Alex Constantine - March 3, 2013
" ... Davis gained international notoriety in January 2011 when he was arrested in Pakistan for killing two men he said were trying to rob him. Davis was freed two months later after the victims' families granted him a pardon in exchange for a payment of $2.3 million. ... "
Former CIA contractor pleads guilty in Highlands Ranch assault
March 1, 2013
CASTLE ROCK — The former CIA contractor accused of beating up a man over a parking space pleaded guilty Friday to third-degree assault. In exchange for the guilty plea, Raymond Davis must serve two years' probation, attend anger-management classes, pay restitution and write a letter of apology to the victim.
Jeffrey Maes, the man who said Davis assaulted him in front of his then 6- and 8-year-old daughters, made it clear to the judge he was not happy about the plea deal.
"I took my wife and two kids" to an Einstein Bros. Bagels on a Saturday morning in October 2011, and ended up in a shouting match over a parking space, Maes told District Judge Richard Caschette during the hearing Friday.
"I told him to relax. I said this is stupid and walked away and I got cold-cocked," Maes said. "He deserves to be tried."
Maes is suing Davis for damages in civil court.
Maes' attorney, Larry Klayman, repeatedly asked the judge to require that Davis include specific elements in his apology letter, a request the judge denied. Deputy District Attorney Doug Bechtel characterized the request as an effort to assure the letter includes information that will bolster the civil case.
Klayman, who called Davis a "ticking time bomb," also repeated charges that the CIA had intervened in the case.
"If the CIA could get him out of Pakistan, did the CIA lean on the DA here?" Klayman asked the judge before the sentence was imposed. "This is a major embarrassment for the CIA to have this guy come out here and beat the crap out of someone," Klayman said.
The district attorney's office has consistently called Klayman's allegations "completely unfounded."
Asked about the basis for his claims of CIA involvement, Klayman said he based his charges on "20 years of experience knowing the way things work in Washington."
Davis gained international notoriety in January 2011 when he was arrested in Pakistan for killing two men he said were trying to rob him. Davis was freed two months later after the victims' families granted him a pardon in exchange for a payment of $2.3 million. The arrangement was made under an Islamic provision that allows "blood money" to be paid in lieu of punishment.
Then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton later said the money was not paid by the U.S. government.
Davis, who originally was charged with second-degree assault, a felony that could have carried a sentence of up to 16 years, said little during the hearing. Afterward, his wife, Rebecca, told reporters the incident has made life awful for her family and nearly wrecked them financially.
She said she was proud of her husband, who now works as a firearms instructor, for standing up for himself. "We didn't do anything wrong. We don't have anything to apologize for," she said.
