MARTINSBURG — Desmond Lamont Davis, 33, of Martinsburg, was sentenced to life in prison Thursday for his conviction of malicious assault and another five years for conspiracy.
Both sentences will run concurrently, and he will be eligible for parole after serving 15 years of the sentence.
Davis was convicted by a jury in July for attacking a fellow inmate in the Eastern Regional Jail in March of 2022. After the trial, Senior Assistant Prosecutor Joseph Kinser filed paperwork seeking a life sentence for Davis, stating that Davis has been convicted of three qualifying felony offenses. Davis has an extensive criminal history.
His first felony came in 2019 after he and two others were reported trespassing near the Old National Fruit Factory on Adams Street. One of the others arrested with him told officers on the scene that they were recording a rap video.
While the officers were investigating, one noticed an odor of marijuana, which gave him probable cause to search the vehicle the group was in. Inside the vehicle, the officer found 10.9 grams of marijuana, 2.7 grams of crack, oxycodone pills and $11,640 in cash. They were charged with felony possession with intent to deliver and conspiracy, as well as misdemeanor charges of possession and trespassing.
In May of 2022, Davis was charged again with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine hydrochloride, 28 grams or more of cocaine base and 40 grams or more of fentanyl. He was indicted alongside Karmen Grimes, who was arrested with him in the 2019 case. The pair was accused of working together to sell fentanyl and cocaine in Berkeley and Jefferson counties from 2019-2021.
“Two Martinsburg residents are facing cocaine and fentanyl charges, accused of having enough fentanyl to kill 20,000 people,” announced United States Attorney William Ihlenfeld in a press release in May of 2022.
All those charges landed Davis in the Eastern Regional Jail, with between five and 40 years for the first two charges and up to 20 for the third. While he was in jail, he attacked a fellow inmate, which resulted in the most-recent charges and sentencing.
In a press release, Berkeley County Prosecutor Catie Wilkes Delligatti thanked the Eastern Panhandle Drug and Violent Task Force and the command staff at the Eastern Regional Jail for their work on the case. The case was prosecuted by Kinser, as well as Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Raymond E. Boyce Jr.
