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Artist
given 5-year term
BRIAN
BARBER
12/19/2001
Tulsa World (FH Edition), Page A15 of
METRO
An
award-winning Christian musician was sentenced to
five
years in prison Tuesday for having a sexual
relationship
with a 14-year-old girl.
Ja'Marc Davis, formerly of
the hip-hop group Raze, will
appear back in court in one
year for Tulsa County District
Judge Jefferson Sellers to
review the punishment.
"I would not set that (court
date) now if I didn't think
I might reconsider your
sentence," Sellers said.
Sellers gave Davis three
10-year sentences to run
concurrently but suspended all
but the first five years.
A presentence investigation
by the State Department of
Corrections had recommended
probation for Davis, 26. But
the judge said repeated
sexual acts with a child "demanded a
period of
incarceration," even if they were revealed by the
defendant himself.
Adults and children need to
know that "sometimes good
people do bad things and there
are consequences," Sellers
said.
Davis pleaded
guilty last month to three felony sex
offenses, including
rape by instrumentation, lewd
molestation and sodomy.
Prosecutors dismissed seven charges
as part of a plea
deal.
Davis also was ordered to enroll in a sexual
offender
treatment program and to have no contact
whatsoever with
minors. He will have to register as a sex
offender once he
is released.
The judge
recommended that Davis be incarcerated at the
John Lilley
Correctional Center, which is a
minimum-security facility
in Boley.
Davis held his hand up to the victim, who is
now 17, and
her family and told them "I'm sorry" before he
was led out of
the courtroom by guards.
His
father, Willie Davis, said he was at a loss for
words
after the sentencing.
"I'm just (emotionally) open
right now," he said as he
consoled the large group of
people who had come to support
his son.
Defense
attorney Rob Nigh said he was "extremely
disappointed" in
the judge's decision.
"I have never seen anybody bring
their criminal conduct
to light and take such
extraordinary steps to rectify it,"
Nigh said.
Davis admitted to being "physically involved" with the
girl at the time of their relationship from 1998 to 1999
while she was a backup dancer for Raze.
The girl's
mother testified at the sentencing hearing
that Davis had
become "part of the family" because he spent a
lot of time
at her home teaching her children various dance
moves.
When Davis came forward about the sexual relationship,
the woman said, "I felt betrayed -- not by my daughter,
because she was so young, but by Ja'Marc."
Davis
was arrested March 1 in Tulsa after Raze's first
concert
in a planned 30-city tour, which was later
canceled. He
has not performed with the group since then.
Raze's
brand of Christian music and its 1999 CD "Power"
earned
the group a Dove Award in the category of
Dance-Rap-Hip-Hop.
Several people, including
Davis' former pastor and a
private counselor, testified
and wrote letters on his
behalf. All described Davis as "a
fine young man" and "very
Christian."
Assistant
District Attorney Chad Moody expressed disgust
that people
still referred to Davis as "a beacon to the
Christian
community."
"That so many people can express that
opinion bothers me,"
said Moody, who characterized Davis
as a youth minister who
preyed on minors for sex.
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