Forty years later, lifer's diligence earns his freedom

YESTERDAY, CLARENCE Davis received the best news he'd heard in 40 years.

After waging a legal battle over what he claimed was false testimony and a botched prosecution in a 1970 murder case, Davis, 63, was granted parole by a Philadelphia Common Pleas judge after negotiating a new guilty plea.

Initially convicted of robbery and first-degree murder, Davis' new deal saw him plead to third-degree murder, robbery and firearms offenses, and sealed his release from the state Correctional Institution at Graterford.

And, to hear his attorney tell it, Davis has one person to thank for his success and freedom.

Himself.

"He took this case to the five-yard line on his own," said Davis' attorney, Daniel Walworth, a partner with the Center City law firm Duane Morris LLP. "I picked up the ball and just hoped I wouldn't drop it on the way to the end zone.

In July 1972, Davis was implicated in the death of Arthur Gilliard, whom Davis shot dead as he tended bar during a robbery inside the Polka Dot Bar in North Philly, according to court records.

That conviction was largely built on the testimony of two men - Jerome Watson and Michael Diggs, the latter of whom was one of Davis' co-defendants - whose accounts of that fateful night helped prosecutors secure a life-without-parole sentence for Davis.

So, resigned to his fate, Davis entered the state prison system, eventually landing in the Correctional Institute at Graterford, Walworth said.

While there, he was the "portrait of a good inmate" - he became involved in counseling programs for other inmates and hit the books, earning several degrees, according to his attorney.

"He went in, knowing he had no possibility of being paroled, and did everything he could to better himself and those around him," Walworth said.

Then, in 2008, as Davis poured over materials related to his conviction, he stumbled upon something.

It was "new evidence," he later wrote in his appeal to the state Superior Court, evidence that would prove his case was mishandled.

Davis had uncovered an affidavit signed by Watson from March 2008 in which he claimed he "fabricated his testimony" that Davis had confessed to killing Gilliard, according to court documents.

In a subsequent affidavit, from 2011, Watson claimed prosecutors "coerced him" into testifying at Davis' trial in exchange for being "treated favorably by the police, prosecutors and the courts, when dealing with the outstanding felony cases had at the time," those records show.

That statement proved Watson had committed perjury nearly 40 years earlier, when he swore to Davis' defense attorney while under oath that he wasn't receiving leniency from the state for his cooperation.

A sentencing transcript for Diggs' hearing in the Gilliard case, which Davis sought after discovering Watson's perjury, revealed that Diggs was given probation after he "kept his part of the agreement" by testifying against Davis, court records show.

With that information in hand, Davis filed an appeal to Superior Court in February, asking for a new evidentiary hearing in Common Pleas court under the Post Conviction Relief Act.

The court agreed with him, and sent the case back down.

"To Davis' credit, he did this on his own," Walworth said. "He tracked down transcripts from the '70's that were crystal clear in showing what had happened.

"He was able to prevail upon the court and commonwealth, and we were able to show the significance of what I think is some serious prosecutorial misconduct."

Now, Walworth says his client is "relieved and happy," but also expresses remorse to Gilliard's family. Davis has made an offer to speak with them and answer any lingering question, he added.

Davis also is fortunate to have "a tremendous support group waiting for him" on the outside, including his devoted wife Tanya.

"I think it'll seem real for him when he walks out of those doors," Walworth said.