Kentucky man fled court during MS Coast sex crimes trial, but couldn’t escape justice

A man from Kentucky who jumped bail after he was convicted of sexually abusing a child on the Mississippi Coast has been captured and will now spend life in prison, the Harrison County District Attorney said.

Jimmy Joe Davis, 55, of of Munfordville, Kentucky, was sentenced on charges of sexual battery and touching of a child for lustful purposes. A jury found Davis guilty in May. But Davis was on bond while the jury deliberated and left the courtroom, got in his car and fled.

His escape began a nationwide manhunt that ended in June when U.S. Marshal’s Fugitive Task Force members found Davis hiding in woods behind a dollar store in Saline County, Illinois.

He was extradited back to Mississippi, despite his protests, in October, the district attorney’s office said in a news release.

Circuit Court Judge Randi P. Mueller sentenced Davis this month to the maximum of life in prison for the sexual battery charge and a maximum of 15 years for touching a child for lustful purposes. He also must pay extradition costs and has no chance at parole or early release, the district attorney’s office said.

Trial testimony showed Davis sexually abused the child at a home off Vidalia Road in Pass Christian, according to the news release. Davis was charged after the victim told a Child Protective Services worker she had “a secret with Jimmy about something that kids were not supposed to do,” according to Assistant District Attorney Ian Baker.

In a statement, District Attorney Crosby Parker said Davis robbed the child of innocence “to satisfy his own depraved and immoral sexual desires.”

“The jury’s verdict and the life sentenced imposed by the Court will ensure that no other child will fall victim to this predator,” he said.

Baker and Assistant District Attorney Haley Broom prosecuted the case.