Rankin County Sheriff Bryan Bailey issued the following statement.
Arrest Made in Weekend Auto Burglaries
There were at least thirteen vehicle burglaries in the northwest part of Rankin County over this past weekend. The burglaries were concentrated to the Scottish Hills and Castlewoods neighborhoods. All of the vehicles burglarized were unlocked and items such as guns, cash, and electronics were taken.
In some of the Rankin County Burglaries, victims were able to supply the sheriff’s office with video, which was instrumental in identifying the suspect.
Investigators in the tri-County area meet once a month to discuss crimes and crime trends in the various jurisdictions. They use email and social media to share information between the different jurisdictions. Information about these burglaries was posted to a law enforcement social media site on Sunday. Within five minutes of the posting, a Flowood Investigator contacted Rankin County Investigators, reporting a conversation he had minutes prior with Clinton Investigator Nick Sprowles, regarding a vehicle burglary suspect, Woodrez Tremayne DAVIS. Investigator Sprowles supplied information that DAVIS was in the Northwest area of Rankin County early Saturday and Sunday morning.
Based on Investigator Sprowles information and video surveillance evidence, it was quickly determined that DAVIS was the prime suspect in Rankin County. When this information was posted on the law enforcement social media site, Investigator John Cooley with Madison Police Department reached out to lead Rankin County Investigator Michael Chandler stating DAVIS was also a suspect in some vehicle burglaries in their jurisdiction. Investigator Cooley was able to secure three felony warrants on DAVIS. Rankin County Investigators Chandler, DiMartino and Burleson coordinated with Investigators Sprowles and Cooley along with the US Marshal’s Service to located and apprehend DAVIS.
DAVIS was located on Dalton Street in Jackson where he was taken into custody. At the time of his arrest, Investigators were able to locate, in plain view, items stolen from some of the Rankin County burglaries and well as property from Clinton.
A search of the residence did not produce any additional stolen property. The weapons that were stolen were sold on the streets in Jackson at various gas stations, according to early statements given by DAVIS.
A criminal history on DAVIS shows his first arrest in April of 1997 and his most recent was February 2016. DAVIS has been arrested five times for vehicle burglary, two times for grand larceny, two times for motor vehicle theft, four times for stolen property and four times for felon in possession of a firearm. Some of his arrests had multiple charges. It is unclear at this time how many counts of vehicle burglary he will be facing in Rankin County as well as his charges in Madison and Clinton.
The burglaries in Rankin County were committed early Saturday and Sunday morning, through the diligent work of Madison, Clinton and Rankin County Investigators, this habitual criminal will be in for a new experience when he goes before Madison/Rankin District Attorney Michael Guest.
DAVIS was transported to the Rankin County Jail, where he is currently charged with multiple counts of vehicle burglary. Clinton and Madison will be working their charges at the same time as Rankin.
This is a great example of citizens and law enforcement working in concert to remove a public menace from the streets. If it were not for the collaborative effort of all agencies involved, there is no question DAVIS would have victimized many more citizens in the Tri-County area.
Thank you to the Clinton Police Department, Madison Police Department and the U.S. Marshals Service for helping us apprehend this career criminal.
Kingfish note: Readers may remember Woodrez Davis. He was the subject of a confrontation between Clinton Mayor Phil Fisher and Hinds County District Attorney Robert Shuler Smith in 2015. JJ reported in April 2015:
When does habitual mean habitual in the Hinds County criminal justice system? Meet Woodrez T. Davis. 9-time felon. His first felony conviction took place in 1999. He was granted parole and released from the custody of MDOC on January 2015. Despite a record of eight felony convictions, Hinds County prosecutors agreed to drop the "habitual offender" designation in a plea bargain with Davis in March 2014. He is currently a suspect in several burglaries in the Clinton area. He is currently in jail for four charges of auto burglary in Hinds County.
A Hinds County grand jury indicted Davis for possessing and receiving stolen property in January 2013. The indictment listed these felony convictions:
shoplifting (1996)
receiving stolen goods (1999)
felon with a firearm (1999)
vehicle burglary (2001)
vehicle burglary (2001)
vehicle burglary (2001)
receiving stolen goods (2010)
receiving stolen goods (2010)
receiving stolen goods (2010)
However, the District Attorney's office agreed to drop habitual status for Davis. The prosecutor also agreed not to revoke his probation for his 2010 conviction. Davis would have been sentenced to the maximum sentence and had to serve day for day of the sentence if he was convicted as a habitual offender.* Earlier post...
However, Davis was charged with nine (yes, nine) counts of auto burglary by Raymond police as well. There are no indictments for the charges. Raymond Police Chief Jason Crotwell said none of his officers were called to testify before the grand jury on those charges. It appears there is no prosecution of Davis for those charges.
