The deranged boyfriend of Morgan Freeman’s granddaughter was sentenced to 20 years in prison Thursday for fatally stabbing the aspiring the actress in a PCP-fueled frenzy.
Lamar Davenport hung his head with his hands cuffed behind his back as the judge imposed sentence, calling his killing of 33-year-old E’Dena Hines “violent, brutal” and “Shakespearean in its layers of tragedy.”
Davenport stabbed Hines 25 times in full view of witnesses on Aug. 16, 2015, in Washington Heights.
“He only stopped with the final plunge in the heart, which is where he left the knife. When the police arrived he was still on top of her,” Justice Ellen Biben said.
“He did so fueled by God and demonic delusions of a PCP-fueled psychosis.”
Davenport faced a maximum of 25 years in prison for first-degree manslaughter.
The emotional hearing in Manhattan Supreme Court featured an apology by Davenport, 33, who began his remarks by recalling details of his rocky, drug-fueled relationship with Hines. Her favorite color was blue, her favorite flowers were peonies and her favorite author was Toni Morrison, he said. They had two cats named Hootie and the Blowfish, though they didn’t like the band.
“I don’t remember what happened. Everything reminds me of her,” he said.
“I didn’t mean for this to happen. I couldn’t possibly want this to happen. I’m so sorry.”
Assistant District Attorney Christopher Prevost argued that Davenport had not accepted full responsibility, despite the remorse. He’d blamed the media and others for wrongly portraying him as a “monster,” the prosecutor said.
“The defendant ended her life in the most brutal and personal of fashion,” Prevost said. “He does not deserve lenience.”
Davenport’s trial last year revealed text messages from Hines that hinted she had a relationship with Freeman. Rumors have swirled for nearly a decade about a relationship between Hines and the “Shawshank Redemption” star. Hines was the daughter of a woman adopted by Freeman and his first wife.
Hines’s niece and mother at times sobbed as they described the pain the killing caused.
“There will forever be an empty seat at our family gatherings. This is the way everyone in our family feels, from the youngest to the eldest,” Hines’s mother, Deena Adair, said.
“Our family is shattered by the loss of her light.”
There had been numerous warning signs about Davenport’s tendency to become violent while high, which he ignored, Prevost said. Only seven months before the murder, Davenport told a social worker he was aware his family worried about the habit that would soon become deadly.
“The defendant, by his conduct, extinguished the life of a bright, beloved and vibrant young woman. The defendant has visited untold misery on her family and friends,” Prevost said.
