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Canton resident accused of protecting police officer in slaying of lover
By Phil Trexler Beacon Journal staff writer
Published on Monday, Nov 05, 2007
CANTON: Is Myisha Ferrell a scared and innocent dupe thrust into Canton's most notorious murder case by a desperate rogue cop?
Or is she a cold and calculating woman intent on protecting a murder suspect with indifference to the bodies weathering away in a wooded park in Summit County?
Questions continue to swirl around the disappearance and death of Jessie Marie Davis and her unborn daughter and what happened inside her Lake Township home during the early morning hours of June 14.
The answers are expected to arrive today when Ferrell goes on trial in Stark County Common Pleas Court and police for the first time reveal their investigation publicly.
''This trial is about Myisha Ferrell and what she knew and what she did,'' Assistant Prosecutor Dennis Barr told prospective jurors last week.
Prosecutors accuse Ferrell, 30, of knowing all along what happened to Davis, but lying to police while a whole region prayed, including one of Ferrell's jurors, and searched en masse for her safe return.
They say she lied to police investigating Davis' lover — married Canton Patrolman Bobby Cutts Jr. — and helped ''deposit'' Davis' body in the Summit County park.
Graphic evidence
Some evidence was discussed, albeit in minute detail, during jury selection last week. Ferrell's all-white, six-man, six-woman jury has already been questioned about race, news accounts and the dread of viewing crime evidence that hardened attorneys call graphic.
Authorities have said Davis' body was so decomposed that no cause of death could be determined.
''You'll probably be seeing some pictures that are not pleasant, not pleasant at all,'' defense attorney John Alexander said during jury selection. ''I don't think there's anybody in this room who won't be
bothered by the pictures.''
The mere mention of the photos caused one prospective juror to become emotional.
''My stomach got all knotted up just hearing your description. I think I can be fair, but the anger inside me might cloud my judgment,'' a man in his 40s told attorneys. He was not one of 14 selected to hear the case.
Alexander didn't hide the fact that he worries jurors will become too emotional and seek vengeance against Ferrell for Davis' death. He asked the panel to consider the evidence against Ferrell and hold prosecutors to their burden of proof.
Knowledge of case
All 12 of the jurors who will decide Ferrell's case said they had some knowledge of the case, according to questionnaires they answered for the jury selection process. Some have specific and detailed knowledge of the case obtained from news accounts, but all said they could decide the case only on the evidence presented in court.
Several jurors said they watched TV news accounts while vacationing in places such as Mexico, Vermont or Florida. One alternate juror said she donated money to the Davis family, another said she prayed for Davis' safe return.
''It was sad that she was missing. Horrible when she was found dead,'' one female juror wrote in her questionnaire.
In previous court hearings, Alexander said he might use duress as a defense to the charges against Ferrell. In other words, Ferrell may have lied to investigators searching for Davis but only out of fear for her or her family's safety. She is not accused of helping to kill Davis.
''Can you tell me what a scared and innocent person looks like?'' Alexander asked prospective jurors to the objections of prosecutors. ''Right now, Myisha doesn't know how to look.''
Ferrell is a single mother, who at 5-foot-9 and 270 pounds, almost dwarfs her defense attorney standing at her side. She worked part time as a dishwasher while going to school to become a paralegal to support her 9-year-old daughter.
She was a classmate of Cutts at GlenOak High School in the 1990s and they remained friends over the years. No one has linked Ferrell as one of Cutts' lovers.
Ferrell's family has declined to speak to reporters.
She has been jailed under a $500,000 bond since the day after Davis' body was found.
Gag order
Because of a court-imposed gag order, those associated with the case — attorneys and witnesses — are barred from speaking about the evidence. However, several sources close to the case say Cutts led authorities to Davis' body June 23, nine days after she died.
Prosecutors allege Cutts killed Davis, his lover for about three years, inside her home, where her bedroom and its disheveled furniture and bleach-soaked carpeting tell a tale of violence.
An autopsy failed to show how Davis died and Summit County Medical Examiner Dr. Lisa Kohler could only conclude that she died of ''unspecified homicidal violence.''
Cutts and Davis, 26, had a three-year affair, her family has said. She was the mother of his 2-year-old son, Blake, and she believed the baby she carried to near full term was his. Her nine-day disappearance capped with Cutts' arrest was the focus of local and national news.
Patty Porter, 60, came to Davis' home on June 15 after not hearing from her daughter for more than a day. Porter found only her grandson inside. Porter is on the prosecution's witness list. The child, who uttered words such as ''Mommy's in the rug'' and ''Mommy was crying'' is not.
Cutts lived about six miles away with his wife and daughters.
Cutts, 30, goes on trial in February charged with two counts of aggravated murder and burglary. He is jailed in lieu of a $5 million bond.
While in jail, he has been served with termination papers from the city of Canton, divorce papers from his wife, and a foreclosure lawsuit from his mortgage company.
Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against him. Cutts' attorneys or their representatives are expected to watch Ferrell's trial. In fact, a paralegal from Cutts' defense team took copious notes while watching attorneys select Ferrell's jury last week.
Racial aspect
Cutts' attorney did not return calls for comment. In court papers, they had asked that their jury pool be expanded from voting lists to driver's licenses in an effort to include more blacks. The attorneys say race should at least be considered in the case. Cutts and Ferrell are black; Davis was white.
The racial aspect was discussed during Ferrell's jury selection. At one point, Alexander asked jurors if they would be bothered by the interracial relationships of Cutts, Davis and Ferrell. They all responded no.
But the lack of black jurors caused Alexander to make a special request of the judge. Of 116 potential jurors whittled down from 300 summonses sent out, just three in the courtroom Thursday were black. Of the final 59 being considered in the afternoon, just one was black.
Alexander asked Judge Charles E. Brown Jr. to allow the lone black to be moved to the front of the jury list in an effort to have her included in the final panel.
The judge said no, leaving Ferrell with an all-white jury.
During the jury selection process, the paralegal from Cutts' defense team heard many prospective jurors speak sympathetically of Davis and sometimes critically of Cutts.
Those views weren't lost on Ferrell's attorney.
''The decision you make will be the most important decision in Myisha Ferrell's life,'' Alexander told the prospective panel. ''My biggest fear in this case is that you will be overcome by emotion.''
Phil Trexler can be reached at 330-996-3717 or ptrexler@thebeaconjournal.com.
CANTON: Is Myisha Ferrell a scared and innocent dupe thrust into Canton's most notorious murder case by a desperate rogue cop?
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