FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 24, 2016
COVINGTON—A St. Tammany Parish jury found Alvin Davis, 56, of Slidell, guilty Thursday (June 23) of raping a 21-year-old woman who was part of a traveling carnival in 2014. Davis, a candidate for sentencing under the state’s habitual offender law, may face a mandatory life sentence at a hearing on Aug. 1 before District Judge Scott Gardner.
The jury deliberated just under 2 ½ hours before returning a unanimous verdict of guilty of forcible rape. Assistant District Attorneys Jason Cuccia and Jerry Smith prosecuted the case. The case had been dismissed earlier when the victim, who was living in the New England region, failed to appear for a hearing. District Attorney Warren Montgomery’s prosecutors filed new charges and continued to pursue the case.
“The victim was understandably reluctant to return to the state of Louisiana,” Montgomery said. “I’m very proud of our prosecutors, investigators and the detectives, who went the extra mile to get her here and prove that this was a forcible rape. The jury saw through the attempts to blame the victim and cloud the facts. My office will continue to prosecute sexual predators to the fullest extent of the law.”
The victim had gone to Davis’s trailer with her boyfriend on Jan. 18, 2014, to buy marijuana, and the three of them—the victim, her boyfriend, and Davis—smoked together. When the boyfriend left to go to the store with two other men, Davis began making sexual advances towards the woman. She pushed him away, but he shoved her on the bed. When she tried to get up, he punched her in the face so hard that she fell to the floor. Davis then picked her up, pushed her on the bed and forcibly raped her. Afterwards, she left the trailer and walked to the trailer where she was staying.
The victim later told her boyfriend and friends, who took her to the hospital. The St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office investigated the case. DNA evidence linked Davis to the victim.
Davis has 13 prior felony convictions and one misdemeanor conviction on his criminal record.