The Shadow
A Covington woman and her son have pled guilty to their roles in a murder-for-hire plot.
Mary Katherine Davis, 58, and her son, Michael John Davis, 21, entered guilty pleas in Alleghany County Circuit Court.
Mary Davis pled guilty Tuesday to two counts of attempting to commit first-degree murder and received prison sentences totaling 20 years. The court suspended 12 years from the sentences, leaving Davis with eight years to serve.
She will be placed on supervised probation for five years following her release.
A circuit court grand jury indicted Davis in April on charges of soliciting murder and attempted capital murder for hire. She was set to stand trial before a jury July 6.
The Alleghany County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office did not peruse prosecution of the murder solicitation charges against Davis as part of the plea agreement.
Her guilty pleas came after her son, Michael Davis, pled guilty June 8. He pled guilty to one count of conspiring to commit first-degree murder and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
The court suspended nine years of the sentence, leaving Michael Davis with one year to serve. He will be placed on five years supervised probation following his release.
Prosecutors said Michael Davis helped his mother with her plan. He was originally charged with two counts of conspiring to arrange murder for hire. Michael Davis was indicted on the charges in April.
Authorities said Mary Davis planned to hire a hit man to kill her husband, Dennis, in order to cash in on $500,000 in life insurance policies.
Mary Davis met with an undercover Virginia State Police agent in the Covington Walmart parking lot Nov. 30.
Four cameras inside agent’s car recorded apparently handing the agent five $100 bills as a cash down payment and telling him she wanted her husband dead.
At a preliminary hearing in Alleghany County General District Court in February, the agent testified that David told him she would split the insurance benefits with him after he finished the job of killing her husband.
Michael Davis gave his mother the $500 to make the down payment, according to testimony.
Davis faced charges of soliciting murder and attempted capital murder for hire in connection with the Nov. 30 incident.
Additional charges were filed against her in connection with an incident that occurred Feb. 1 while she was in custody at the Alleghany Regional Jail.
