Willie Lee Davis

Case summary

Incident

On the evening of July 3, 1943, Willie Lee Davis was out at Sanford’s Juke Joint in Summit, Georgia. Stationed in New Orleans, Davis was in Summit on the second of a 14-day furlough from the U.S. Army, visiting his mother and childhood friends in the area. Davis, who was Black, wore his Army uniform out to the juke joint.

That night, while James Mitchell Bohannon, chief of police of Graymont and Summit, was on duty, he received a “report” that there was a “disturbance in Negro town.” He left his restaurant and drove to the juke joint with James Mitchell Bohannon Jr., his 15-year-old son, and Willie Brown, a white civilian. Bohannon later told the FBI that he drove to Sanford’s “as I knew this was where Negroes usually hung, and I had had trouble with Negroes at Sanford’s place before.” When they arrived, a man named Arthur Cross was loudly gesturing with a wrench in a crowd, and Bohannon arrested him. On the way to the jail, Cross told Bohannon that a man named Eldon Roundtree had a pistol and had fired it several times that night at Sanford’s.

Bohannon decided to return to the juke joint, telling investigators later “there was still some disorder.” In interviews with both the Army and the FBI, he said that Davis “interfered” with his “investigation of the disorder” by using “profane language.” He clarified that Davis’ “remarks were not addressed directly to me but were mentioned in such a tone of voice it was possible for me to hear him.” Bohannon told the FBI that while he searched Roundtree on the porch, Davis said from inside the building, “What has that son-a-bitch come down here for, I am going to run this juke joint.” This statement was not verified by other witnesses. Bohannon said that he went into the building and Davis went onto the porch.

Witness Joe Stokes told Army and FBI investigators that Davis was leaning against a banister on the porch and “talking to a girl” when Bohannon walked up to him and began to search him from behind. Davis slapped his hand away and turned around as Bohannon slapped him. In a signed statement to the FBI, Stokes stated that Davis told Bohannon, “You ain’t got no right to hit me, I’m not your man – I’m Uncle Sam’s man.”

Bohannon told investigators that when he reached around Davis and began frisking him, he felt a knife in Davis’ pants pocket.

Several witnesses agreed that when Bohannon struck Davis, the soldier slapped him back. Bohannon, however, claimed that Davis delivered the first blow. The two left the porch in what witnesses described as a “tussle,” before Davis broke free and ran away.

Bohannon said that Davis said he was going to get a “weapon” as he ran away, and so Bohannon instructed Brown and Bohannon Jr. to chase Davis. In an interview with an Army investigator, Bohannon said that he rounded the corner of the building with a flashlight and saw Davis trying to pull a board loose from the fence. Some witnesses told FBI agents that Bohannon Jr. was holding the flashlight for Bohannon, yelling, “there he is, Daddy!” Bohannon told investigators that when he yelled at Davis, Davis approached Bohannon without a weapon in his hands, and continued to approach after Bohannon told him to stop. When he was within four or five feet of Bohannon, the officer shot Davis and he fell. Bohannon said, “He took about three breaths and died.”

Bohannon told the FBI he then searched Davis, removed a switchblade knife from his pocket, and left the juke joint. Once he returned to his restaurant, Bohannon called the sheriff and told him to call the undertaker. Bohannon later told the FBI that he had intended to arrest Davis, place him in jail, and then notify the Army authorities to “come and get Davis,” though he stated “he never did tell victim Davis that he, Davis, was under arrest.”

Witness Joe Ellis told the FBI that Bohannon shot Davis when he was 20 or 25 feet away, and that Davis was “running away from Bohannon at the time he was shot.”

Davis was buried at Peter Brinson Cemetery in Twin City, Georgia on July 9.

Aftermath

A coroner’s inquest was held on July 10, 1943. The jury determined Bohannon had fired in self-defense while performing his duty as police chief.

