URBANA — A Champaign man has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for fatally striking a man with his car in a 2022 hit-and-run.
Champaign County Judge Randy Rosenbaum handed down the sentence Friday to Marcus A. Davis, 33, after he pleaded guilty in July to second-degree murder for the death of Bryson Walker, 28. In exchange for Davis’ guilty plea, the state agreed to dismiss first-degree murder charges.
Davis’ estranged wife testified Friday that she and Davis were separated, though the divorce is not yet final, when she traveled to St. Louis with Mr. Walker and another friend in August 2022.
While away for a weekend, the woman left her three young children in the custody of a friend in Champaign. Even though her and Davis’ relationship was “tumultuous,” the woman testified that she still trusted him to take care of the kids as he was very involved in their lives.
So it was all right with her when Davis picked up the kids to go bowling and do some back-to-school shopping, she said. However, Davis apparently became upset after he saw a photo of his estranged wife with Mr. Walker on one of the kids’ phones.
She and Davis started arguing through text messages, the woman said. When she returned from St. Louis on Aug. 7, she contacted Champaign police and asked them to contact Davis to ensure a smooth transition of the kids back into her custody.
Yet, once her kids were in her car, the woman said she realized Davis had taken their phones. She called and texted him to no answer, dropped off her kids and eventually picked up Mr. Walker in her car from his job as a local security guard. She told him about Davis taking the phones.
It just so happened, she said, that around 8:45 p.m., as the two were driving south on Mattis Avenue to Mr. Walker’s house, they saw Davis, who lived nearby.
Mr. Walker made a U-turn and cut off Davis in his car near the intersection of Mattis and John Street. He jumped out and started walking toward Davis, yelling and cursing at him.
The woman said Mr. Walker was angry about the phones and had a pistol — for which he had a valid firearm owner’s identification card and conceal-carry license — visible on his hip, as he’d just gotten off work.
After yelling at Mr. Walker to get back in her car, the woman said she turned and heard a loud boom. She didn’t see Davis hit Mr. Walker, but she saw Mr. Walker fall through the air and hit his head on the ground, then Davis drive off.
Mr. Walker was pronounced dead of a head injury at Carle Foundation Hospital less than 30 minutes later, the prosecutor said.
Recommendation: 20 years
Davis turned himself in to police around 2 a.m. on Aug. 8, and investigators located his car in the 2000 block of West Bradley Street. The vehicle was stripped of its front and back license plates and its front windshield was busted, a Champaign police detective testified Friday.
Davis also pleaded guilty to domestic battery in connection with a separate January 2022 incident. Assistant State’s Attorney Brooke Hinman argued that Davis should be sentenced to 20 years in prison for killing Mr. Walker and serve a consecutive three-year sentence for domestic battery.
The prosecutor argued that Davis has severe anger and control issues, highlighting a previous 2008 domestic-battery misdemeanor and past incidents in which he allegedly showed up at his wife’s place of work and pushed her in 2022, or threw an object through her residence in 2019.
Davis’ estranged wife also twice initiated, but did not complete, the process of gaining an order of protection from him in 2021 and 2022. In April 2021, she wrote that Davis choked her, dragged her outside and told her he could get a gun and kill her.
Given this pattern, Hinman argued that it was Davis’ own conduct that caused Mr. Walker’s death, and the only reason why his estranged wife can testify in his favor is because he’s in prison and she’s safe from him.
The woman testified that she did not recall all the details of what she wrote in that order for protection, affirmed that she also engaged in fights with Davis — sometimes bruising him or at one smashing a window to his car — and said he never injured her or was violent to others.
‘I’m truly sorry’
Davis’ defense attorney, Chief Public Defender Elisabeth Pollock, recommended that her client be sentenced to four years in prison and acknowledged that he had an “incredibly toxic relationship” with his wife but has lived a primarily law-abiding life with a short criminal record.
Though Davis could have driven in a different direction past Mr. Walker, Pollock did note that there was some element of provocation as Mr. Walker walked towards his car with his gun visible. She described Davis’ fatal action as a “tragic fluke” unlike any of his previous behavior.
“I’d like to apologize to the Walker family for the pain and suffering of losing a loved one,” Davis said. “I know that nothing I can say today can bring him back or change the situation, but I want them to know that I’m truly sorry. I never meant for any of this to happen.”
Rosenbaum said Davis’ wife’s testimony “softened” some of the state’s aggravating characterization of the defendant. The judge said Mr. Walker’s provocation partially explained but did not justify Davis’ unreasonable belief he could hit the man with his car in self-defense.
Davis was sentenced to one concurrent year in prison for his domestic battery conviction and is eligible to serve half of his his 12-year sentence. He faced probation or up to 20 years in prison for second-degree murder and had credit for 945 days already spent in jail.
