, injure, harass, or intimidate a spouse, intimate partner, or dating partner, and who, in the course of or as a result of such travel, commits or attempts to commit a crime of violence against that spouse, intimate partner, or dating partner, shall be punished as provided in subsection (b).

(2) Causing travel of victim.—A person who causes a spouse, intimate partner, or dating partner to travel in interstate or foreign commerce or to enter or leave Indian country by force, coercion, duress, or fraud, and who, in the course of, as a result of, or to facilitate such conduct or travel, commits or attempts to commit a crime of violence against that spouse, intimate partner, or dating partner, shall be punished as provided in subsection (b).

(b) Penalties.—A person who violates this section or section 2261A shall be fined under this title, imprisoned—

(1) for life or any term of years, if death of the victim results;

(2) for not more than 20 years if permanent disfigurement or life threatening bodily injury to the victim results;

(3) for not more than 10 years, if serious bodily injury to the victim results or if the offender uses a dangerous weapon during the offense;

(4) as provided for the applicable conduct under chapter 109A if the offense would constitute an offense under chapter 109A (without regard to whether the offense was committed in the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States or in a Federal prison); and

(5) for not more than 5 years, in any other case,

or both fined and imprisoned.

(6) Whoever commits the crime of stalking in violation of a temporary or permanent civil or criminal injunction, restraining order, no-contact order, or other order described in section 2266 of title 18, United States Code, shall be punished by imprisonment for not less than 1 year.

Outcome: Guilty

Plaintiff's Experts:

Defendant's Experts:

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