Len Davis Trial: 1996

In the ordinary course of events, Williams' testimony would have been unsubstantiated, but here the prosecution had cast-iron corroboration—unknown to Davis every word of these conversations had been caught on tape!

For 11 months FBI agents had been investigating allegations of widespread coke dealing in the NOPD, and it just so happened that they had a tap on Davis' phone. Besides the above conversations, the surveillance had also caught Davis gleefully confirming Groves' death to Hardy on the day after the murder, laughing, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, rock, rock-a-bye," an expression used by a drug dealer in the movie New Jack City just before shooting people. Davis could be heard adding that if Nathan Norwood persisted with his complaint, it would be "rock-a-bye, baby" for him, too.

Williams, who himself had been indicted on corruption charges, gave some insight into a police force awash with illegal drug money. On the day of Groves' murder, he and Davis had split $16,000 in cash. Asked to explain this transaction, Williams just shrugged. "[I thought] it would be more convenient for us to be partners, given the other things we were involved in."

Next on the witness stand was Steve Jackson who, in return for a deal with the U.S. government, had agreed to give evidence for the prosecution. He told the court of driving Hardy and Causey into the neighborhood where Kim Groves lived. All the while, according to Jackson, Hardy said, "He gots to do this for his nigger," but without specifying who "his nigger" was.

When they reached their destination, Jackson said, Hardy got out, leaving Jackson and Causey in the car. A short while later, Hardy came running back, jumped in, and told him to drive off fast, shouting, "I hit the bitch!" According to Jackson, as they sped away, Hardy threw the barrel of the gun into a canal, switched barrels, then gave Causey the gun to hide. The next day, according to Jackson, Hardy told him "he had to do this … Lennie kept bothering him about doing this." Asked by counsel if he knew who "Lennie" was, Jackson replied, "Len Davis."

Ballistics expert James Churchman testified that a 9-mm barrel recovered from the canal over a year later was too corroded to match to the murder weapon, but he did confirm that it fitted a Beretta handgun found at Causey's house.