The Army conducted an investigation of Davis’ death, led and authored by 1st Lt. Ralph Willis, and found that “Davis was unjustifiably killed by Bohannon.” Willis wrote that Bohannon made no attempt to arrest Davis. He continued, “the Investigating Officer is of the opinion that the soldier could easily have been overpowered had it been necessary,” citing the men’s respective sizes, the fact that Davis was unarmed, and the civilians assisting Bohannon. On Dec. 1, 1943, Maj. Sidney L. Gilbert, legal advisor in the Judge Advocate General’s Department, referred the case to the Department of Justice (DOJ).

On Feb. 28, 1944, Tom C. Clark, assistant attorney general in the DOJ asked FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover to investigate Davis’ death. The FBI returned an initial investigation on April 8. Drawing from Bohannon’s statements that Davis had a reputation of being a “mean Negro who thought he was as good as a white man,” the FBI report stated that interviews found Davis to be “of a quarrelsome nature.”

On Oct. 9, 1944, the DOJ filed an information charging Bohannon with a violation of Davis’ civil rights. The prosecuting attorney was J. Saxton Daniel, U.S. attorney of the Southern District of Georgia. A trial was set for Jan. 15, 1945. However, the U.S. Supreme Court was slated to hear Screws v. United States, a case considering the conviction of a white Georgia sheriff, Claude Screws, in the killing of a Black man, Robert “Bobby” Hall. The Bohannon trial was postponed until after a decision was reached in the Screws case.

On May 7, 1945, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Screws, making it more difficult for the federal government to prosecute law enforcement for lethal constitutional violations. On May 12, 1945, Clark wrote a memorandum for the attorney general outlining the potential impact of the Screws decision on the Bohannon case. On June 4, 1945, Clark wrote Daniel and asked him to enter a nolle prosequi on Bohannon’s case, as it was unlikely they could successfully prosecute the chief of police. By July, the case against Bohannon had been dropped.

Ethel Davis, Davis’ mother, wrote to Eleanor Roosevelt, the DOJ, the NAACP, and the War Department pleading for justice for her son. In a letter dated Oct. 25, 1945 Assistant Attorney General Theron Caudle wrote to Davis that the DOJ and War Department “could not obtain the evidence which the Supreme Court of the United States has declared is necessary” in order to prosecute.

Bohannon died on Dec. 5, 1970 at 71.

Media Gallery

Case summaries are compiled using government records and archival primary source material. These include, but are not limited to, investigative records, arrest reports, newspaper articles, court filings, census records, birth and death certificates, transcripts, and press releases. In many cases, the records contain contradictory assertions.

In addition to the incident files associated with this case, this summary relied on the following:

Sources

Genealogical Records

• Death Certificates for Emanuel County, Georgia, United States, 1943, Georgia State Office of Vital Records
• Georgia, United States, Death Index, 1943
• Population Schedule for Canoochee, Emanuel County, Georgia, United States, 1930
• Population Schedule for Crescent, McIntosh County, Georgia, United States, 1920
• Population Schedule for Metter, Candler County, Georgia, United States, 1950
• Population Schedule for Twin City, Emanuel County, Georgia, United States, 1940
• Population Schedule for West Palm Beach City, Palm Beach County, Florida, 1940
• World War II Draft Registration Cards, Georgia, 1940

Newspaper Articles

• “Justice Dept Files Charge in Dublin Court,” Atlanta Daily World, October 11, 1944
• “Justice Dept Probes GI Killing,” Chicago Defender, October 21, 1944
• “Officer Claims Self-Defense,” Swainsboro Forest Blade (Swainsboro, GA), October 12, 1944
• “Police Chief Faces Trial,” Pittsburgh Courier (Pittsburgh, PA), October 21, 1944
• “Southern Cop Kills Chained Negro Solider,” New York Amsterdam News, October 21, 1944
• “US Drops Case Against GI Slayer,” Atlanta Daily World, July 21, 1945
• “US Drops Case Against Police Slayer of Soldier,” Pittsburgh Courier (Pittsburgh, PA), July 21, 1945
• “White Officer Who Killed GI Wins Freedom,” New York Amsterdam News, July 21, 1945