PORTSMOUTH, Va. — A Portsmouth man sentenced to 80 years in prison during his senior year in high school for a string of armed robberies that resulted in no deaths or injuries is now a free man, thanks to a pardon granted last year by former Virginia Governor Ralph Northam.
"By the grace of God, [I am free]," said Ronald Davis during a conversation with me at his mother's home moments after gaining his freedom on December 1. "God would not allow me to die in a prison cell."
Davis served 26 years in prison for his 1997 crimes by the time of his release Friday. He said he believed he deserved punishment, but felt 80 years was excessive for robberies that did not injure or kill anyone.
"I was wrong. I deserve to be punished," said Davis. "But for me to die in a prison cell? I thought that was excessive."
Northam signed off on Davis' pardon in January 2022 before leaving office, setting the release date for Dec. 1, 2023, nearly 50 years earlier than sentences set by judges decades ago. Several state leaders, a former prosecutor, and community members rallied for Davis' early release, calling his prison sentence excessively long.
By the time Davis turned 18 and was entering his senior year in high school at I.C. Norcom in Portsmouth, he said he turned to heroin to self-medicate for emotional disorders. Davis said he went along with his friends’ plans to rob local businesses in the fall of 1997 to support his drug habit.
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“I never knew that me just playing along, going along, my whole life could be taken away from me,” said Davis. “I had one bad year, and it`s cost me everything.”
Over the course of nine days— Oct. 16 through Oct. 25, 1997— Davis and his co-defendants targeted seven businesses across Hampton Roads. Their robbery spree is explained in Davis’ conditional pardon petition:
"The first two robberies were on the same day, October 16. Davis and co-defendant Eugene McCoade robbed a Red Barn restaurant in Suffolk and a Southern Food convenience store in Isle of Wight. McCoade was armed with a gun. No one was hurt, nor did Davis touch anyone.
"On October 20, Davis and co-defendant Deron Brown robbed a Burger King [in Newport News]. Brown was the one with a gun. No one was hurt, nor did Davis touch anyone.
"On October 23, Davis and Brown robbed a clothing store [Church Street Discount in Norfolk]. Again, Brown carried the weapon. No one was hurt, nor did Davis touch anyone.
"On October 24, the two robbed a McDonald’s [in Newport News]. Brown again carried the gun. No one was hurt, nor did Davis touch anyone.
"Finally, on October 25, Davis and Brown committed two robberies, including one in Norfolk [at Sentry Food Mart] where Davis carried the gun and one in Newport News [at the Night and Day Food Market] where Brown carried the gun. As in all the other robberies, no one was hurt, nor did Davis touch anyone."
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“I make no excuses for what I've done,” Davis told me while incarcerated in 2020. “I think about those victims all the time.”
Because Davis committed the crimes in four different jurisdictions, he faced four separate trials. Convictions from each trial increased the sentencing guidelines for each trial that followed, ending in a combined sentence of 80 years for the crime spree.
“Eighty years? And he's 18 years old? What [does] that mean? I'm going to be dead [when he’s released],” said Joan Davis during our conversation years ago, with tears in her eyes. "I think he's fighting to come home to his mama.”
Davis’ push for a pardon from Northam also gained the support of a former Newport News prosecutor whose efforts helped put Davis in prison.
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“The facts really don't justify the amount of time that he got,” said Richmond-based attorney Matt Danielson. “It was really a product of the sentencing guidelines and the mandatory minimums for firearms that the court's hands are kind of tied.”
“Granted, [it was] a dangerous act of stupidity, someone could have gotten hurt, but nonetheless an act of stupidity by someone who had just turned 18. Are you the same person today that you were 22 years ago? I'm not,” Danielson said. “What do the citizens of the Commonwealth get out of this man being incarcerated a single day longer? The answer is pretty clear. Nothing.”
Because Davis was sentenced after parole was abolished in Virginia, his only avenue for early release was through a conditional pardon granted.
As a condition of his release, Davis must be on supervised probation and undergo drug treatment.
