From Deseret News archives:

Toddler suffers violent death

Utah's first recognized case of nonaccident, trauma fatality

Published: Wednesday, Feb. 2, 2005 11:55 a.m. MST
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In old court documents and police interviews, Jan Davies admitted to shooting speed and being high when Angel was hurt.

A prostitute was living with Jan and Harley Davies at the time, according to police records.

"Jan claims she and Sharon were both high and got into a fight, and Angel fell off the bed and hit her head."

Child welfare officials removed the girl from the Davies' home for a while after an investigation, but she was returned months later after the couple apparently quit using drugs. Court records ordered them to complete parenting courses. It is unclear if they ever did.

When Angel was returned to the home, a social service worker noted Jan was pregnant. The baby would later be named Ronald Wayne Davies and be known as Ronnie.

No one contacted for this story knows whatever happened to Angel.

Today Leland Thomas DeMille, 48, is a free man.

After more than 15 years in prison, he was paroled in August 2001 and stayed out of trouble until his probation was terminated in June 2003.

"He paid his debt to society," said Jack Ford, a Utah Department of Corrections spokesman.

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At sentencing, 5th District Judge J. Harlan Burns told DeMille his conviction usually warranted a 0-5 year sentence. Then he sentenced DeMille to a minimum of 10 years in prison. Under pressure from victim advocates, the parole board did the rest, keeping him in custody several more years before letting him out.

"Fifteen years doesn't even begin to pay the debt," Chandler said. "It doesn't."

Contacted by the Deseret Morning News last week at a telephone number in St. George, DeMille wanted to move past the incident. He said he didn't want anything written about the case.

"That's in the past," he told a reporter inquiring about Ronnie Davies. "I don't want to talk about it."

Efforts to contact Jan Davies for comment were unsuccessful.

Former Washington Police Chief Brent Chandler is 59 now. He lives in Salt Lake City and works for the state of Utah in law enforcement. He stayed in Washington County less than a year after the Davies case went to trial.

It was the first and only homicide case Chandler ever investigated. And as it turned out, the case cost him dearly.

"My mayor was not happy. Politicians in the area were not happy. Paul Graf, the county attorney, was not happy," he said.

After weighing the evidence in the case for about two months, the local county attorney's office ultimately begged out of the prosecution, citing a conflict of interest because someone in Graf's office had represented Ronnie's mother when she divorced his dad.

Chandler isn't sure why everyone was so reluctant about the case.

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Photo Courtesy, Paul Grafjason

Ronnie Davies

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