Ex-cop sentenced to life in prison for murders

CANTON, Ohio - Following a jury's recommendation, a judge on Wednesday spared a former Canton police officer from a possible death sentence for killing his pregnant lover and their unborn child and instead sentenced him to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 57 years.

Stark County Common Pleas Judge Charles Brown Jr. sentenced Bobby Cutts Jr. after each side had an opportunity to make statements.

Cutts tearfully testified during his trial that he accidentally killed 26-year-old Jessie Davis with an elbow to the throat during an argument last June, then panicked. Prosecutors said he wanted to avoid child support payments for another child.

He could have faced the death penalty for his conviction on a charge of aggravated murder in the death of the fetus.

On Tuesday, assistant Stark County prosecutor Dennis Barr told jurors that the state had met its burden to prove that Cutts deserves to die. Bobby Cutts deserves the maximum sentence allowed by law in the state of Ohio. Thats the sentence of death, Barr said.

But defense attorney Fernando Mack said execution would be inappropriate because it should be reserved for the worst of the worst, including serial killers, and this is a situation that got out of hand. He also argued that execution would leave the couples toddler son, Blake, an orphan.

This penalty is to be used sparingly, Mack said.

Jurors found Cutts, 30, not guilty of aggravated murder in the death of Davis but convicted him of a lesser charge of murder in her death. He was convicted of aggravated murder in the death of the fetus.

Cutts took the stand Monday to plead with jurors who convicted him. Sniffling and his voice wavering at times, he said he accepted responsibility for his crimes.

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, Im asking you to spare my life, Cutts said in an unsworn statement, which exempted him from cross-examination by prosecutors.

Apologizing to the teary-eyed members of Davis family sitting in the front row, Cutts said he could not express in words how he felt knowing that he had killed her and the baby.

Video   Jurors issue decision   Feb. 27: Watch the verdict being read and coverage from MSNBC's Contessa Brewer and Susan Filan. MSNBC

Prosecutors told the jury that Cutts killed Davis and the unborn baby at her Lake Township home to avoid making child support payments for the child.

Then-2½-year-old Blake, who was found home alone, gave investigators their first clues to his mothers disappearance when he said, Mommys crying. Mommy broke the table. Mommys in the rug, and later, Daddys mad.

For more than a week, Cutts denied knowledge of her whereabouts as thousands searched in the area. He finally led authorities to the body in a park, wrapped in a comforter.

Cutts, who also was convicted of abuse of a corpse, burglary and child endangering for leaving Blake alone, resigned as a patrolman from the Canton police department