HAMILTON, Ohio — Tears and heated stares were prevalent in the courtroom Tuesday as the trial of accused killer Brandon Davis got underway. The 45-year-old is one of two men charged in connection to the 2024 shooting death of a Middletown woman whose remains were found decomposing in a trash can.
Prosecutors allege Davis is complicit in the slaying of 35-year-old Asiah Slone, having pulled the trigger first before handing the gun over to another man and telling him to fire a second, deadly shot.
Davis was indicted by a Butler County grand jury on Sept. 12 for aggravated murder with additional specifications of a repeat violent offender and use of a gun in the crime. Also included in the indictment is having weapons under disability, kidnapping and lesser included charges of murder, kidnapping, murder and attempted murder.
Davis has been housed in the Butler County Jail in lieu of a $1 million bond set at arraignment on Sept. 16.
Davis wore a button-down shirt and slacks as Butler County deputies escorted him into Common Pleas Judge Kelly Heile's courtroom. Members of Slone's family sat in the galley.
Watch our story on the trial here:
Butler County Prosecutor Mike Gmoser is on the case's prosecuting team and delivered the State's opening statements. He painted Davis as the main perpetrator, walking inside the Middletown home and targeting Slone who lay sleeping on the floor."
"When he walked inside he went to where Asiah was, he took out a pistol — an unusual pistol — and put a bullet into her head and then went to others, especially Perry Hart, who was startled by it and looked up and saw this defendant," Gmoser told the jury. "And this defendant said, 'Are you with me or are you not?' Hart said, 'I’m with you.' At that time Sloan was not dead. She was soon to be dead..at that time Brandon Davis said to Hart, 'Take her downstairs and shut her up. Stop her from moaning.' Words to that effect. Hart did just that. Dragged her to the bottom of the stairs...He closed his eyes pointed the gun at her and pulled the trigger ending the agonizing sounds that she was making."
Gmoser said the complicity was at the direction of Davis making him equally liable in the case.
Slone's body was discovered July 1 in an alley behind the home where the shooting allegedly took place. Slone's brother Dominique Russell reported her missing a month earlier and investigators estimate she was killed sometime between June 1 and June 9.
Russell was the first witness to take the stand. His testimony was short, called upon the prosecution to explain why he reported Slone missing and to identify her in a photo.
One of Slone's friends was next to take the stand. Casey Kilgore, who described her relationship with Slone as one shared by sisters, had searched frequently for Slone in the month she'd been missing and was the person to discover her remains inside the trash bin.
Kilgore was overcome by tears repeatedly throughout her testimony.
"My heart started pounding," Kilgore told Gmoser, who questioned her. "Because (the bin) smelled like a dead body....I wrapped a bag around my hands, got out of the car and I found my sister."
Kilgore would often look over at Davis, who met her stares with equal intensity. Kilgore said she'd never met him before but knew of him, describing him as one of the most important people in Slone's life.
"Of all the people in Middletown, like he was the top three of who she loved. Who she spoke. Who would be like her brother" she said.
As Kilgore said those words, Davis could be seen nodding his head and smiling.
Three other people took the stand Tuesday, including one of the Middletown police officers who responded to the scene of Slone's discovery and two medical experts. Teh former confirmed Slone's body to be in an advanced state of decomposition, with two bullets inside the trash bin and two bullet wounds in Slone's skull.
Davis claimed at that time the evidence his legal team shared with him included no physical evidence, such as fingerprints or DNA, at the scene of the crime linking him to the case.
In our interview, Davis refuted claims from prosecutors that he'd confessed to shooting Slone in an interview with investigators.
In his opening statements, Davis' attorney Brad Kraemer stressed the same claims to the jury while accusing Gmoser of painting "quite a tale."
"This funny gun that you're going to have has one set of DNA on it. Perry Hart. Just one. And yet there's all these other DNA samples at the house. None of them are Brandon Davis'," Kraemer said.
Perry Hart, 58, was arrested on Aug. 20 on an aggravated murder charge in connection with Slone’s death and indicted by a grand jury a week later for aggravated murder with a gun specification and a repeat violent offender specification; kidnapping; murder; and two counts of having weapons under disability.
Hart is expected to take the stand and testify against Davis.
