Wike stabbed two Mike’s Side Pocket patrons to death in April. In a bizarre side note, New Belgium Brewing officials, about to publicly celebrate their brewery’s arrival in Asheville, were dining across the street at the Admiral at the time of the murders.
Davis, whose brother was one of the men Wike killed, pursued Wike, disarmed him, and stabbed him to death on Haywood Road after Wike, covered in blood, attempted to board a city bus.
There was community outcry over Davis being charged with a crime. Davis told police he acted in self-defense.
He was charged with one count of first-degree murder and plead guilty to one count of voluntary manslaughter.
From a Citizen-Times article today:
Stevie Gene Davis, 52, of Candler, was sentenced to 77-105 months in the death of Steven Atwell Wike, the Buncombe County District Attorney’s Office announced today. Police say Wike instigated a melee at Mike’s Side Pocket Tavern that ended with three deaths.
Police said Wike had badly wounded one man and stabbed two others to death, including Stevie Davis’ brother, Phillip Davis. Davis told police he acted in self-defense.
Witnesses said Davis and others chased Wike from the bar to a nearby city of Asheville bus that Wike tried to board, disarmed Wike and then stabbed him to death.
Mike’s Side Pocket surrendered its liquor license shortly after the murders, and closed not long after. The building that was once Mike’s is at 375 Haywood Road, next to Battle Cat Coffee Bar.
Check the Asheville Citizen-Times Friday for more.
10 Comments
[…] The Mike’s Side Pocket murders: The night before New Belgium arrived, West Asheville was the site of a distrurbing triple murder when assailant Steven Wike of Wilmington attacked and killed patrons of the West Asheville bar. Wike was pursued and was himself fatally attacked by the brother of one of the victims, who will receive jail time for killing Wike. […]
I think this is a reasonable outcome. Yes, his brother was murdered right before his eyes, and yes, he acted in the heat of the moment. But he did chase after Wike, disarmed him, and proceeded to stab/cut him more than 40 times. In hindsight, he should have just disarmed Wike and detained him until police arrived, but I’m sure that was the last thing going through his mind after watching his brother get killed. Given the situation, I did think the original first-degree murder charge was harsh, but Davis did kill someone, and to let him off scot-free, as others have suggested, is ridiculous.
He should have been given the keys to the city for getting that scum off the streets.
Wike was my friend. I worked with him for years. Someone had to have provoked him to do something like that.
Yeah, I don’t know how I feel about this. What would I have done?
It seems to me that the “self defense” claim “went out the window” when he chased the guy several blocks down the street before he killed him …
Wow. Six years. For killing the guy who murdered his own brother. Hopefully he will get paroled. Very sad.
Murder is not acceptable, regardless of motivation. Especially not revenge, you scare me
Your brother is slaughtered right in front of you. You don’t think that a natural human reaction is to hurt those who hurt your own? I am thankful I am not related to you.
I don’t know how I’d react in a situation like that, but can completely understand Davis’ motivations in the heat of the moment. At that moment, I doubt Davis was thinking about the consequences of his reaction, since his world had just been turned upside down.
Avenging his brother’s death, no matter how justified one can rationalize it, still results in a crime of murder. It was likely impossible to prove self-defense when he chased Wike outside of Mike’s.
All I can wonder here is who else Wike would’ve killed had he escaped that night.