CANTON, Ohio – A jury can hear the statements a 2 1/2-year-old boy made the day his pregnant mother was reported missing, a judge ruled Friday in the capital murder case accusing a former police officer of the woman's murder.
Former Canton patrolman Bobby Cutts Jr., 30, is to go on trial Monday in the death of Jessie Marie Davis, 26, and her fetus last June. He has pleaded not guilty to aggravated murder, aggravated burglary and other charges.
Davis, 26, was reported missing June 15 when her mother went to her home to check on her and discovered Davis' son, Blake, alone, wearing a dirty diaper and Davis' bedroom in disarray. Cutts is Blake's father and Davis' family has said he also was the father of Davis' unborn daughter.
Stark County sheriff's Sgt. Eric Weisburn testified Friday at a pretrial motions hearing that he interviewed Blake Davis at a neighbor's house the day Davis was reported missing. Weisburn said they both sat on a floor, colored together with crayons and spent 15 to 20 minutes talking.
"Mommy was crying. Mommy broke the table. Mommy's in rug," the boy said.
Weisburn said Friday the boy also told him his mother was at work and had made him pancakes.
Near the end of their conversation, Weisburn said, Blake crawled onto a couch, looked out a window facing his house and said, "Daddy's mad."
"He never gave me a reason as to why daddy was mad, he just said, 'Daddy's mad,"' Weisburn said.
Cutts' lawyer, Fernando Mack, argued against the admissibility of the statements, saying they were made because the sergeant was doing a criminal investigation.
But Judge Charles E. Brown Jr. ruled that authorities were asking questions because of an ongoing emergency, which was the disappearance of Jesse Davis, and that the boy's statements can be admissible.
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