2 charged with making terroristic threats

Published 3:13 pm Thursday, January 26, 2017

“That (expletive omitted) is going to get what’s coming to him…I hope some (racial slur omitted) rapes his wife and his kids…I hope (he) needs a tree cut; I’ll sit back and laugh while his kids die.”

Those alleged statements and others like them Thursday led to new charges for two of the nine arrested earlier this week for a rash of recent burglaries in the Foshee/Wildfork Road areas.

Joseph Davis III

Joseph Davis III

William Nelson Davis

William Nelson Davis

As a result, Joseph Christopher “JC” Davis III and his brother, William Nelson Davis, are each charged with making a terrorist threat after the two allegedly threatened two Escambia County Sheriff’s deputies and one correctional officer.

The pair – along with six others – are facing charges ranging from theft of property to drug possession after deputies recovered a number of stolen guns and other items from three separate residences.

During a Thursday bond hearing, Judge Jeff White gave the pair an elevated bond of $500,000 each following testimony from Sheriff Grover Smith. Smith said preliminary records show that in the last 17 years, William Davis has been arrested 44 times and has five prior convictions, while Joseph Davis has been arrested 43 times and had 11 convictions in last 21 years.

“These men thought they’d benefit from threatening two of my deputies and one of my correction officers,” Smith said. “And based on their statements, I have no reason to believe they won’t do what they said they’d do.”

White seemed to agree after sternly admonishing the two for talking over him and to others near the bench while he was speaking.

While the state opposed a bond on the new charges, White said he felt “constitutionally bound” to provide one.

“But when you can’t be quiet, you don’t give me a lot of confidence that you’ll comply with my orders,” White told the men. “The reason your bond is so high is because you don’t listen. How am I supposed to know you’ll do what you’re supposed to do out there if you won’t obey me in the courtroom?”

Both men assured White that they would follow the conditions of the bond agreement, which also prohibited contact with the victims and families in the cases and not leaving the state.