29-05-2025
Sacramento suspect arraigned in Davis Picnic Day shooting case
The man accused in the Davis park shooting that wounded three people and triggered chaos amid UC Davis' Picnic Day pleaded not guilty to charges, but a Yolo Superior Court judge rejected prosecutors' demands to increase his bail Wednesday in Woodland.
Yolo County prosecutors labeled Joseph Allen Davis a danger to the community; at 19, a member of the Oak Park Bloods street gang with a history of gun crimes who walked with a loaded weapon onto a crowded Davis park before the shootout that sent revelers scrambling from the gunfire.
Two teens and a 24-year-old were wounded in the April 12 shooting at the end of one of the city's signature events — the annual welcome to the University of California, Davis, campus. Davis police teamed with state and federal investigators in the search for clues as Davis leaders tried to reassure a city shaken by the shooting. Davis police and Sacramento County sheriff's deputies arrested Davis on May 23 at his Sacramento home. Detectives found an illegal assault-style rifle at the home during the arrest, the Police Department said.
'He put himself in the situation of a shootout where three individuals were shot,' Yolo County deputy district attorney Carolyn Palumbo told Yolo Superior Court Judge Clara Levers. 'He's a felon in possession of a firearm by a gang member in a park that was populated by people, including kids. He's a public safety risk.'
Yolo County prosecutors said Davis was a felon on probation and faced a separate Sacramento gun charge from an October 2024 incident when he allegedly opened fire at a crowded Community Park in Davis.
Davis faces five felony and misdemeanor charges in the Picnic Day shooting, including felony possession of a weapon by a person previously convicted of a felony; felony possession of an assault weapon; felony possession of a weapon by a person under 30 years of age with a prior juvenile conviction and wardship; possession of ammunition by a person prohibited from owning or possessing a firearm; along with misdemeanor possession of a large capacity magazine.
Gun convictions in Sacramento's juvenile courts means Davis cannot possess firearms until he turns 30.
All were laid out in a four-page complaint filed Tuesday by Yolo County District Attorney's Office prosecutors that also shed light on Davis' juvenile criminal history. Prosecutors filed a case enhancement in their charging document alleging Davis' prior convictions as an adult or sustained petitions in the youth courts 'are numerous or of increasing seriousness.'
Davis, freed on bond, appeared for the Wednesday hearing before Levers. Davis sat in one of the gallery's rows before the afternoon hearing, wearing an oversized sweatshirt pulled up to his eyes, as he told a bailiff he had not yet hired an attorney. Davis was then assigned a public defender.
Davis had posted bond on $45,000 bail following his arrest Friday in Sacramento by Davis police and Sacramento County Sheriff's deputies. At Davis' arraignment Wednesday, prosecutors demanded bail raised to $300,000, but Yolo Superior Court Judge Clara Levers reluctantly let Davis' bail stand ahead of his next appearance June 23 in Yolo Superior Court.
'I'm troubled, but I'm left with the charges' filed, Levers said, ordering Davis to check in weekly with Sacramento County Probation Department, not associate with known gang members and appear in person for all court dates.
His newly appointed defense counsel, Lisa Lance, had argued that Davis appeared on his own Wednesday due to the $45,000 bail amount and that weekly check-ins to his Sacramento County probation officers — not increased bail — were enough to ensure he made future appearances.
Prosecutor Palumbo disagreed: 'To say the community is safe because he's on probation is not true. Every time he leaves the house, he's armed because he's a gang member. His appearing in court is not the issue. Public safety is the issue.'
