A Pennsylvania jury deliberated just over an hour Tuesday before handing a West Virginia man his second murder conviction, this time for the death of a Maine man he shot on an interstate highway more than 5½ years ago.
John Strawser Jr., 42, already is serving a life sentence in West Virginia for killing his girlfriend in 2015, and the judge presiding over the Pennsylvania trial called him “an evil man” when she sentenced him to another, concurrent life term for running Timothy “Asti” Davison’s vehicle off Interstate 81 in Pennsylvania on Jan. 4, 2014, and then fatally shooting him.
Davison, who attended Poland Regional High School, was killed while driving back to Maine after visiting relatives in Florida over the Christmas holidays. He was 28 and living in Poland at the time.
Davison’s stepfather, Scott Allocca of Poland, said he’s pleased with the verdict, but that having to wait more than five years for the case to go to trial was emotionally challenging.
Allocca described Strawser as a narcissist and cold-blooded murderer who showed no remorse throughout the trial.
“The way he killed my son was nothing less than heinous,” Allocca said in a telephone interview Tuesday.
The twelve jurors delivered the verdict following a seven-day trial at the Franklin County Courthouse in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, during which the defense offered no witnesses or evidence. Strawser, of Terra Alta, West Virginia, was represented by attorney George Accardi.
“You took the life of a totally innocent person who was in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Judge Carol Van Horn told Strawser following Tuesday’s verdict, the Public Opinion of Chambersburg reported. “You, an evil man, (were) present in the same place at the same time, on a mission to kill. There’s no rehabilitation for you who have taken lives in two cases in two states.”
Van Horn said Strawser displayed a callous disregard for the gift of life.
“You have no compassion whatsoever for the mother and sister who have repeatedly witnessed Asti’s death through testimony, pictures and video,” Van Horn said.
When the judge asked Strawser if he had anything to say to the victim’s family, Strawser replied, “it’s better left unsaid.”
Strawser killed Davison after chasing him down on Interstate 81 in January 2014, ramming his vehicle and forcing him onto a snow-covered median south of Greencastle.
Timothy Davison, of Poland, was 28 when he was shot and killed Jan. 4, 2014. Photo courtesy of the family
Prosecutors said Strawser, driving a dark-colored Ford Ranger pickup, circled back while Davison was talking on the phone to a state police dispatcher, and shot Davison several times in the head, leg and foot before fleeing.
A couple who described themselves as former friends of Strawser came forward after he was charged with murder in the 2015 death of Amy Lou Buckingham in West Virginia.
Jamie Breese and his wife, Courtney, told police Strawser had threatened them in cellphone calls and text messages while they were at a bar in West Virginia on the night Davison died. They left the bar and began driving on I-81 in the same area and direction as Davison.
The couple believed Strawser was hunting them on the night he shot Davison. Strawser used to have a relationship with Courtney Breese and had been stalking her, according to a police affidavit.
John Wayne Strawser Jr.
Police believe Strawser was looking for the couple and mistook Davison’s vehicle, a silver Mitsubishi Montero, for the Breeses’ vehicle, a silver Honda Pilot.
Strawser was sentenced to life in prison in October 2016 for shooting Buckingham to death in Preston, West Virginia, in April 2015.
Davison’s mother, Theresa Allocca, and his half-sister, Adele Allocca, both of Poland, traveled to Pennsylvania to testify during the trial.
Both read victim statements following Tuesday’s verdict, the Public Opinion reported.
“My son was all about love,” Theresa Allocca said. “He would have helped this man (Strawser) if he was stranded on the side of the road. He wouldn’t have passed judgment. I don’t want to carry hate for that man because my son didn’t hate.”
“It has been 2,040 days I’ve lived without my brother,” Adele Allocca told the judge. “I have a long life to live without him.”
Van Horn sentenced Strawser to life in prison after the verdict and victims’ statements had been made. Strawser will have no eligibility for parole, but does have the opportunity to appeal his conviction.
During the trial, the jury viewed photographic evidence of the crime scene and was shown a .44-caliber bullet casing police found at the crime scene. Prosecutors also played multiple 911 calls that Davison made to state police just before he was killed, the Public Opinion reported.
“He hit me, he pushed me into the median,” Davison told the dispatcher. “Please hurry up.”
In Davison’s obituary, his family wrote that he had spent two weeks vacationing in Florida visiting his sister, grandfather, mother and several other family members and was returning to Maine when Strawser ran him off the road and shot him.
Davison worked as a pipe fitter and commercial welder.
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