A jury returned six guilty verdicts against Montaret Davis and recommended a sentence of 90 years in prison yesterday after almost seven hours of deliberation.
Davis faced felony charges following his Oct. 5 arrest for entering a female University student's 17th Street home and raping her while holding her male friend at gunpoint.
The jury began deliberating Wednesday evening. Deliberation continued yesterday until the jury rendered its verdict at about 12:30 p.m.
Before the verdict was announced, friends and family of both Davis and the victims waited silently as Judge Joseph F. Spinella instructed them not to cause an outburst of any kind, regardless of the verdict.
The jury found Davis guilty on charges of rape, robbery, forcible sodomy, forcible object sexual penetration and two counts of abduction.
The jury did not convict Davis of armed burglary or any charges related to the use of a firearm.
After the jury was dismissed, defense attorney Lloyd J. Snook III requested and received a motion to have the jury instructed that Virginia's parole system had been abolished. Under this policy, Davis would have to serve any sentence in full.
After the jury returned with the verdict, Commonwealth Attorney Dave Chapman introduced a compilation of Davis' previous convictions as evidence for sentencing.
The jury then heard the cases for sentencing from Chapman and Snook.
Chapman emphasized Davis' prior convictions, which included two assault convictions and one malicious wounding conviction, and told the jurors they possessed the power to ensure Davis was unable to hurt another person in the future.
Snook said although his client was "no angel," worse criminals have come before a jury. He reminded the jury they had leeway in sentencing: from five years to life on four of the convictions. He suggested that the jurors should sentence Davis to the minimum amount of time possible for each conviction.
After almost two more hours of deliberation the jury recommended a combined sentence of 90 years, with 40 years for rape, 20 years for forcible sodomy, 10 years for forcible object sexual penetration, five years for robbery and 15 years for the two abduction convictions.
Snook said he plans to have Davis psychologically examined before his sentencing in an attempt to have some of the sentence suspended.
Following the close of the trial, Chapman said he was "confident [Davis] will never be a threat to another person" and that the Commonwealth was very satisfied with the outcome of the trial.
Asst. Dean of Students Aaron Laushway said he was pleased with the verdict and he "felt our students' testimonies and their veracity were validated."
Davis is scheduled to be sentenced May 17 at Charlottesville Circuit Court.
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