CHEROKEE COUNTY, Ga. (TCD) -- A 37-year-old mother was sentenced to 200 years in prison after pleading guilty to 42 counts of child abuse.
The Cherokee County District Attorney’s Office said in a statement that in addition to the 200-year sentence, Stephanie Danielle Davis was also handed 200 years of probation. Davis pleaded guilty to the charges against her Nov. 22, 2021, and was sentenced Feb. 24.
The Cherokee County District Attorney’s Office prosecuted the case after the Gordon County District Attorney’s Office was recused "due to legal conflict."
On Dec. 6, 2021, Stephanie Davis' husband Christopher Davis was convicted of 37 counts of cruelty to children, one count of aggravated assault–family violence, two counts of aggravated battery–family violence, one count of aggravated child molestation, one count of aggravated sexual battery, four counts of child molestation, and one count of holding game without a permit, according to the Cherokee County District Attorney’s Office.
A month later, Gordon County Superior Court D. Scott Smith sentenced Christopher Davis to two life terms plus 841 years in confinement. In addition, he was given 40 years of probation.
The District Attorney’s Office says a teen boy escaped the Davis home on Feb. 6, 2020, and went to the Calhoun Police Department to tell officers about the abuse. The boy reportedly said Christopher Davis "slapped and punched him, hit him with a stick, strangled him, burned him with hot oil, locked him in a closet, and beat him with a belt and wooden cane."
The boy reportedly had injuries on his body and a broken eardrum. The abuse reportedly happened to Stephanie Davis' nine children.
Calhoun Police executed a search warrant of the Davis household and arrested him.
According to the statement, police located other children in the house, ages 3 to 17, and said they "lacked adequate clothing, beds, blankets, and pillows." Officers reportedly found the stick used to beat them and said the only heating in the house was in the master bedroom as well as "a closet used to store exotic snakes and other reptiles."
Other types of abuse in the house reportedly included restricted bathroom use, limited food and water, and spoiled food. The children were reportedly "locked in an unheated closet with no bathroom, strangled until they passed out, forced to sit on a fire ant pit, and burned with items such as sparklers and hot oil."
The District Attorney’s Office says Stephanie Davis "also participated in the abuse of her children." She was arrested Feb. 13, 2020.
The children, who were home-schooled at the time, are reportedly now in foster care.
