No release for frequent offender

By Linda Cicoira

Thirty-two-year-old Devonte Lashawn Davis, who is being held on counts of distribution of fentanyl, cocaine, and up to five pounds of marijuana, was denied bond again on Thursday in Accomack Circuit Court.

The repeat offender asked to be released until his trial in late October so he could help take care of his two children while his mother recuperated from surgery. His prior record and the nature of the January 2024 drug charges kept him locked up.

“Twenty-seven fentanyl pills designed to look like Percocet… could have been 27 dead bodies,” said Judge Linwood W. Lewis Jr. “He is a danger to the community.”

Lewis denied bond for Davis about a year ago. The judge said Davis was also denied bond by the general district court and a magistrate. “No reason to change it,” said Lewis.

More than a dozen years ago, Davis, of Airport Drive in Melfa, was given a big break when a charge of murder made against him wasn’t prosecuted, even though he was in the car when another street gang member shot out the window, killing a father of four who was waiting for a ride to work. Davis pleaded guilty to attempted robbery instead and was given a 10-year suspended sentence.

His mother asked the court to grant him release until his trial so he could help her.

“He is my son. I love him,” she said. “I’m very supportive of him. His kids are growing up. I think he realizes now that his kids need him … if he got therapy, he could work through some of his issues.” The woman said he needs therapy for seeing a murder when he was a teenager and has never gotten it.