Man to serve 85% of prison sentence for domestic assault on ex-girlfriend

A 2023 Ozark County domestic violence case finally reached its conclusion last week when the defendant accepted a plea agreement with the state and was sent to prison for the crimes. 

Donnivan Davis, 27, pleaded guilty to the amended charge of first-degree domestic assault, a class B felony, in a Feb. 13 appearance before Judge Jeffrey Merrell in Taney County Circuit Court. 

The case was transferred to Taney County from Ozark County on a change of venue motion early in the case. 

Pursuant to a plea agreement, Davis was sentenced to 7 years in the Missouri Department of Corrections. Although many defendants are only required to serve as little as 15% of their prison sentence, Davis will be required to serve 85% of his sentence due to the first-degree domestic assault charge being on Missouri’s “dangerous felony list.”

Charges of kidnapping, three counts of armed criminal action, harassment, stealing a firearm, property damage and a second domestic assault charge in another case were dismissed as part of the agreement.

Ozark County Prosecuting Attorney Lee Pipkins told the Times that the victim in the case, the defendant’s former girlfriend, gave an “excellent victim statement.”

After the sentence was announced, Davis requested a furlough. 

Merrell denied the request and ordered that Davis be taken into custody by the Taney County Sheriff immediately and held until he could be transported to prison. 

According to the previously filed probable cause statement, prepared by Ozark County Deputy Gannan Moss, the Ozark County Sheriff’s dispatcher received a call on Dec. 29, 2023, from a man who said a woman had come to his house and said she had been beaten up by her boyfriend. Moss and Deputy Josh Sherman responded and met with the woman at her home. She reportedly followed the officers back to the sheriff’s office as she didn’t feel comfortable staying at her residence because of the altercation, she said.

“[We] had the victim tell us what happened. She told us she had just broken up with her boyfriend because she suspected him of purchasing methamphetamine earlier that day,” the report says. “When she arrived back at her house, she told us the suspect grabbed her by the hair and ripped her out of her vehicle. He dragged her on the ground by her hair and then slammed her head into the rear driver’s side of her car. She told us then he kicked her in the shoulder while she was on the ground, and as she tried to get back up, he had bitten her multiple times.”

The woman then said Davis went into the house and she followed him because he told her “‘if you leave, I’ll kill your animals.’” She said at that point she was crying and scared but wanted the situation to end quickly if possible.

“Once inside, he continued to scream at her and throw things including, but not limited to, TV dinner stands, furniture etc... He held her down on the couch, and he grabbed her by the head and slammed her head into the wall and back of the couch,” Moss continued.

The woman then told Davis he needed to leave, but he said he wouldn’t leave. He then went into the bedroom and fell asleep, the report says.

When he woke up, he began yelling at her again, then slapped her in the head and grabbed her by the hair again and slammed her face into the floor. He held her down and threatened her, telling her he “would show her what he could do.”

According to the report, she said Davis also grabbed her phone and attempted to break it in order to keep her from contacting law enforcement.

The cell phone screen broke in the process.

The report says that she estimated the encounter lasted from 7 a.m. to noon that day.

The woman had a .22 caliber rifle at her residence, and when she arrived back at her house, the gun was missing. She said that he had to have taken it without her consent.

He was also charged with domestic assault in a previous incident from March 18, 2023.