PEORIA — Convicted sex offender Mario Davis pleaded for leniency in Peoria County Court on Wednesday afternoon but was instead met with ire and a firm sentence from Judge Katherine Gorman, who called his offenses “disgusting.”
Davis was sentenced to four years in prison on Wednesday after he was found guilty of grooming in a case where he tried to lure a 16-year-old girl into sex acts using the popular app Snapchat.
Prior to his sentencing, Davis, once a tattoo shop owner in Peoria, asked the court for probation rather than prison time, saying he had already missed birthdays and holidays for himself and family members. He, too, made a plea to emotion, citing the death of his mother while he was in jail and the poor health of one of his uncles as reasons he should be awarded probation.
Peoria County Judge Katherine Gorman was having none of it, however. She reamed Davis for his frequent use of the word “I” in his statement that never included an apology or an acknowledgement of the victim.
Gorman told Davis she has sat through a lot of trials but his in particular was “disgusting,” saying the manner in which he communicated with a teenage girl was “beyond troubling.”
Davis’ public defender tried to file a motion for a new trial, arguing Davis had received inadequate defense because his previous lawyer, Gary Morris, suffered a health issue that required him to remove himself from the case.
The defense also failed in an argument that Morris had failed to properly represent evidence that someone else could have used Davis’ phone.
Gorman and the prosecution rejected the arguments for a new trial.
Davis will now have to serve four years in prison and register as a sex offender for 10 years.
This article originally appeared on Journal Star: ‘Disgusting’: Former Peoria tattoo shop owner Mario Davis sentenced
Reporting by JJ Bullock, Peoria Journal Star / Journal Star
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