Inset: Davarius James (Escambia County Jail). Background: Home in Pensacola, Florida, where he allegedly murdered his girlfriend (Google Maps).
A Florida man is on trial for beating his girlfriend to death and allegedly doing an internet search that asked: "If I performed CPR over five hours ago, why isn't it working" before going to meet with his parole officer.
Davarius James, 38, stands accused of murder in the death of his girlfriend, 50-year-old Claudette Robinson, in Pensacola. His trial began on Wednesday, according to the Pensacola News-Journal.
A probable cause arrest affidavit reviewed by Law&Crime says cops responded around 7 a.m. on Feb. 3 to a home in the 900 block of North 7th Avenue after Robinson was found dead. She was inside the home with an "excessive amount of blunt force trauma to her face and chest," cops wrote.
"The injuries resulted in the entirety of the face being swollen and bruised, with what appears to be rug-burn across the right side of her face," the affidavit stated.
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The woman who called 911 told cops she received a call from James, a lifelong friend, who asked her to come check on Robinson. When she went inside the home, she saw Robinson sitting on the recliner with a bruise sealing her right eye shut. Robinson was "cold to the touch." The friend said they needed to call 911, and James allegedly said something along the lines of "this isn't going to look good." He claimed the injuries were from a fall.
She went to her car to grab her phone and call police. When she came back, James had already run away, per the affidavit. Deputies arrived and had her call James on speaker. She told him the cops wanted to speak with him and he allegedly responded that he "would have to tell them about last night" and "she been dead." When she told him the cops were listening to the conversation, he hung up, the complaint said.
In an interview after his arrest, and after he was given his Miranda rights, James reportedly said he had been dating Robinson for two years and living with her for about a year. James said the two had an argument the night before about her giving his personal items away to family and friends without his permission, which "angered" him, cops said. He claimed he tried to grab her arm, and she fell and busted the back of her head on the ground after she yanked her arm away.
When detectives questioned how she could suffer an injury to her face when she fell on the back of her head, he allegedly became "agitated" and claimed she fell in a "twisting fashion, hitting her face first and then the back of the head," according to cops.
The defendant said the victim got up "wobbly" and walked to the bathroom, where he heard a crash. He said he went to check on her and found her on the floor. James allegedly said he helped her up and guided her to the bed where they laid together. The victim "stopped talking and just held him," cops wrote.
According to the affidavit, James continued to check on her pulse and her breathing because "he was concerned that she would die."
"James recounted that at one point Robinson was shaking and her eyes were rolling in the back of her head, his solution was to pour cold water on top of her. This shocked Robinson and she grabbed James again," detectives stated.
He was "satisfied she was not dead," eventually fell asleep and awoke around 7 a.m. the next day, cops wrote. He said his girlfriend was breathing but "very shallowly." Then he went to meet with his parole officer. After returning to the home, he told Robinson "yesterday is in the past, daddy is here to take care of you," according to the affidavit.
But when he went to pick her up she felt "stiff," which is when he started calling friends for help, cops said. He also had been previously arrested for an alleged domestic violence incident against Robinson in which she was "afraid that James would kill her," investigators noted.
During an opening statement, prosecutors said James did a Google search that said: "If I performed CPR over five hours ago, why isn't it working."
James has been in the Escambia County Jail ever since his arrest.
