Pensacola murder suspect is representing himself. He wants Supreme Court's help
The Pensacola man accused of fatally stabbing AA Top Shop owner Dean Chambers 23 times inside of his Davis Highway business in November 2025 is asking the Florida Supreme Court to help him get out of jail.
Joseph Davis, who is indicted for first-degree felony murder , claims he's being unjustly held in Escambia County Jail after he says illegally obtained cell phone data was used as evidence in his February pretrial detention hearing where a judge ordered he would be held with no bond until his trial.
"In this case, the petitioner is currently being illegally detained without probable cause to justify such detention," Davis, who is representing himself rather than having a lawyer, wrote in his petition to the Supreme Court. "The petitioner was denied a pretrial detention hearing mandated by the laws of Florida."
Investigators allege Davis, who is a former employee at AA Top Shop, was trying to rob the hardware store Nov. 8, 2025, when he allegedly stabbed Chambers multiple times . Another employee found Chambers' body on Nov. 10 and reported it to law enforcement.
Following his indictment, prosecutors filed a pretrial detention motion and held a hearing before Circuit Court Judge John Miller as to whether there was a substantial probability Davis committed murder and is a danger to the community. During that hearing, cell site location information (CSLI) extracted following a signed search warrant showed Davis was in the area of AA Top Shop at the time the murder may have been committed.
Davis claims in multiple motions that the search warrant to obtain cell phone data from AT&T should not have included CSLI, because until that information was obtained, he said, law enforcement had no probable cause he was at AA Top Shop. He then cited U.S. Supreme Court case Carpenter v. United States, saying an order allowing detectives to get CSLI data in his case would "not satisfy the Fourth Amendment because the order was based upon reasonable suspicion and not probable cause."
He argued that without that data, which he believes was illegally obtained, a judge would not have granted the state's motion to hold him in pretrial detention. Davis requested a second pretrial detention hearing, which Miller denied.
Following the denial, Davis filed a petition in the First District Court of Appeal on June 23 to have his detention before trial deemed as unconstitutional and order the circuit court to allow a second pretrial detention hearing. Nearly four months later in October, he filed a petition in the Florida Supreme Court Oct. 15 to compel the First District Court of Appeal to make an immediate ruling on his motion filed in June.
"Besides, every day the petitioner been awaiting the appellate court to render an answer to the Habeas petition, he lose another day of his life without due process of law," he wrote in his Supreme Court petition. "Petitioner's complete loss of liberty for the time of pretrial detention is 'irretrievable,' regardless of the outcome at trial."
Davis is also indicted on burglary with assault or battery and, if convicted as indicted, faces life in Florida prison. He's next scheduled to appear in court Oct. 28.
Benjamin Johnson is the breaking news, crime and military reporter for the Pensacola News Journal. He covers local law enforcement, courts, breaking news and military within Escambia and Santa Rosa counties. He can be reached at bjohnson@pnj.com.
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Pensacola murder suspect is representing himself. He wants Supreme Court's help