Mr. Smith dropped the habitual offender status again despite being asked not to do so by Mayor Fisher. JJ reported on October 5, 2016:
Hinds County Circuit Judge Bill Gowan approved a plea deal that dropped the habitual offender classification and only gives Davis a short time in prison.You are reading that correctly. The Hinds County District Attorney Robert Shuler Smith voluntarily dropped habitual offender status for this career criminal and worked out a deal that turned him back out on the streets in less than a year.
A Hinds County grand jury indicted Davis on two counts of auto theft and classified him as a habitual offender in January. Davis pleaded guilty last week to two counts of motor theft. Judge Gowan sentenced him to all of seven years in prison but suspended five years of the sentence. He also sentenced him as a non-habitual offender despite his previous nine felony convictions. The indictment states he is classified as a habitual offender but the prisoner commitment notice also states that he is sentenced as a non-habitual offender.
However, this is the sort of thing that happens all too often in the office of the Hinds County District Attorney. Jackson voters are fine with this record despite their wails about crime and their "Stop the Violence" rallies.
Once again, Rankin County has to do Mr. Smith's job for him. There is simply no excuse for Woodrez Davis to be back out on the streets.
Remember, the D.A. said "it is only four criminals." Only four, until you are the victim.
30 comments:
People, you basically have two choices -- you can either be smart and lock your fucking car, or you can be stupid and leave your valuables in an unlocked car for these scumbags to steal.
Hinds county voters do not want real leadership in any part of government, especially the DA. They voted the criminal in and failed to convict him at trial.
People, "Common Sense" (in 5:34 above) is saying YOU'RE the F'n problem, NOT people like Woodrez! When will y'all EVER learn??? The solution to all of our burglary problems is in our grasp.......if all you F'n potential victims would ever learn! SHEESH!
6:30 - 'zactly --- all I'm asking is the minimum amount of responsibility that should be expected from any adult. The gun somebody stole from one of your unlocked cars may be used to kill someone you love - or worse yet, someone I love. Lock up your your stuff or contribute to the success of these opportunistic shitheads. If the gun isn't irresponsibly stored, it can't be stolen, ergo there's no opportunity to commit the first crime...or the next.
A car window is not very good protection from thieves.
Remember, it is made of glass. Thieves have been known to break glass to get to what they want.
6:51 - yes, but if I break the glass to get into your car, I will wake people up and I will only get to steal things from that one car. If you are stupid enough to leave your car unlocked, I can simply open it and not make much noise at all, thus giving me the chance to steal things from MANY cars. And by leaving your shit in plain view, I can be even more selective about which cars I steal from. Why are you so hell bent on defending stupidity??
You're not going to win this argument...you're just not. Just lock your shit up already!!
Kingfish, GET OVER IT ALREADY!!
I understand that you are not a practicing attorney, but it would be advantageous for you to consult someone who is before you write another article loaded with misinformation and sheer ignorance of the law and the facts.
Clearly, this defendant entered an open plea before Judge Gowan on that 2016 charge. This would me that Gowan alone decided what to sentence him to. If it were a plea entered at the recommendation of the DA's Office, there would be an ADA's signature on the order.
You are wrong and way out of order.
7:49 - I agree that KF is overwhelmingly biased against Smith and some of his comments are not fair; but a common plea bargain is to drop the habitual end of the indictment and the defendant pleads open to the top count, leaving it to the judge. the document viewed is not the conviction, but the commitment done by the court administrator.
also: no DA in Hinds county could oversee every plea deal in every case. they can set policy, but the ADAs do the actual work. if KF wants to discredit the work, he needs to ferret out the assistant that actually handled the case. KF has a law degree, but no license and no actual experience other than sideline reporting...
Smith is incompetent. Jackson Dpnkeycrats deserve all the incompetence and crime coming their way from the Hinds catch-and-release program.
I don't need a jurists' opinion on why a sorry mofo like this is on the streets.
The fact that he is on the streets tells me all I need to know.
But , guess what? His ass is headed to Parchman this time.
"Woodrez Tremayne" . . .
Kim Wade is correct when he says that any baby momma that names her offspring something with three or more vowels has already sentenced said baby to prison at birth.
This habitual offender has a total of six vowels in it's name.
Just noticed.
Seven vowels according to the Police Reports.
Good job rankin county s.o.
Now mr. Davis gets judged by 12 working tax paying voters who are sick of this bullshit crossing county lines.
He gone.
Over/Under on outcome in Rankin County?
I am taking Ass handed to him in a box by... insert Judge name.
Thanks to the "Dumb Bastard Sheriff" still taking names and kicking ass!
Property crime goes up and so does your homeowners insurance as a result. I hope D.A. Guest puts this flea bit peanut monkey under the damn jail.
