Marion man accused of killing ex-girlfriend will have non-jury trial

CEDAR RAPIDS — A Marion man, who had his conviction of killing his former girlfriend overturned in 2020, waived his right to a jury trial and will have a bench trial — meaning the judge will determine the verdict — later this month.

Greg Davis, 30, charged with first-degree murder, told 6th Judicial District Judge Sean McPartland that he knowingly and voluntarily waived a jury trial during a pretrial hearing Friday. He also will submit a written waiver to the court.

Davis will again claim insanity or diminished capacity as his defense in the second trial, which starts Sept. 13 in Linn County District Court.

McPartland and the defense and prosecution went over some legal issues and talked about the schedule that may shorten the trial without the jury selection process.

Last week, McPartland, in a ruling, said he wouldn’t recuse himself, as the defense requested, because there is no authority — case law — that allows the defense to question McPartland to determine if he can be fair and impartial in this second trial.

McPartland, in his ruling, said Assistant Linn County Attorney Mike Harris, in his motion, said he was unaware of any Iowa law to support the defense’s motion.

During a previous hearing, Al Parrish, Davis’ lawyer, said the defense was concerned McPartland may have a disagreement with the Iowa Supreme Court ruling that overturned the conviction and there might be some “residual effect” from the appeal.

McPartland, in his ruling, pointed out that Parrish acknowledged he had no evidence that would lead him to believe that the judge felt that way.

McPartland concluded there are no grounds or authorities in support of the right to question the court. He denied the defense’s request.

Davis was convicted of first-degree murder by a Linn County jury in 2018 but the Iowa Supreme Court overturned the verdict in a 4-3 decision in 2020. The justices found the trial judge — McPartland — failed to instruct the jury regarding Davis' insanity or diminished capacity defense on the first-degree murder charge, which meant jurors couldn’t consider it.

The jury instruction for the insanity defense was included with the lesser charge, so the error allowed the jury to wrongly conclude the insanity defense applied only to that charge, according to the ruling.

Davis is accused of stabbing 29-year-old Carrie Davis in the Marion home they shared. They had the same last name but weren’t married.

According to evidence at the first trial, Davis stabbed the woman 26 times Sept. 28, 2017.

He then attempted to conceal her body in a roll of carpet, which authorities found Oct. 2, 2017, on a utility trailer parked outside his parents' vacant rental house in Marion.

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