Former Colfax man found guilty of intimidation, battery and violating a restraining order

By LeAnn R. Ralph

MENOMONIE  —  A former Colfax man charged with multiple felonies has been found guilty of felony intimidation and misdemeanor battery and violating a domestic abuse restraining order.

Kedar J. Davis, 20, along with his attorney Richard Louis Yonko, appeared in Dunn County Circuit Court before Judge James Peterson February 22 for a plea hearing.

Davis initially was charged with five felony counts of strangulation and suffocation, false imprisonment, intimidating a witness/threatening force, substantial battery intending bodily harm and felony bail jumping. He also was charged with two misdemeanor counts of battery and knowingly violating a domestic abuse temporary restraining order.

The alleged victim is 19 years old.

Davis pleaded guilty in a case involving the same victim in September of 2017 to felony false imprisonment and misdemeanor battery and was sentenced to 40 days in jail and two years of probation.

During the plea hearing February 22, Judge Peterson dismissed but read into the record for sentencing one felony count of strangulation and suffocation, one felony count of false imprisonment, one felony count of substantial battery intending bodily harm, and one felony count of bail jumping.

Judge Peterson ordered a pre-sentence investigation and ordered that a felony count of stalking from a separate case be included in the PSI.

In the earlier case, Judge Peterson accepted a Deferred Acceptance of a Guilty Plea (DAGP) agreement for the felony count of stalking, while one felony count of intimidating a victim and threatening force was dismissed on a prosecutor’s motion and a felony count of bail jumping and a misdemeanor count of knowingly violating a domestic abuse order/temporary restraining order also were dismissed.

Judge Peterson dismissed a felony count of strangulation and suffocation, too, along with two misdemeanor counts of battery and disorderly conduct in yet another case brought against Davis involving the same victim.

In the most recent case against Davis, Judge Peterson set a cash bail of $5,000 December 26, and during the December 28 preliminary hearing, ordered another cash bail of $10,000 for the previous case involving the deferred prosecution agreement.

On the charge of felony false imprisonment, Davis was ordered to have no contact with the 19-year-old victim and to complete any domestic violence programming ordered by his probation agent.

Judge Rod Smeltzer granted a four-year restraining order against Davis in Dunn County Circuit Court on January 31, 2017.

According to the criminal complaint, an officer with the Menomonie Police Department responded to Culver’s on December 21 to meet with the alleged victim regarding a domestic assault.

The officer described the young woman as appearing to be in fear, exhausted, with a pale complexion, bruising on her face and red blotches in the white portions of both of her eyes believed to have been caused by strangulation.

The alleged victim told the officer she had endured verbal and physical trauma from Kedar J. Davis, her former live-in significant other, at a residence in Menomonie between December 17 and December 21.

Davis had asked the alleged victim about her whereabouts after looking through her phone and photos, and if he did not like her answers, Davis responded by hitting her, according to the complaint.

The alleged victim said Davis had struck her with an open hand, had punched the sides of her body, had kicked her and had “heel stomped” her chest once or twice and that he would strike her anywhere from one to five times after each question.

The alleged victim also told the officer that Davis had repeatedly struck her in the left ear and that she had lost consciousness for a brief period of time, according to the complaint.

The woman said she had so many bruises from the trauma on December 17 that she believed she could not return home or be seen by her family members and that she missed work on December 18 because of her injuries. Davis allegedly told the woman to make up a story about a candle falling on her head and giving her a black eye, the complaint states.

Davis, who played football, basketball and was on the track team at Colfax High School, graduated from CHS in 2016.

Davis is scheduled for a sentencing hearing in Dunn County Circuit Court April 27 at 2 p.m.

He remains in custody at the Dunn County jail.