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February 12, 2008
Posted: 12:19 PM ET

NEW YORK – Bobby Cutts Jr., surprising everyone, took the stand Monday and testified that his killing of his nine-months-pregnant girlfriend, Jessie Davis, was an accident.

According to his tearful testimony, he pointed his finger in her face, and she bit it. Cutts tried to leave, but Davis grabbed his arm and told him he couldn’t. Pulling his arm away, he says, he threw his elbow back, it landed on Davis’ throat, and she fell, hard, to her death.

That bleach spot investigators found on Davis’ floor? Cutts, a former police officer, says he tried to revive her with the bleach, not cover up forensic evidence.

He loaded Davis’ body in the back of his truck and dumped it in a park, he testified. Watch the testimony

This sounds a lot like Joran van der Sloot’s recently broadcast statements. He claimed that he was fondling Natalee Holloway on an Aruban beach when she shivered and stopped breathing in his arms. Like Cutts, he didn’t call the police or get her to a hospital. Instead, he says, he enlisted a friend to dispose of her body, dumping her in the sea.

Are young women really so fragile that we spontaneously drop dead from a bump or a kiss? Are these men so morally bankrupt that their only reaction to a medical crisis is to hide a body?

Cutts’ and van der Sloot’s stories are absurdly implausible, and van der Sloot himself now says he was lying. Yet the “I didn’t do anything wrong, but then I panicked and disposed of the body” defense has worked in a recent high-profile American case.

Billionaire Robert Durst convinced a Texas jury that he shot his elderly neighbor in self-defense, and then chopped up the body and dumped it in Galveston Bay. Acquitted. The jury said it had to separate the killing and the cover-up.

Still, Cutts’ tearful testimony is unlikely to help him. Upended furniture and the disarray of Davis’ home indicate a struggle far greater than one elbow strike that hit the mark. The more he spoke yesterday, the less we liked him. He didn’t intend to leave his 2-year-old son alone for two days, he says, but he did. Cutts had the right to remain silent, but not the ability.

The case should go to the jury late Tuesday afternoon.

Lisa Bloom, In Session anchor

Filed under: Lisa Bloom • Trials


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jadea   February 12th, 2008 1:31 pm ET

This horrific thing should never happen to anyone or a child. My heart is with her family. I have to ask if Jessica didn’t know that Mr. Cutts was a married man with multiple girlfriends?

M. ADDIE   February 12th, 2008 1:45 pm ET

CUTTS IS FAKING HIS TEARS, I NEVER SEEN HIM USE A TISSUE. AND USUALLY WHEN YOU CRY YOU HAVE TO BLOW YOUR NOSE TOO. HE NEVER CRIED WHEN THE PROSCUTION WAS QUESTIONING HIM.

Marion L.   February 12th, 2008 3:15 pm ET

We are the oposite of fragile. I do not need to go into what all we endure and how many beatings, emotional & financial abuse some woman can handle and survive.
Lets take a look at the men here that have been on trial. From Spector to Jensen, from Mack now to Cutts. One thing they all have in common is how fragile they are. Big egos, one thinks that penis size makes the man, one thinks that money and wigs will do the trick, one hopes the color orange and oily muscles work and last but not least the cop who believes he can convince us that he is THAT strong, one good swing of his elbow kills.
Fragile jurors might buy into some of this nonsense, however we do not !

Marion, TX

NotBelievingIt   February 12th, 2008 3:36 pm ET

Oh, yeah - one more thing that is beyond belief — cops get first aid training and I’m absolutely certain that his training did not include the use of bleach to revive an unconscious person. This is pathetic!

boomer66   February 12th, 2008 3:47 pm ET

I agree, his tears remind me of Susan Smith. The first time I saw her on TV pleading and crying for the return of her two boys, her cryng sounded fake. Same with Bobby Cutts. It just doesn’t ring true.

tk123   February 12th, 2008 5:02 pm ET

Given his training, wouldn’t Cutts check for a pulse instead of blindly attempting to revive Jesse (with bleach?)?

Did forensics find any traces of bleach in Jesse’s digestive tract remains?

When he identified she was dead, why did he not immediately get medical assistance for the fetus? Prosecutor didn’t seem to go there.

By leaving Blake, Cutts indicated his intent was to leave that debt/baggage behind him; i.e., not to pick him up for custody.

Beakt   February 12th, 2008 5:06 pm ET

Lisa,

Good point about Cutts. His story is ridiculous, and probably easily proven or disproven if they have the victim’s body.

But the relation to Van Der Sloot is shaky. Van Der Sloot’s story is more plausible given the victim was, to him, just a trashed floozie he met at a bar upon whom he was going to get some jollies. Also, if she had been using cocaine and drinking as alleged, it’s not uncommon for someone, especially an 18-year-old, to have her heart stop, especially if it’s the first time she’s tried it. I figure Van Der Sloot would have just run away, but people do unusual things in unusual circumstances, and I can imagine why someone who does have the resources (a friend with a boat) might decide to dump the evidence of a death that you might get blamed for rather than stick around and take your chances.

Barbara Adams   February 12th, 2008 5:07 pm ET

Accident or with malice? Doesn’t matter. According to his own testimony he exhibited no mercy! Where is his regard for human life? Where is his oath to ‘Protect and Serve’?

