Gary Lee Davis (August 13, 1944 – October 13, 1997) was an American convicted

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse committed with the necessary Intention (criminal law), intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisd ...

er and

serial rapist A serial rapist is someone who commits multiple rapes, whether with multiple victims or a single victim repeatedly over a period of time. Some serial rapists target children. The terms ''sexual predator'', ''repeat rape'' and ''multiple offending' ...

who was executed by the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

in 1997. He was the only person to be executed by the state of Colorado between 1968 and 2020, when Colorado abolished capital punishment.

Early life

Davis was born in

Wichita, Kansas Wichita ( ) is the List of cities in Kansas, most populous city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Sedgwick County, Kansas, Sedgwick County. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the city was 397, ...

on August 13, 1944. Although raised by his mother, he later claimed to have suffered

sexual abuse Sexual abuse or sex abuse is abusive sexual behavior by one person upon another. It is often perpetrated using physical force, or by taking advantage of another. It often consists of a persistent pattern of sexual assaults. The offender is re ...

from an early age at the hands of his older stepbrothers. After dropping out of school in the ninth grade, Davis joined the

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines or simply the Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is responsible for conducting expeditionar ...

in 1961. He married Tonya Ann Tatem and the couple had two sons before their divorce. Davis held multiple jobs before marrying Leona Coates in 1974; he was 30 and she was 17 years old. They had four children. Although Davis had a history of predatory sexual behavior, which he later admitted to following his murder conviction (on one occasion, he estimated that he had raped 15 women), his criminal record included only convictions for

grand larceny Larceny is a crime involving the unlawful taking or theft of the personal property of another person or business. It was an offence under the common law of England and became an offence in jurisdictions which incorporated the common law of Eng ...

and burglary in

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

in 1970 and 1971, and menacing in

in 1979. In 1982, Davis was convicted of raping the 15-year-old daughter of a friend of his second wife at knifepoint and sentenced to eight years in prison. During his imprisonment, he struck up a correspondence with Rebecca Fincham and the couple married in 1984 while Davis was still in prison. He was released in 1985, after which he and Fincham moved to

Byers, Colorado Byers is an unincorporated town, a post office, and a census-designated place (CDP) located in and governed by Arapahoe County, Colorado, United States. The CDP is a part of the Denver–Aurora–Lakewood, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area. The ...

Murder, trial, and conviction

On July 21, 1986, Davis and Fincham kidnapped their neighbor, 34-year-old Virginia May, in front of her children. They subsequently drove her to a deserted field, where Davis raped May and then shot her 14 times with a rifle. At trial, Davis confessed to the murder, despite the advice of his attorneys; he was sentenced to death exactly one year after the murder, on July 21, 1987. The jury took three hours to reach a verdict. In a separate trial, Fincham was sentenced to life in prison. Davis alternately encouraged and suspended appeals of his death sentence, which was upheld by state courts in 1990 and federal courts in 1995. During the time he sat on Colorado's death row, Davis was able to reunite with some of his family, including his first two wives, and, according to some witnesses, experienced a dramatic spiritual conversion during his final years. Then-Governor of Colorado

Roy Romer Roy Rudolf Romer (born October 31, 1928) is an American politician who served as the 39th Governor of Colorado from 1987 to 1999, and subsequently as the superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District from 2000 to 2006. Romer was a ...

refused to grant

clemency A pardon is a government decision to allow a person to be relieved of some or all of the legal consequences resulting from a criminal conviction. A pardon may be granted before or after conviction for the crime, depending on the laws of the j ...

to Davis, stating, in part: " ere undoubtedly has been some rehabilitation of his character and his demeanor. But I do not believe that whatever remorse or rehabilitation that is displayed here justifies reaching that extraordinary event that would cause this governor to give him clemency."

Execution

Davis's

last meal A condemned prisoner's last meal is a customary ritual preceding execution. In many countries, the prisoner may, within reason, select what the last meal will be. Contemporary restrictions in the United States Contrary to the common belief t ...

before his execution was

ice cream Ice cream is a frozen dessert typically made from milk or cream that has been flavoured with a sweetener, either sugar or an alternative, and a spice, such as Chocolate, cocoa or vanilla, or with fruit, such as strawberries or peaches. Food ...

. Shortly before his execution, Davis also requested a

cigarette A cigarette is a narrow cylinder containing a combustible material, typically tobacco, that is rolled into Rolling paper, thin paper for smoking. The cigarette is ignited at one end, causing it to smolder; the resulting smoke is orally inhale ...

; as a

smoking ban Smoking bans, or smoke-free laws, are public policies, including criminal laws and occupational safety and health regulations, that prohibit tobacco smoking in certain spaces. The spaces most commonly affected by smoking bans are indoor employ ...

was in place in Colorado prisons, his request was denied. He made no final statement before being executed by

lethal injection Lethal injection is the practice of injecting one or more drugs into a person (typically a barbiturate, paralytic, and potassium) for the express purpose of causing death. The main application for this procedure is capital punishment, but t ...

. Davis was pronounced dead at the

State

Penitentiary A prison, also known as a jail, gaol, penitentiary, detention center, correction center, correctional facility, or remand center, is a facility where people are Imprisonment, imprisoned under the authority of the State (polity), state, usually ...

at 8:33 p.m. on October 13, 1997. As his death was the first execution carried out by the state of Colorado in approximately three decades, the event received intense media coverage; about 200 death penalty protesters gathered outside the prison as Davis was executed, as did a smaller group of death penalty supporters. Davis was the only person executed in Colorado between 1968 and 2020, when the state of Colorado abolished capital punishment. His execution was the 417th carried out in the United States since capital punishment was resumed in 1977. Davis' wife, Rebecca Fincham, died in prison in 2008 while serving a life sentence for May's murder.

References

! colspan="3" , Executions carried out in Colorado , - ! colspan="3" , Executions carried out in the United States {{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Gary Lee 1944 births 1997 deaths 20th-century executions by Colorado 20th-century executions of American people American male criminals American people executed for murder American people convicted of kidnapping American people convicted of rape American people convicted of child sexual abuse Crime in Colorado Executed people from Kansas People convicted of murder by Colorado People executed by Colorado by lethal injection People from Wichita, Kansas United States Marines Violence against women in Colorado

Early life

Murder, trial, and conviction

Execution

See also

References