By Jeff Truesdell, People
The car that rear-ended Yue Jiang on a Saturday afternoon two years ago in suburban Phoenix, as she drove with her boyfriend by her side, seemed to portend nothing worse than a common fender bender.
Jiang’s boyfriend got out to inspect the damage. But as he did, he saw the driver in the second car point a gun.
Prosecutors say that driver, Holly Davis, exited her vehicle and walked up to Jiang, a 19-year-old Chinese exchange student at Arizona State University sitting behind the wheel of her Mercedes
The two did not know each other and they did not speak before Davis fired several times on Jiang at point-blank range, the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office said in a news release, reports local station KPHO/KTVK.
As Jiang’s vehicle rolled into traffic, striking another car and injuring five people, including a pregnant woman and three children, the shooter jumped back into her own vehicle and fled, prosecutors reportedly said.
Jiang died at a hospital from her injuries.
Police later caught and arrested Davis who was charged with first-degree murder in the Jan. 16, 2016, shooting in Tempe, Arizona.
But in a plea deal, that charge was reduced to second-degree murder. Davis, now 34, was sentenced on Friday to the maximum 25-year prison term allowed under the lesser charge, according to The Arizona Republic.
Jiang’s family considered the sentence an outrage and reportedly urged the court to reject the plea deal.
 |
| Holly Davis |
The college sophomore had made her family proud by winning scholarships to study in the United States, her cousin Katherine Xu said in Maricopa Superior Court before the sentencing by Judge Warren J. Granville, according to the Associated Press.
At a news conference last week Xu described Jiang as “a kind, mature and responsible girl who served her family very well. We were very proud of her, and we still are.”
Holly DavisWu wept in court as she addressed Davis, saying, “No matter how much you dress yourself up like a human, your horrendous and inhumane acts with Yue’s life will not disappear,” the Republic reports. “Your stained hands will not turn white.”
She told Davis, “You deserve death.”
Relatives of the victim traveled from China to oppose the sentence agreed upon by prosecutors and Davis’ defense attorney, Alan Tavassoli, who said Davis had suffered from drug addiction, homelessness and a life of tragedy, the AP reports.
“Her life is a prime example of what drugs do,” he said.
Prosecutors did not return a call seeking comment and PEOPLE could not immediately reach Tavassoli. The district attorney’s office has cited “practical realities of the facts and circumstances” in its decision to seek a deal, according to the AP.
After the shooting, investigators found a note written by Davis stating that she “was planning to engage in violence,” the prosecutor’s office said in its news release.
Davis initially denied shooting Jiang “but told investigators if she had been involved, it was because she was depressed and wanted police to kill her,” according to the prosecutor’s office.
Davis, in court, asked for forgiveness through her own tears. “No words can express how sorry I am,” she said, according to the Republic. “I will live with this for the rest of my life. If I can change it, I would. If I can take her place, I would.”
Jiang’s father called Davis a “monster,” reports KPHO/KTVK.
“I don’t find you a monster,” the judge said before sentencing her, “but what you did was monstrous. It was senseless, and it was cruel.”
At a news conference last week Xu described Jiang as “a kind, mature and responsible girl who served her family very well. We were very proud of her, and we still are.”
Holly DavisWu wept in court as she addressed Davis, saying, “No matter how much you dress yourself up like a human, your horrendous and inhumane acts with Yue’s life will not disappear,” the Republic reports. “Your stained hands will not turn white.”
She told Davis, “You deserve death.”
Relatives of the victim traveled from China to oppose the sentence agreed upon by prosecutors and Davis’ defense attorney, Alan Tavassoli, who said Davis had suffered from drug addiction, homelessness and a life of tragedy, the AP reports.
“Her life is a prime example of what drugs do,” he said.
Prosecutors did not return a call seeking comment and PEOPLE could not immediately reach Tavassoli. The district attorney’s office has cited “practical realities of the facts and circumstances” in its decision to seek a deal, according to the AP.
After the shooting, investigators found a note written by Davis stating that she “was planning to engage in violence,” the prosecutor’s office said in its news release.
Davis initially denied shooting Jiang “but told investigators if she had been involved, it was because she was depressed and wanted police to kill her,” according to the prosecutor’s office.
Davis, in court, asked for forgiveness through her own tears. “No words can express how sorry I am,” she said, according to the Republic. “I will live with this for the rest of my life. If I can change it, I would. If I can take her place, I would.”
Jiang’s father called Davis a “monster,” reports KPHO/KTVK.
“I don’t find you a monster,” the judge said before sentencing her, “but what you did was monstrous. It was senseless, and it was cruel.”
COMMENTS