A judge is postponing a decision on a c requested by a man charged with murder in Marion County.
Circuit Judge Tony Mozingo told John Mark Davis Friday that he couldn’t find media coverage of the crime but would give Davis’s attorney a chance to find discussions about it on social media. Mozingo left the trial set for October in Marion County but said he will take up the change of venue request in June.
A grand jury indicted Davis on three charges, including first-degree murder, related to the Feb. 17, 2017, shooting death of Marcus Ray Christopher. The 50-year-old’s body was found in a ditch along Wesley Road.
Davis has also been indicted on charges of:
• Possession of a weapon by a felon (he was convicted of felony child abuse in Madison County, Ala., in 2014, and obtaining a prescription by fraud in 2012 in Lamar County); and
• Taking away a motor vehicle, for allegedly taking Christopher’s 2004 Cadillac Escalade.
A large number of family members were on hand Friday for the hearing at the Marion County Courthouse.
The motion for a change of venue filed by Davis’s attorney, H.H. Klein III of Hattiesburg, said the case received extensive publicity and public scrutiny, including articles in the Columbian-Progress and posts on Facebook, Twitter and Snapchat.
The C-P wrote four stories directly about the case, all published in February 2017.
The motion also said Christopher was a member of the law enforcement community and “the citizens of Marion County are very supportive of their local law enforcement personnel, many of whom are friends and relatives of these law enforcement officers.”
Two people, Tommy Beal and James E. Carney, issued sworn affidavits saying they didn’t believe Davis could get a fair trial here.
However, Assistant District Attorney Kim Harlin filed a response saying Davis had not provided any documentation to support his allegations and that the state was unaware of any recent pretrial publicity. The state also got signed affidavits from 68 Marion County citizens saying they had no knowledge of the case and believed Davis could receive a fair trial.
Davis, 39, remains in the Marion County Jail on $1,010,000 bond.
