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Despite the prosecution seeking the electric chair or life imprisonment, Davis's defence - which blamed the killing on insanity, drug use and demonic influence - secured a manslaughter conviction with a maximum 20-year sentence. He was paroled after serving roughly eight and a half years, citing prison overcrowding and good behaviour, and was a free man at age 27. He claims to have undergone a jailhouse conversion to Christianity during the trial.<ref name="wikipedia-davis">"Maury Davis." ''Wikipedia''. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maury_Davis</ref> | Despite the prosecution seeking the electric chair or life imprisonment, Davis's defence - which blamed the killing on insanity, drug use and demonic influence - secured a manslaughter conviction with a maximum 20-year sentence. He was paroled after serving roughly eight and a half years, citing prison overcrowding and good behaviour, and was a free man at age 27. He claims to have undergone a jailhouse conversion to Christianity during the trial.<ref name="wikipedia-davis">"Maury Davis." ''Wikipedia''. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maury_Davis</ref> | ||
Davis became senior pastor of Cornerstone Church in 1991, when it had approximately 250 members, and grew it into a megachurch with a 3,200-seat sanctuary and a televised ministry.<ref>Exum, Roy. "Roy Exum: Who Is To Judge?" ''Chattanoogan'', 20 April 2009. https://www.chattanoogan.com/2009/4/20/149332/Roy-Exum-Who-Is-To-Judge.aspx</ref>He stepped down from the senior pastor role in 2018 and now operates as a "global pastor," travelling and consulting. Ron Liles, the only son of Jo Ella Liles, has described watching Davis preach as watching "Satan's angel," telling the ''Nashville Scene'' in 2009 that "the price of his spiritual rebirth, his professed salvation, was the blood" of his mother.<ref>Strang, Stephen. "How God Turned a Convicted Murderer Into an AG Megachurch Pastor." ''Charisma Magazine''. https://mycharisma.com/blogs/the-strang-report/how-god-turned-a-convicted-murderer-into-an-ag-megachurch-pastor/</ref><ref name="nashville-scene-2009">Hargrove, Brantley. "A grieving son finds no justice on Rev. Maury Davis' path to redemption." ''Nashville Scene'', 16 April 2009. https://www.nashvillescene.com/news/a-grieving-son-finds-no-justice-on-rev-maury-davis-path-to-redemption/article_49a25371-a201-5abd-a205-b3e31b5b41b0.html</ref><ref>Bouie, Jamelle. "Two killings, but just one shot at redemption." ''The Washington Post'', 16 January 2015. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-watch/wp/2015/01/16/two-killings-but-just-one-shot-at-redemption/</ref> | |||
Davis became senior pastor of Cornerstone Church in 1991, when it had approximately 250 members, and grew it into a megachurch with a 3,200-seat sanctuary and a televised ministry.<ref>Exum, Roy. "Roy Exum: Who Is To Judge?" ''Chattanoogan'', 20 April 2009. https://www.chattanoogan.com/2009/4/20/149332/Roy-Exum-Who-Is-To-Judge.aspx</ref>He stepped down from the senior pastor role in 2018 and now operates as a "global pastor," travelling and consulting. Ron Liles, the only son of Jo Ella Liles, has described watching Davis preach as watching "Satan's angel," telling the ''Nashville Scene'' in 2009 that "the price of his spiritual rebirth, his professed salvation, was the blood" of his mother.<ref>Strang, Stephen. "How God Turned a Convicted Murderer Into an AG Megachurch Pastor." ''Charisma Magazine''. https://mycharisma.com/blogs/the-strang-report/how-god-turned-a-convicted-murderer-into-an-ag-megachurch-pastor/</ref><ref name="nashville-scene-2009">Hargrove, Brantley. "A grieving son finds no justice on Rev. Maury Davis' path to redemption." ''Nashville Scene'', 16 April 2009. https://www.nashvillescene.com/news/a-grieving-son-finds-no-justice-on-rev-maury-davis-path-to-redemption/article_49a25371-a201-5abd-a205-b3e31b5b41b0.html</ref> | |||
Jack and his family continue to attend Cornerstone Church and have appeared in the congregation across multiple decades of his content. He has at no point in his public output addressed the Liles murder, the trial, the manslaughter plea, or Ron Liles' position on his pastor. | Jack and his family continue to attend Cornerstone Church and have appeared in the congregation across multiple decades of his content. He has at no point in his public output addressed the Liles murder, the trial, the manslaughter plea, or Ron Liles' position on his pastor. | ||