Requesting a new trial, Public Defender Michael Hooper, one of three attorneys defending Davis, argued that there was reasonable doubt in the case. Hooper argued that the case had stumped a medical examiner, and even a firearms expert found that the scene was consistent with suicide, leading to reasonable doubt.

O’Grady said he started hearing the case entirely neutral. Hooper also pointed out that in the decision, O’Grady originally used the term “horrible” to describe the bruising that Dr. Jerri McLemore, a former assistant state medical examiner described on Durben’s neck. But the doctor did not use the word “horrible.” Roan did not object to the request by the defense that O’Grady amend his decision and change the word “horrible.”