A judge imposed a life sentence on 41-year-old Durrell Davis Monday, following a Kenton County jury’s recommendation after he was found guilty in March of sodomy and sexual abuse of a child under 12.
The victim’s mother spoke at the sentencing, imploring Kenton Circuit Judge Kathleen Lape to impose the maximum sentence. The mother told Lape that Davis “has inflicted serious mental injuries” on her daughter.
Davis, Lape said, told three different stories to police, the jury and investigators.
“You have shown no remorse,” Lape said, “and you have taken no responsibility for your actions.
The guilty verdicts, handed down on March 31, were the result of less than an hour of deliberation by the jury. During the three-day trial, jurors watched a recorded interview of Davis, according to the Kenton County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s office, during which he told detectives he was the victim of a “hyper-sexual child” who touched Davis’s genitals and tried to engage him in sexual acts.
The case began after the victim, who was in second grade, reported being touched on “bathing suit parts” to a teacher minutes after the class was shown a presentation about children’s body safety at school.
Cincinnati Police were contacted because Davis lived in Ohio at the time of the report and the child’s initial disclosure suggested the sexual abuse occurred at his residence, according to the commonwealth’s attorney’s office. Further investigation indicated the sexual abuse began years prior when Davis was staying in Covington.
Davis was eventually indicted in both Kenton County and Hamilton County. His case is Ohio is still pending.
“We often hear the horror stories when the system fails a child,” Commonwealth’s Attorney Rob Sanders said. “But in this case the system worked exactly as designed.”
Sanders said everyone did their job, including the victim’s teacher, social workers, detectives, prosecutors, the judge, and the jury.
“I can’t say enough great things about the victim’s teacher and the detectives,” Sanders said. “This was a team effort to win justice, and justice means the child now knows the monster will be locked in a cage for life.”
