On March 12, 2026, a Haywood County jury found Darrell Davis not guilty of first-degree murder. He had been previously convicted and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in 2022 and had been sitting in jail for eight years awaiting his retrial. A team encompassing several litigation department employees from Bass, Berry & Sims led by Garrah Carter-Mason and Dawn Deaner of the Choosing Justice Initiative have represented Mr. Davis since early 2023. The team was first in a successful motion for new trial and in the subsequent retrial.
After Mr. Davis’s 2022 conviction, the team filed an Amended Motion for New Trial on behalf of Mr. Davis in 2024 and presented two full days of proof at an evidentiary hearing on that motion, arguing ineffective assistance of counsel, Brady violations, prosecutorial misconduct, and procedural and investigation errors in a lengthy brief. At the evidentiary hearing, Garrah and Dawn put on expert witness testimony and several other witnesses. Judge Clayburn Peeples granted the Motion for New Trial in March 2025.
Mr. Davis’s new trial began on March 9, 2026, and lasted four days. After a brief deliberation, the jury found Mr. Davis not guilty on all counts and he was immediately released from prison.
In addition to Garrah Carter-Mason, the firm’s core trial team included John Golwen, Angie Bergman, Charlotte Elam, Andrés Martinez, Reagan Schmidt, Jordan Thomas, Teresa McClanahan, Quiana Jimerson, and Jorge Molina.
Read more about the case here.