3 years added to Miamisburg man’s sentence in Dayton deadly jazz club shooting

James A. Davison

Credit: Ohio Department of Rehabilitation & Correction

Credit: Ohio Department of Rehabilitation & Correction

James A. Davison

A Miamisburg man convicted in a double murder at a Dayton jazz club in 2018 was resentenced to 51 years to life in prison after an appeal added three years to his sentence.

James A. Davison was sentenced to 48 years to life in prison on Oct. 15, 2019, in the shooting deaths of 29-year-old Darion Harris and 28-year-old Ashley James.

A month earlier, a jury found Davison guilty of aggravated murder, murder, two counts of felonious assault, discharge of a firearm at or near prohibited premises, improper handling of a firearm in a motor vehicle and tampering with evidence.

Davison drove to Rick’s Jazz Club on April 21, 2018, and stopped his SUV next to a pickup truck with four people inside. Davison then fired between 17 and 21 rounds into the front seat of the ruck, killing Harris and James, according to the prosecutor’s office. The two passengers in the back seat were not injured.

The Montgomery County Prosecutor’s Office appealed the trial court’s sentence, arguing that the aggravated murder and discharge of a firearm counts should not have been merged, according to a press release.

The Ohio 2nd District Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the prosecutor’s office and sent the case back to the trial court.

The court on Tuesday resentenced Davison, this time to 51 years to life in prison.

Davison is incarcerated in the Warren Correctional Institution in Lebanon, according to the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation & Correction website.

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