FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NEWS ADVISORY
March 11, 2014
For More Information, contact:
Luther Strange
Mike Lewis (334) 353-2199
Alabama Attorney General
Joy Patterson (334) 242-7491
Claire Haynes (334) 242-7351
Page 1 of 1
AG ANNOUNCES COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS
UPHOLDS RUSSELL COUNTY MURDER CONVICTION
(MONTGOMERY) -Attorney General Luther Strange announced that the Alabama
Court of Criminal Appeals on Friday upheld the murder conviction of Sylvester Davis Jr.,
32, of Springville. Davis was convicted in Russell County Circuit Court in October of 2013
for the murder of Yamisha Thomas.
Evidence was presented at trial that the victim’s mother reported her missing on April
24, 2011. Davis, who was Thomas’s boyfriend, told her mother that he also was looking for
her, but later changed his story to say he had been with her that day. Police recovered
Thomas’s abandoned vehicle in Columbus, Georgia. Subsequently, while questioning Davis,
the officers noticed he had a mark on his face as though he had been in a struggle.
A month later, while Alabama Bureau of Investigation agents were questioning jail
inmate Jerry Foster, he indicated that he knew information about the murder of Thomas.
Foster had previously lived and worked at Davis’s automotive detail shop. He told agents
that on April 23, 2011, Davis came to the shop with scratches on his face and neck. Davis took
Foster to an isolated area near the shop; Davis said he had killed his girlfriend and wanted
Foster’s help to bury her. Foster refused, and as he was walking away he noticed what
appeared to be a body wrapped in a sheet, feet exposed and toenails painted. ABI agents then
took Foster to Phenix City, where he directed them to the remote area where Foster had seen
the body. Officers searched the area and found a mattress lying on the ground, with
Thomas’s body underneath.
The case was prosecuted at trial by Russell County District Attorney Kenneth Davis’s
office. The defendant, Sylvester Davis, was sentenced as a habitual offender to life
imprisonment without the possibility of parole, and he subsequently sought to have his
conviction reversed on appeal.
The Attorney General’s Criminal Appeals Division handled the case during the
appeals process, arguing for the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals to affirm the conviction.
The Court did so in a decision issued on Friday, March, 6, 2015. Attorney General Strange
commended Assistant Attorney General Kristi Wilkerson of the Attorney General’s Criminal
Appeals Division for her successful work in this case.
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501 Washington Avenue * Montgomery, AL 36104 * (334) 242-7300
www.ago.alabama.gov
