Prison sentence handed down in gun case

NEW MADRID, Mo. - A New Madrid man is headed to prison and the county prosecutor is in hopes that sentence sends a message to other criminals.

Marquon Akeem Davis, 28, was sentenced to seven years each in the Department of Corrections on charges of unlawful possession of a firearm and receiving stolen property. On a charge of unlawful use of a weapon, Davis was sentenced to four years in the DOC and for a misdemeanor charge of resisting/ interfering with an arrest, one year in jail. In sentencing Davis on Tuesday, Judge Fred Copeland ordered the seven year sentences run consecutively while the other two counts run concurrently to each other and concurrently with the 14 years he received in counts 1 and 2.

“The state is very pleased with the heavy sentence that was levied against this defendant,” said New Madrid County Prosecuting Attorney Andrew Lawson. “Local law enforcement works very hard to keep gun violence out of our neighborhoods, and a sentence like this should remind would-be criminals to stay out of New Madrid County.”

On May 10, Davis was found guilty on all four counts by a jury following a day-long trial.

Davis’s case stems from an incident Sept. 6, 2017, when the the New Madrid Police received a report of a man waving a gun around during an argument with several subjects on St. Theresa Street in New Madrid.

On the scene, officers observed a subject matching the caller’s description of the man with the gun. When the man fled, a chase ensued.

The subject, later identified as Davis, was taken into custody and a search of Davis’s travel path resulted in the recovery of a gun. A records check of the firearm determined the gun was stolen July 17, 2017, in Sikeston.