Baltimore boxing champion Gervonta Davis pleaded guilty Thursday to charges stemming from a November 2020 hit-and-run crash that left four people injured.
His plea agreement does not include a predetermined punishment. Davis, 28, faces the possibility of jail time and several fines at sentencing May 5.
Davis arrived at city Circuit Court with an entourage. During the brief hearing, he stood next to his attorney, Michael Tomko, dressed in a red and black sweater, leather pants and boots.
An accomplished lightweight boxer known as “Tank,” Davis is a diminutive figure. In court, he quietly replied to questions from Tomko and the judge about rights he was relinquishing by pleading guilty.
“I am convinced beyond a reasonable doubt Gervonta Davis is guilty,” Circuit Judge Althea Handy said of the four counts the boxer admitted to: leaving the scene of an accident involving bodily injury, failing to notify an owner of property damage, driving on a suspended license and running a red light.
Handy ordered the state Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services’ Division of Parole and Probation to conduct a pre-sentence investigation of Davis. She said the department typically takes 45 days to compile such reports.
Davis’ plea agreement brings closure to legal troubles that have loomed over Davis for more than two years while his boxing career soared.
Almost five months after the Nov. 5, 2020, crash that injured four people, police and prosecutors brought dozens of traffic charges.
Around 2 a.m. that morning, Davis left the Medusa Restaurant & Lounge in downtown Baltimore and got behind the wheel of a Lamborghini, according to his charging documents.
Assistant State’s Attorney David Owens said in court Thursday a member of Davis’ entourage arranged for a police escort from the nightclub to the hotel.
Davis, who had his license suspended, diverted from his police escort, turning onto Eutaw Street and eventually onto Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, Owens said.
He ran a red light where the city thoroughfare intersects with Washington Boulevard, striking the passenger’s side of a 2004 Toyota Solara. Davis fled before the four occupants of the Toyota were taken to the hospital for cuts, bruises and sprains.
Investigators pieced together the boxer’s actions that morning by reviewing CitiWatch, red light and private security camera footage from the area around the crash.
It looked like his case was coming to a conclusion in September, when his attorney and prosecutors presented city Circuit Judge Melissa Phinn with an agreement they’d struck that would’ve seen Davis serve 60 days of unsupervised home detention.
But, moved by the testimony of a woman injured in the crash, Phinn rejected the plea deal and ordered the lawyers to prepare for trial. Jyair Smith, who is also pursuing a lawsuit against Davis, told the judge in September her knee was seriously injured in the crash, leaving her unable to play with her children or work normally despite several rounds of physical therapy.
“He looked me in the eyes, and he never came over to help,” Smith said of Davis at the September hearing.
According to charging documents, the Lamborghini Davis was driving crashed into a fence on the property of a 7-Eleven after colliding with the other car.
Davis had recently purchased the sports car, which had license plates from a dealership, from a person in Florida but had not yet transferred the registration, Tomko said Thursday.
A camera from the business showed him helping a woman from the passenger’s seat of the Lamborghini before a black Chevrolet Camaro picked them up.
Footage showed Davis and the woman get out of the Camaro in the valet area of the Four Seasons hotel downtown and walk inside.
After Thursday’s hearing, the boxer’s entourage whisked him away from the courtroom. Tomko declined to comment.
Owens said Davis had compensated three of four people injured in the crash for their injuries and losses. Smith is seeking additional restitution, Owens said, and will give an impact statement at sentencing in May. Smith declined to comment after court Thursday.
Arrested in December on a domestic violence allegation, Florida online court records show, Davis has a battery charge pending in Broward County. The woman who accused Davis of assaulting her walked back the allegations through her lawyer in the days after Davis’ arrest.
On Jan. 7, Davis defeated Hector Luis Garcia by TKO, defending his World Boxing Association lightweight championship. He was guaranteed to take home $1.5 million from the fight.
In November, it was announced Davis will fight Ryan Garcia in a fervently anticipated matchup between two of the sport’s most popular young stars in April in Las Vegas.