No murder charge for Trenton man in 2013 Morrisville shooting

Posted: Wednesday, May 21, 2014

The Bucks County District Attorney’s Office said it knows who killed a 23-year-old Morrisville man behind a tobacco store 14 months ago, and why.

But suspect Davon “Daivon” Sims, 22, of Trenton, won’t face homicide charges. The shooting was in self-defense, during a botched robbery attempt, according to Bucks County assistant district attorney Christopher Rees, who is prosecuting the case.

Sims is charged with felony drug delivery, possession of a controlled substance, possession of firearms prohibited and related charges.

David Cox Jr. was found dead March 4, 2013, of a single gunshot wound to his chest behind the Smokin’ Joe’s tobacco store in the 100 block of East Trenton Avenue in Morrisville. The shot was at close range, according to an autopsy. His body was found near a light gold 2000 Infinity I-30 with a New Jersey license plate, authorities said

Davon Sims 

Police executed a search warrant on the Infiniti and recovered a plastic bag containing a white substance, suspected marijuana, money and a red cell phone among other items. Lab tests confirmed the drugs were cocaine and marijuana.

Police interviewed a man who claimed he was with Cox at the time of the shooting. He alleged that the pair arranged to meet a drug dealer under the guise of buying drugs, but they really planned to rob the dealer at gunpoint, according to a probable cause affidavit.

The man claimed he saw the driver of the Infiniti — later identified as Sims — shoot Cox once, then start firing the gun at him, court documents show. The man said he ran from the scene and returned a short time later, when he saw Sims outside the Infiniti and at least two people in the car, according to records.

Detectives later learned the Infiniti had been reported stolen in Trenton shortly after Cox was shot.

Two days after the shooting, police spoke with a 21-year-old admitted crack cocaine dealer who claimed he received a text message from a person he knew as “Mookie,” who set up a drug deal at Smokin’ Joe’s. Sims was supposed to sell a quarter-pound of marijuana and they’d share the money, according to the affidavit.

Sims, the dealer, and a third man drove to Smokin’ Joe’s. When they arrived, one of the men they met there got out of a truck, pulled out a handgun and demanded the marijuana and money, according to the affidavit. At some point, Sims allegedly pulled out a gun, and the dealer claimed he heard two shots before he and the third man took off running.

Two days later, the dealer claims he spoke with Sims, who claimed the gun he used to shoot Cox was “wiped down” and “still over there,” a reference to Morrisville, the affidavit said.

Sims is serving a mandatory five-year state prison sentence in New Jersey for a 2011 robbery with bodily injury, according to online court records. He was convicted in January 2013 and sentenced in June.

The Bucks County DA is in the process of extraditing Sims to face trial on the other drug-related charges, Rees said. He did not know when he would return to Bucks.

Jo Ciavaglia: 215-949-4181; email: jciavaglia@calkins.com; Twitter: @jociavaglia