It was 25 Thanksgivings ago when police discovered the bodies of an elderly couple within their arson-scorched home on Pueblo Drive in Lake Havasu City. Investigation quickly linked the deaths of the octogenarians to a 16-year-old boy still imprisoned today.
James Davolt, now 41, became the focus of worldwide attention as members of the Amnesty International organization protested as “barbaric” the pursuit of a death sentence for a teenager by the Mohave County Attorney’s Office. Members of the group from Portugal, Spain, Denmark and many other far-flung nations wrote scores of letters to legal officials and the media asking for an end to the capital punishment consideration.
It was a newspaper delivery person who called police after noticing water seeping from the victim’s garage on Nov. 26, 1998. The charred bodies of Nicholas Zimmer, 84, and his wife Eleanor, 85, were located in the kitchen of their home.
Investigation revealed that Davolt encountered Mr. Zimmer in Zimmer’s garage on Nov. 23 and clubbed him in the head with the square-faced end of a hatchet-hammer, then followed him into his home before firing three bullets into the victim’s chest.
Davolt held Mrs. Zimmer captive overnight before driving to her bank the next day where he failed to siphon money from her ATM account. He subsequently cashed a $1,500 check written from her account.
Authorities said Davolt killed Mrs. Zimmer after they returned from the bank to her home. Davolt gathered some property in the residence, set it on fire and drove west in the Zimmer’s vehicle before he was arrested in Beaumont, California on Nov. 29.
Davolt was returned to Mohave County for prosecution and the letter barrage began once it became known that he was a death sentence target.
“Drop the pursuit of the death penalty against James Edward Davolt,” wrote Ruth Goldman of Berlin, Germany.
“I am especially concerned that Mohave County, Arizona is seeking a death sentence against James Davolt despite the international ban on the death penalty against child offenders,” Geraldine Murphy weighed in from Dublin, Ireland.
“James Edward Davolt should be punished but not by execution,” wrote Richard Foster from the United Kingdom. “It is difficult to believe that the USA, one of the most advanced countries in the world, should have earned the shameful distinction of being world leader in the use of the death penalty.”
Ultimately, Davolt, then 18, asked to be executed in an early Oct., 2000 letter to Mohave County Superior Court Judge Steve Conn. It said he had grown weary of lawyers and an investigator prying into his background, looking for mitigation information that might prompt leniency at sentencing.
“I just feel it’s proper,” Davolt said about being executed, during an exclusive jailhouse interview. “In my opinion, the next world’s better than anything. If I had a choice I’d be there.”
At the same time, Davolt complained that he was railroaded during a trial that convicted him of the murders and several other felony offenses.
“I feel pretty much like I got screwed because 12 people are sitting in that jury panel and they didn’t see any evidence that connected me directly to the murder,” Davolt told a reporter. He declined comment when asked to explain why he came to possess the victim’s vehicle and other incriminating evidentiary items when arrested days after the killings.
Judge Conn acknowledged the Amnesty International input during the Oct. 6, sentencing hearing.
“The United States seems to be in a very small club, a club that is willing to execute a juvenile,” Conn said. “It is certainly not a badge of honor for our country to display that we claim membership.”
Nonetheless, Judge Conn said the American justice system and Arizona law demanded that he grant Davolt’s execution wish, telling the teenager that his crimes begged for capital punishment.
Davolt’s death penalty was eventually overturned on appeal and he was re-sentenced to 25 years to life in 2008. County Attorney Matt Smith said that likely will make him eligible for parole consideration sometime in the coming year.
Davolt’s name cannot be located within the public access database through the Arizona Department of Corrections website. That’s because, while incarcerated, he has legally changed his name to Asvald Vigond Odhinnson.
Local legal officials indicate they have no information about why or when the name change was granted. A press inquiry letter to Odhinnson/Davolt in prison inquiring of the name change and seeking comment on his case was returned as undeliverable on Wednesday, Nov. 22.
Dave Hawkins
