The Provo City Attorney’s Office has withdrawn a Driving Under the Influence (DUI) charge filed against Kennard Davis Jr. last fall and issued a $210 ticket for speeding to the former BYU basketball player.
Davis was arrested on suspicion of DUI on Nov. 13 after being involved in a two-car crash in a Provo intersection and subsequently charged with the Class B misdemeanor for DUI a few days later in Provo City Justice Court.
He pled not guilty to that single charge on Nov. 18, court documents show.
Davis’ attorney, Danny Frazier, confirmed Tuesday that the charge against his client, now 21, has been dropped by the city prosecutor due to a “lack of evidence” after the toxicology report was released.
“The reasoning was that by Utah law, they didn’t have evidence of a DUI,” Frazier told the Deseret News Tuesday. “There was no impairing substance in his system, nothing under Utah law that’s considered an impairing substance. No alcohol … no THC, no other prescription drugs, nothing like that.”
According to the circumstances section of the summarized and partially redacted police report released five days after the arrest, Davis was given standard field sobriety tests and underwent a drug recognition evaluation and a blood-urine test after getting T-boned that day in his black Tesla.
He was in possession of marijuana and suspected of marijuana consumption, according to the synopsis given to the media, but there is no mention of a speeding violation.
Assistant City Attorney Mary Ditto confirmed via email Wednesday that the DUI charge was dismissed. She also explained why the speeding charge was pursued.
“Provo City files and prosecutes charges only when the evidence establishes probable cause and supports each element of the offense,” Ditto wrote. “In this case, Kennard Davis Jr. had no impairing substances found in his bloodwork. A DUI charge requires the presence of a substance that would cause impairment. Therefore, once Mr. Davis’ toxicology report was returned from the lab (a process which can take up to two months), Provo City did not proceed with the DUI charge because a sufficient legal basis no longer existed, and the DUI charge was dismissed.”
Regarding the speeding charge, Ditto wrote: “The speeding charge was pursued based on independent evidence, including an on-camera admission by Mr. Davis and video from a local business that indicated the vehicle was traveling significantly above the posted speed limit. The fine imposed reflects the statutory penalty amount for driving 20 mph over the limit.”
Provo Police Public Information Officer Janna-Lee Holland referred all legal questions to the city prosecutors office, but did say that the “full report” provided to prosecutors by police “does reference speeding” in addition to the DUI information.
“The speeding (allegation) wasn’t from a police standpoint,” Holland said. “It was from a witness and driver statement standpoint. … We showed up after the accident happened.”
Incident resulted in two-game suspension
Davis was suspended indefinitely by BYU basketball coach Kevin Young after the arrest and was forced to miss two games in mid-November, BYU’s 86-84 loss to then No. 3 UConn in Boston and BYU’s 98-70 win over Wisconsin in Salt Lake City. He was reinstated on Thanksgiving Day and scored 18 points in BYU’s 72-62 win over Miami.
“I know exactly what happened,” an angry and somewhat defiant Young said on Nov. 19, confirming he was “at the scene” moments after the accident happened. “I am very aware of all the details. But at the same time, I am going to let the school handle it the way that they have asked me to handle it, and that is for them to be the people that talk about it.”
The Deseret News reached out to Davis on Wednesday, but the basketball player did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
After an up-and-down season in which he appeared in 32 games for the Cougars and averaged 8.5 points and 2.7 rebounds while shooting 39.5% from the field, Davis entered the transfer portal after BYU’s season ended with an NCAA Tournament first-round loss to Texas.
As of midday Wednesday, the 6-foot-6 junior guard from St. Louis had not announced his next destination. The transfer portal closed Tuesday night.
DUI charge against Davis dropped last week
Davis entered a no-contest plea to the speeding charge that carried the $210 fine and other stipulations. He must pay for and complete a defensive driving course and provide proof of completion to the court within six months.
“I have no problem saying he admitted going a little over the speed limit, and so based on that, there was less basis to argue for dismissal of the speeding charge,” said Frazier, the attorney. “So he ended up entering a no-contest plea to that and paid the fine.”
Frazier said Davis left a BYU basketball practice and was driving to the Provo Airport to meet up with his teammates and coaches for a flight to Boston for the game against UConn when the accident happened. According to the aforementioned summary of the police report, no fewer than six police officers responded to the call to assist on an accident. An officer wrote: “I began to suspect impairment from one of the drivers. He was ultimately arrested for driving under the influence.”
Frazier, a former BYU football and basketball player, said the outcome “is a win all the way around” because “everybody acted in accordance with how legally they should have, including prosecution.”
Prosecutors who dismissed the DUI charge “deserve kudos as well for having the guts to handle it the way it was handled,” Frazier said.
Asked if police are to blame for the series of events that led to Davis being accused of DUI and ultimately suspended for two games, Frazier replied: “I’m not here to point fingers.”
The attorney said that “bitterness never really was an emotion I got from anyone in the family, either Kennard or his dad, or anyone associated with him,” even after the DUI charge was dismissed.