Stephanie   February 13th, 2008 11:49 am ET

I believe she was fragile as far as ignoring red flags. Let’s see, 2 children already out of wedlock AND still married? He wouldn’t of gotten my phone number with all that baggage! Its such a sad situation and I elieve he knew that if he could come home at 2:00am in the morning after being with yet another girl that he figured he could get away with this because he was probably treating her bad all along.

Aggie   February 13th, 2008 3:34 pm ET

What’s with these policemen lately? First, we have Drew Peterson, who says that he is innocent of killing his wife, and now this piece of work! We are in deep trouble if the men trained to serve and protect us are this troubled and violent towards women! Where have all the good people gone?

Cynthia Johnson, Newark, NJ   February 13th, 2008 4:25 pm ET

Cutts had too many baby-mama dramas going on in his life. He was reckless, heartless and apparentely abusive.

Dayton   February 13th, 2008 7:15 pm ET

I have NO sympathy for him at all and I’ll be lambasted for saying it, but I don’t have much for her either. This is the grim end of TWO morally bankrupt people. This should be a lesson for all the woman out there that think it is so cool having babies by married men. GET A CLUE ladies, married means married!!!

Kathleen   February 13th, 2008 10:11 pm ET

I”m not sure the prosecution has proven 1st degree murder. I didnt hear any evidence of motive to commit 1st degree. The case to me seemed to point to a heat of the moment; 2nd degree murder. I think he deserves the DP; but I am very sure that the majority of Americans, are no longer on board to give the sentence of death. Even if they do; it rarely happens. Our system is broken.

Bobby Cutts has no remorse; I dont know how he can hold his head up. What he did to Jessie Blake and little Chloe was horrific. Scarier still; this was the man that was to protect and serve, his community. And yet, little Blake was not “his top priority” while he left him in that home alone; to fend for himself. I hope that little Blake never hears this testimony, but we all know that one day he most likely will.

The Oath to Protect and Serve. Bobby Cutts served his own intrests, he was out to protect his own; and his actions proved that beyond any reasonable doubt.

Kat

hapy2bme   February 13th, 2008 10:34 pm ET

The tragedy is that as women we are often “fragile” in the sense that oftentimes we are not even aware of our own worth and we do not value ourselves enough to realize that our expectations and standards have diminished to nothing. We tolerate far too much. Strong, educated women are permitting and authorizing men to objectify us, use us, cheat on us, and dispose of us…emotionally and in this case physically. People will do to you what they can get away with. Treat people how to treat you.

Jeri   February 14th, 2008 2:58 pm ET

Anyone who witnessed Cutts testimony can tell you - WHAT A LOAD OF BS! From start to finish. What continues to haunt me (in addition to Jessie’s murder) how could he leave a 2 yr old alone for 2 days???

Bobby Cutts Jr = PURE EVIL!!!

Cindy   February 15th, 2008 9:15 am ET

I think Cutts’ testimony does make a difference and is the reason for the delay in the verdict. Finally a guilty person is admitting his guilt and I think this is affecting the verdict. I know it took him quite a while to admit his guilt and his account of what happened leaves many holes, but atleast he finally admitted it. I think of what it would have meant to Lacey Peterson’s family if her deadbeat husband would have admitted his guilt, and I think Darren Mack could have learned something from Cutts testimony about showing remorse. Juries want to hear someone admit their guilt, especially if the evidence is so overwhelming. Are you listening Mark Jensen?

Gary   February 15th, 2008 1:38 pm ET

It’s just sad that we as a nation seek to criticize other nations for the deplorable ways that they treat their women yet this is still the leading country in the western world where a woman can be murdered, dumped along the side of the road, in the river, or just left in plain sight and it’s just part of ‘another day’ in America.

barbara smith   February 15th, 2008 2:25 pm ET

MR. CUTTS SHOULD DO LIFE IN PRISON. AFTER ALL HE STILL WILL HAVE A LIFE EVEN THOUGH HE TOOK THE LIVES OF A MOTHER AND BABY.

WHY WAS HE CONTINUING TO CREATE CHILDREN HE DID NOT WANT?

LAST BUT NOT LEAST MR .CUTTS LEFT A MINOR CHILD ALONE - HIS OWN SON AND DID NOT CARE ABOUT THAT AT ALL. YET HE DARES TO CRY??? FOR WHAT - SYMPATHY.

Renee   February 16th, 2008 11:10 am ET

It’s sad that little Blake will be left with memories of seeing his mother and baby sister killed by his father! That little boy will never forget that. As for Bobby Cutts, he’s an evil man who took 2 lives for his own selfish interests. Why keep making babies if he didn’t want to support them? And why did Jessie allow herself to be in that situation with 2 babies by a married man? Women, we have to care enough about ourselves to stay away from things like this. Bobby should get the death penalty, but mot states don’t even carry it out anymore. Something about “cruel and unusual punishment” to administer lethal injection or fry them in the electric chair! You want CRUEL AND UNUSUAL PUNISHMENT? How about the manner in which Jessie and Chloe died? Or how Blake will be tormented for his entire life!

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Sidebar takes you behind the scenes of the day's legal headlines with breaking news and in-depth analysis from In Session's anchors and correspondents.

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Ashleigh Banfield
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