Morris Davis

Colonel Morris D. Davis (born July 31, 1958) is a United States Air Force officer and lawyer, was appointed to serve as the third Chief Prosecutor of the Guantanamo military commissions., September 2005 until October 2007. He resigned from the position due to objecting to the appointment of William J. Haynes, II, former General Counsel of the Department of Defense, as Presiding Officer of the commissions. He retired from active duty in October 2008.

Davis has received the following awards and recognition.

Unlike his predecessors, Fred Borch and Robert L. Swann, Davis has been a visible public figure. His statements have triggered controversy.

Khadr's attorney, Muneer Ahmad of American University, accused Colonel Davis of ethical misconduct for referring to Khadr as a "terrorist" and a "murderer" during the January 10, 2006 press conference. Ahmad asked the Presiding Officer to sanction Colonel Davis for the comments, but the presiding officer found the comments were fair and balanced, given the repeated negative out of court statements Ahmad had made for months prior to the hearing. When asked why the prosecution had finally broken its silence, Davis said:

"For a number of months we've sat on the sidelines. We've just kind of taken it. There comes a time when you don't take it anymore."

On February 28, 2006 Davis spoke out again regarding the commissions, saying:

"Remember if you dragged Dracula out into the sunlight he melted? Well, that's kind of the way it is trying to drag a detainee into the courtroom."

As Candace Gorman, a defense attorney representing a Guantanamo detainee, noted, this was an odd statement from Davis since it was the military's fault that so few cases had come to trial before the military commissions. By early 2007, only David Hicks, an Australian citizen, was being tried, and all but one of the charges against him had been dropped before trial for lack of evidence.

In March 2007 Davis challenged Major Michael Mori, the military defense counsel assigned to Hicks' case, by threatening him with prosecution for violation of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. He claimed that Mori had acted improperly in criticizing the military commissions while in Australia gathering evidence for the defense. Mori responded angrily, "Are they trying to intimidate me?"

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