SALISBURY — An Addison County Superior Court judge has ordered a Salisbury man held without bail as he prepares to answer to a count of  aggravated sexual assault and kidnapping, stemming from allegations filed against him this past spring by a former live-in girlfriend.
James E. Davis, 51, is facing the felony charge, which carry a potential penalty of 10 years to life in prison and up to a $50,000 fine if convicted. He is currently being held at the Marble Valley Correctional Center and faces a status conference hearing on his case on Aug. 25.
Davis is a registered sex offender with a conviction for felony 1st degree sexual abuse in New York in 2001, according to court records.
Vermont State Police Det. Cpl. Chris Campbell interviewed the alleged victim on May 13, while she was being examined at Porter Hospital. She told Campbell that she had been living with Campbell for around six years, but added their relationship had changed several weeks earlier due to Davis’s “anger management issues,” according to records on file at the Addison County courthouse.
The woman told police that Davis had convinced her to accompany him on a business trip to Pennsylvania two weeks prior, according to court documents. She said Davis had booked one hotel room with one bed, in spite of her having asked for a separate bed, according to the police investigation.
“She agreed to share the bed but made it clear she did not want any intimate interaction between them,” the police affidavit states.
The woman claimed she woke up later that night to find Davis climbing on top of her and sexually assaulting her, according to court records.
The woman also reported being assaulted by Davis during the morning of May 13, according to court records. She alleged that Davis grabbed her in a “bear hug” and threw her onto a couch.
“(The victim) advised she continued to yell for him to stop and began kicking him in the torso when she could,” court records state.
But Davis was allegedly able to remove her clothes, at which point the victim “knew he intended to rape her,” the affidavit states. Davis then allegedly threw her into a recliner, then grabbed her and placed her on a bed and sexually assaulted her, according to court records.
Campbell said he noted the victim’s right hand was “covered in blood” as a result of an injury she had sustained to her middle finger during the alleged assault. The victim said she cut the finger on a cross that David had allegedly been wearing around his neck, according to the affidavit.
Campbell interviewed Davis later that day, during which he referred to the Pennsylvania trip and allegedly admitted that the victim had “probably told him to stop and that she didn’t want to have sex but he was very confused because of the status of their relationship,” according to court records. Davis told police that he was aware that the victim had become involved with another man.
Davis also told police that he had threatened to kill himself and that the victim had hidden his guns from him, according to police records.
Court records indicate that Davis admitted to police that he had tried to have sex with the victim during the morning of May 13. Campbell asked Davis about a “large scratch down the middle of his forehead,” and Davis said he likely sustained it while fighting with the victim, according to the police affidavit.
Davis was initially lodged on $10,000 bail, but county prosecutors succeeded in having bail revoked, according to court records.