SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Just before Harvest Davidson walked out of a correctional facility for the first time in almost seven years, a guard said to him something he’ll remember:
“Davidson, you better take good care of your mother,” the correctional officer in Delano told him.
And when he walked out, there she was.
Tina Perry rushed to hug her son. They cried together, and laughed as they thanked God for helping them to see through the dark times.
Their embrace that day marked the end of Davidson’s confinement in connection with a long-running criminal case in El Dorado County in which half a dozen defendants faced charges in the death of Dennis “Spike” Wright, who was shot and killed in a dispute after a 2016 drug deal went bad.
All of the defendants were people of color facing charges in a mostly white community. The defendants, including Davidson, have alleged they were mistreated by the El Dorado County District Attorney’s Office with lengthy trial delays that they interpreted as tactics meant to raise pressure on them.
Davidson in particular gained support from groups like Black Lives Matter and the NAACP because he was accused of playing a lesser role in the incidents that led up to Wright’s death. He was not at the scene of the immediate shooting, but prosecutors believed he was in position as a getaway driver in a conspiracy to rob Wright.
Davidson’s supporters felt differently, seeing a young man who had no power to stop the shooting that took Wright’s life.
“I was hurt deep in my core because I went through what Harvest went through,” said Henry Ortiz, founder of Community Healers, a social justice organization. “I see the way the system plays games through manipulation causing generational pain to our families.”
Perry was her son’s fiercest advocate through the years. She sought attorneys to take up his case and pressed for his release. She said she struggled to sleep through his confinement. She called the years he spent awaiting trial “unconstitutional.”
She held a party for home when he finally left custody. He arrived to find the aroma of his favorite food, an enormous pot of gumbo, and loved ones who missed him.
Davidson believes he was mistreated throughout his time in jail. His case was delayed in part by COVID-19, but he said he saw something else: an intentional effort to lynch a Black man through modern-day tactics.
“They still have a sign out that says ‘Hangtown,’” said Davidson about Placerville, which houses the El Dorado County Jail. “They tend to turn a blind eye and focus on all these African Americans … because it fits what they’re about, racism and injustice.”
What happened in January 2016?
Davidson, 27, was one of six men from the Bay Area and Sacramento region who drove to South Lake Tahoe in January 2016 in a prearranged marijuana deal with Wright.
The deal fell apart. One of the men from Davidson’s group, Dion Vaccaro, later attempted to rob Wright in a hotel parking lot, according to court documents. An altercation ensued. Vaccaro and co-defendant Andrew Adams shot Wright in front of Wright’s girlfriend, according to local media coverage of their trials.
Davidson, parked in a car near the planned robbery, maintained that he wasn’t close enough to prevent the shooting.
Four of Davidson’s co-defendants, including Vaccaro and Adams, received sentences of up to life in prison. One is still in trial. Davidson took a plea agreement in September. He pleaded guilty to robbery and was sentenced to eight years in prison, most of which he had already served.
Davidson declined to talk in detail about the night of Wright’s death because one defendant is still awaiting trial and Davidson could be called to testify.
Sheriff’s deputies spent months tracking down the defendants in the case. Shooter Adams was the last one taken into custody; he was arrested eight months after the shooting.
Officers and prosecutors said they are proud of the results in court, pointing to the convictions and the severity of the crime.
In an email to The Sacramento Bee, El Dorado County Chief Assistant District Attorney Joe Alexander discredited Davidson and his supporters saying their allegations about mistreatment in court are “completely false” and “unsupported by any evidence.”
“In 2016, Mr. Davidson was a major participant in an armed robbery. When the victim resisted, he was shot and killed by one of Mr. Davidson’s crime partners. Mr. Davidson admitted his involvement at sentencing and was treated leniently by our office given the fact his exposure at trial was a life sentence. Instead, he pled to two counts of robbery and admitted that a principal was armed during that robbery. Although this is an older case, Mr. Davidson still had time left to serve on that sentence at the time of his plea,” Alexander said.
Davidson shares his experience in the system
In general, state prisons offer inmates more rehabilitative services than county jails. Davidson’s long wait for a trial meant he spent years in El Dorado County Jail with little to do.
The COVID-19 pandemic represented another setback, leading to deputies to heighten security and further restrict inmates’ activities.
At times he felt disrespected by officers through being verbally abused and even physically assaulted on one occasion. He believed officers wanted to break him.
“Every time I go to court, they want to push it off. There’s no trial. Seven years is a long time to sit in a county jail to be scrutinized, pestered and disrespected by officers, racist officers,” Davidson said.
On one occasion, he said a deputy assaulted him. It began when a female officer questioned why he had two shampoo and conditioner bottles. She called for backup, saying Davidson was being noncompliant.
That’s when she ordered him to face a wall in his cell, when he did so, he said she attacked him.
“She immediately jumped on my back, tackled me to the floor and tried to arrest me,” said Davidson. “(She) ended up hitting me in the back of the head for no apparent reason, then they put in cuffs and slammed me into the wall.”
The El Dorado Sheriff’s Office did not respond to a request for comment regarding Davidson’s allegations.
As he reflects on his experience, Davidson cannot put the life-changing events behind him.
“I probably would have lost my mind a long time ago, but God has a purpose for each and every person. I think my purpose was to keep fighting because people need to hear stories like this,” said Davidson.
Davidson went from El Dorado County Jail to North Kern State Prison on Dec. 6 to serve a seven-year, four-month sentence for two counts of second degree robbery with enhancements for being armed with a firearm.
According to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, he received 2,904 days of pre-sentencing credits due to the time he served while awaiting trial. He was released to parole supervision on Dec. 11.
What’s next for Davidson?
Since his release, Davidson has taken steps to connect with the Anti Recidivism Coalition and apply for a reentry program that would have him utilize the knowledge and skills he’s developed while being incarcerated.
Davidson said gained an understanding of the law, writing legislation, and the power of community.
“You have to get connected, not with just one group, but with everyone such as The Village, Community Healers, Justice Reform Coalition, Anti Recidivism Coalition, the NAACP (because) with unity, we are stronger than everybody,” said Davidson.
He plans to earn a degree and eventually go to law school.
“There needs to be more attorneys that can relate to what I’ve been through, that will bend over backwards for their client, that won’t take shady deals behind people’s backs,” Davidson said. “I want to fight not only for their life, but their sanity.”
Perry is in his corner. She expressed gratitude for her son being free, but said it’s not a “full victory.”
“I’m grateful that God opened the door for (Harvest) to come home,” Perry said. “But I still believe that El Dorado County has to be held accountable for the things that they have done to my son and the others.”
