A 38-year-old man was convicted today of voluntary manslaughter for fatally stabbing his boyfriend at the West Hollywood apartment they briefly shared.
The Los Angeles Superior Court jury deliberated about two days before acquitting Andre Davids of the more serious charge of second-degree murder for the March 29, 2014, stabbing death of Kurtland Ma, a 34-year-old emergency room doctor.
Deputy District Attorney Michele Hanisee called it “absolutely one of the most gruesome crime scenes that I or the homicide detectives have ever seen.”
Ma suffered about 40 stab wounds and was “disemboweled,” with some of his organs, including his penis, stuffed into his mouth and pill bottles and pills shoved into his body cavity, in a killing motivated by Ma’s decision to break up with Davids, the prosecutor said. Ma, an emergency medicine specialist who graduated from Yale University School of Medicine in 2008, had moved to West Hollywood from New York City. He is a native of Scottsdale, Ariz. He posted an announcement of his relationship with Davis on Facebook in September 2013.
Davids, who was found by Sheriff’s deputies inside a bathroom in the apartment at 939 Palm Ave., appeared to have taken a large amount of pills, authorities said. He was arrested the next day.
Davids is facing up to 12 years in state prison, with sentencing set for Jan. 21 at the Airport Branch Courthouse.
Even if you think there are two sides to every story, what could a human being possibly do to deserve the type of torture and death that Andre Davids inflicted upon Dr. Ma? This is the problem with sentencing laws in the United States. You could end up serving more time for burglary or drug possession. When Andre Davids gets out and kills someone else, then what will this jury say to that victim’s family?
I hope Mr Ma soul can rest in peace now. My sympathy going out to the Ma family.As for Mr Davids i he is sorry for what he has done. That cannot bring back Mr Ma live but i no he is sorry.
This is horrible !!! only 12 years !! !???? kidding me ? My friend Kurtland Ma did not deserve this. That guy must be having the biggest smile ever on his face now !
LGBT politics. Down play gay on gay crime.
Folks!! Its murder, but!!! The city officials are trying to down play gay on gay crime. It’s bad for the city and LGBT. Therefore, lesser sentence of passion makes love apart of gay friendly. It’s not rocket science.
He should have received the death penalty. He cut off his penis and stuffed it into his mouth, murder is murder this only proves why the jury system doesn’t work anymore. Take a look at your local 7-Eleven or the post office and look at what kind of people are running around loose and not smart enough to get out of jury duty…do you want those deciding your fate? The system sucks. How they can give this guy 12 years for this murder is beyond me. He will probably get paroled and kill his next partner in a jealous rage… Read more »
It is incredible that this guy is only getting 12 years. The reason he is only getting 12 years is because the jury only found him guilty of voluntary manslaughter and not murder. I guess his defense was that he was enraged when he found out that the guy had not been faithful to him and was breaking up with him. So he supposedly lost his temper in the moment. To me that is absurd. We are fully responsible for our behavior at all times. Losing your temper is no excuse to kill someone. If you kill someone, it shouldn’t… Read more »
I wonder why your first impulse is to give the murderer the benefit of the doubt? Again, we here are merely asking the obvious question; how could such a heinous crime justify such a sentence? Maybe, if we heard the answer, we might understand it a little better.
All im saying is that there is two sides to every story. Its seems that you have no faith in our judicial system blue eyed boy.
Yes, I asked Wehoville specifically if they could dig up what happened in this trial, as no other publication seems to be reporting anything about this case. Doesn’t the public deserve to know what machinations went through our legal system?
No, Troy, I didn’t “went” to the courthouse, but no one here has done anything more than question what clearly calls for more information. If you’re so tired of “hearing” us talking about it, why did you keep listening …. er … reading it? If we don’t have half the information, I infer that you have have the other half. So why don’t you fill us in?
I’m tired of hearing you guys talking. Get the facts then talk. You guys don’t know the half of the story. You guys have half a story and u keep running with it. FACTS that why he wasn’t convicted of murder. Did u guys went to the courthouse?