However, he continued to maintain his innocence during the 15 minutes he spoke at his sentencing hearing. He said he “had nothing to do with the murder of Asiah Slone,” adding that his co-defendant, Perry Hart, fired the two shots into Slone’s head. Davis claimed he was slandered, targeted by the Middletown Division of Police, and was proven innocent by the evidence presented at trial, and said, “For the minority, it’s been guilty until proven innocent.”
Prosecutors said he did fire the first of the two shots that killed Slone and threatened Hart to “make sure she was dead” and dispose of her body.
Credit: Michael D. Pitman
Credit: Michael D. Pitman
“He’s a stone-cold killer,” said Butler County Prosecutor Mike Gmoser, adding he should receive the maximum sentence “and never see the light of day.”
After having found Davis as a violent repeat offender, Judge Heile sentenced Davis to life in prison on the first count of aggravated murder, and is eligible for parole after 30 years. Five other felony counts Davis had been found guilty of, including kidnapping, were merged with the aggravated murder count.
Heile also sentenced Davis to two additional consecutive sentences. Davis' time in prison will begin with a 4-1/2 sentence on a firearms specification attached to the aggravated murder charge. Then a 10-year prison sentence begins for being a repeat violent offender.
The charge of having weapons under disability is a three-year term that will serve concurrent.
If Davis is ever paroled, he must register with the Butler County Sheriff’s Office as a repeat violent offender.
Davis' attorney, Brad Kraemer, said at the start of the nearly hour-long hearing, they plan to appeal.
Davis was found guilty after his five-day trial in Butler County Common Pleas Court. It took the jury about four hours to come back with the verdict of guilty of all counts, which also included having weapons under disability, kidnapping, and attempted murder.
Davis took the stand in his own defense during his trial, denying his involvement and even being present when Slone was shot twice in the head on June 7 as she lay sleeping on the floor of the house.
He also spoke on Tuesday for several minutes, saying the evidence presented in his trial proved he did not shoot Slone. He also said the murder was the idea of his co-defendant, Perry Hart.
Davis was one of the two men charged with Slone’s death, 35, who was reported missing and her remains were found in a trash can by searchers on July 1.
Slone was was reported missing in June. Her remains were found on July 1, 2024, and later identified by the the Butler County Coroner’s office through DNA testing two days after Hart’s arrest. Slone was found in a Rumpke trash bin in the 1000 block of Centennial Avenue near Yankee Road.
Davis was the first to go to trial and Hart testified against him, along with others, in the house where Slone was killed.
Gmoser called Davis’ theory “absurd” that Hart was the lone person involved in Slone’s death. The prosecutor said Hart “wasn’t smart enough to concoct” that plan.
Hart had faced an aggravated murder charge in addition to three counts of kidnapping. However, due to Hart’s corroborating testimony against Brandon Davis in his February trial, the county prosecutor offered the lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter charge with a 3-year gun specification, in addition to the kidnapping counts.
Hart will next be in court at 9:30 a.m. on March 31 for a criminal disposition hearing.
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