I've never voted for Robert Shuler Smith, and I live in Hinds County, but it's rather clear that his office is not adequately staffed, nor is the court, to handle all the cases given them.
Cases are plead out because they have to prioritize and I suspect that violent offenders are their priority, not property cases. And, having been an expert witness for the prosecution in court cases in the past, getting witnesses to appear to testify is not easy. Judges do not schedule for a witness' convenience and a witness who doesn't want to testify is not a reliable witness.
There's also the overcrowding of jails problem. Where to house the criminal while he awaits trial? Who do you want in jail, the property criminal or the armed robber ? And, then , there's the problem of getting people to actually do their civic duty and be a juror.
Everyone wants an efficient judicial system, but no one wants to pay for it. You also do not want to pay the salaries that could come close to competing with those paid by law firms or that can be achieved in private practice. So, you focus on the taxes that are wasted. Who wasted those taxes? They were wasted long before they filtered down to a local prosecutor.
You want good police forces, good courts and you want good schools supported by good parent but you don't want to pool limited resources. And, then you preen because your county , with more resources does better. And, you bitch when the problems next door spill over into your invisible geographic barriers.
October 3, 2017 at 6:33 AM = FAKE Comment
Have you checked the pay of ADA's recently? As for staffing, why don't you check the Hinds DA staffing over the years. Notice how many prosecutors have been run off by Smith. They were either fired or resigned when they were told they were being fired. Very capable ones who had no problems finding jobs at other agencies and District Attorney offices. All run off by the D.A.
As for the plea bargain itself, I am quite aware of the D.A.'s policy to make open pleas and leave sentencing to the judges. Blame Judge Green for that policy. However, this post is not griping about the previous sentence so much as the decision to drop the habitual offender status from this guy's plea bargin - twice. THAT is up to the D.A.
By the way, folks, notice how these defenders of criminals operate. They won't point out specific posts but instead say I have a bias against the D.A. It's to be expected from the Merchants of Crime, otherwise known as the criminal defense attorneys who profit from their connections with the Hinds County criminal justice system while you suffer.
You can lock your car, even hire a guard to watch it but as long as Hinds county keeps releasing habitual offenders back to prey on the people you would be wasting your time.
They have already stolen everything worth stealing in Hinds county and are now preying on people in other counties.
It isn't the fault of the victim. It is the fault of the thief who has been caught many times yet is allowed to prey on the honest people.
Hinds county, keep your thugs at home. People there are used to being prey.
KF.... ive been a big fan of yours for a long time, but your last paragraph in your 9:13am post is way outta line.
I have the solution for all this---MOVE OUT OF MISSISSIPPI !!!!
9:53,
Way out of line? I would say dead accurate. Just because defense atty groups think getting someone off a crime they committed is ethical the rest of us do not. Yes, you profit off a crooked system and the deeper you embed yourself the more you profit. Try ensuring justice is served and the defendants rights are protected, that would let everyone including you sleep better at night and be a better representation of your career as an officer of the court.
9:53 (CDA) = Butt-hurt... and needs some safe space.
The "not enough space to keep them" has been bantered around for years. Didn't I read that the State had removed their prisoners from the Hinds County Jail? Do we still not have enough space? The long-standing problem, as I understand it, is not enough cases being heard. Plea bargaining is a "get out of jail free card" or it is used when chances of a conviction are slim. Just an ordinary citizen, non-attorney, but wish I could better understand. Repeatedly in the news, blame is placed on the courts and the DA. Is this not true? He seems unstable to me, but what do I know?
6:53 - Only if you're a lawyer.
You don't deserve to own a gun if you store it in your vehicle. It does no good in there, unless you want it to be stolen. Get a permit and carry it or leave it in your home, idiots.
to 9:53.... wow, don't you talk tough. strap this one on stud muffin, the 6th amendment right to counsel was laid down by the founding fathers, not morons like you. if you don't like that maybe you should move to a more enlightened country that is "ensuring justice". may i suggest cuba, iran, north korea, sub-saharan africa or red china. all of those places would welcome a person of you intellect.
Going out of Jackson is a good way for some career car burglar to become room temperature due to lead poisoning.
Dear 9:02,
Apparently in your haste to defend your honor you addressed your emotional response to the wrong post. If you were trying to address the 10:40 post you should take a breath and let the hamsters take a couple laps before you pop off. Clearly my comment indicated that a representation of counsel was deserved to prevent the trampling of rights, such as in the countries you listed. The point lost on you was that ensuring protection of one's rights doesn't equate to perverting justice and letting the guilty go free. I know, that's the system we have so put you head back in the trough and continue slurping up your just rewards.
to 2:58 ..if BS was a crime you would be on death row
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