- Suspect: Harrison Davis
- Victim: Unidentified male child, his grandson
- Charges: Involuntary manslaughter pleaded down from Child endangerment resulting in death
- Date of incident: July 1, 2018
- Type of incident: DWI crash
- Status: Plea to involuntary manslaughter, sentencing pending
- Investigating Agency: FBI
- Location: Outside of Gallup, NM
- County: McKinley County
- Federal district case number: 19-cr-04446
- Prosecutor: Frederick Mendenhall
- Defense attorney: Sylvia Baiz
- Pre-trial release judge: District Judge Karen Molzen
- Plea judge: Magistrate Judge John Robbenhaar
- Sentencing judge: TBD
Summary
On July 1, 2018, Harrison Davis allegedly drunkenly crashed his car, which lead to the death of a child, although when the child died is not clear. On Nov. 25, 2019, a federal grand jury indicted him on a charge of child endangerment resulting in death, according to court records. His case is pending.
Incident
According to the indictment, Davis is a Native American who was allegedly driving while intoxicated with a boy, age unlisted, and that driving while drunk caused the boy’s death. The crash happened on July 1, 2018.
It is not clear from court documents if the boy died immediately following the crash or later on.
According to a motion to continue filed on Jan. 6, 2020, by public defender Sylvia Baiz, the crash happened “in a remote area near Gallup.”
Harrison Davis charged 16 months after the child’s death
The grand jury indicted Harrison Davis on the single count on Nov. 25, 2019, although the case was not entered into the federal court system until Dec. 3, 2019. He was arrested a week later, on Dec. 11, 2019, by Federal Bureau of Investigations Agent Brad Simons, according to an arrest warrant.
Davis was initially ordered detained on Dec. 12, 2019, in federal court in Albuquerque following a request by prosecutor Frederick Mendenhall, according to a minute sheet.
Davis was arraigned a day later on Dec. 13, 2019, pleaded not guilty to the charge. A different federal prosecutor, David Cowen, did not object to the recommendations of the pretrial services officer and the judge adopted them, according to court minutes.
The minutes sheet does not list what those conditions are. The order releasing him states he can only travel in New Mexico, he can talk to his family but not about the case, he may not use alcohol and he must participate in any outpatient programs ordered by pretrial services. Federal District Court Judge Karen Molzen ordered him released to the custody of his wife, Juanita Davis, and allowed to live in their home near Gallup, according to a minute sheet.
According to the court docket, the case was continued twice, once in January and once in March, and is now set for a tentative trial of June 8, 2020, on the trailing docket.
Davis is being federally charged with a state crime, which is a first-degree felony in New Mexico law.
According to the federal statute, if found guilty, Davis would face the same penalties as he would in New Mexico, which, appear to be 18 years.
Plea deal
Davis pleaded guilty, May 10, 2021, to a criminal information charging him with involuntary manslaughter.
The binding plea deal, signed on April 9, 2021, but not submitted to the court until May 10, sets his sentence at five to eight years. The maximum sentence for involuntary manslaughter is eight years.
Davis wrote in the plea agreement that he was driving his all-terrain vehicle with his grandson, only identified as E.D.
“I had been drinking alcohol and was drunk,” Davis wrote. “I crashed the vehicle, harming myself, and killing my grandson.”
Magistrate Judge John Robbenhaar accepted the plea although the district judge who sentences Davis could still reject it.
Sentencing has not been set in the case.
See the case documents on Google Drive or Document Cloud.
