By Howard Koplowitz
Jerry Anthony Davis, 39, of 40-20 Beach Channel Dr., was sentenced to life by Queens Criminal Court Justice Randall Eng Friday. Davis entered a guilty plea a week earlier. The case went through the court system for 1 1/2 years.Davis shot Dunning with a semi-automatic pistol back on Jan. 25, 2005 outside his apartment building, according to the criminal complaint. Davis then put the gun in a bag and put it in a garbage bag on a street. The gun was never recovered.Davis was arrested the day after the shooting on murder, criminal possession of a weapon and tempering with physical evidence charges.Derric Dunning, Eric's older brother, said in his victim's impact statement that he was not happy with the sentence. Davis “sentenced my brother to life in a box,” Derric Dunning said. The only sentence Dunning would have been satisfied with, he said, was “pushing (Davis) off a cliff.””The next time I see Mr. Davis, hopefully he'll be in a casket,” he said.During Dunning's statement to the court, a female family member wailed “Why?” and had to be escorted out of the courtroom by court officers and family members.”As you can see, my brother was loved by many people,” Dunning said after the woman lost her composure.Leona Dunning, Eric's cousin, called him “a man that had a family that loved him. He wasn't only a cousin,” she said. “He was a brother to me.””You don't understand what we're going through,” she told Davis, who sat quietly in a beige suit. “Every day I wake up, I'm suffering. I hope you suffer. I hope you suffer every day of your life.”The mother of two of Dunning's children, Gwen Daniels Mu–oz, said she wanted a life sentence for Davis, noting that Dunning's youngest child is 4 years old and he will never get the chance to see his oldest daughter's Sweet 16. In sentencing Davis, Eng noted Davis' more than 20-year-long criminal history. Cheers of “Yes! Yes!” and clapping by family members could be heard as the sentence was handed down.Davis' attorney motioned to withdraw his client's guilty plea at the start of the proceedings, but Eng denied it. The Far Rockaway man could eligible for parole in 15 years. He waived his right to appeal the sentence.Reach reporter Howard Koplowitz by e-mail at news@timesledger.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 173.
