Jeannette man to serve life prison term for friend's murder

Desiha Davis said her brother’s murder more than two years ago is still being felt by his five children.

“This is really hard and I pray to be stronger than I am right now. This was our heart. And now I have to make sure these kids are empowered and will not run down the path where these men did,” Davis said during a sentencing hearing for Stuart Ali, the man convicted last spring of first-degree murder in connection with her brother’s fatal shooting.

Ali, 48, of Jeannette was sentenced Tuesday to life in prison without the possibility of parole and an additional three-to-six years behind bars for a related weapons offense. Prosecutors said Ali fired 10 shots and killed 43-year-old Marcus Davis during a dispute on April 15, 2021 in Jeannette.

Witnesses said Ali shot Davis in the back of his neck and fired another nine shots into his left side as he lay on the ground. Prosecutors claimed the men spent the night together at several Greensburg-area bars and as they drove to Jeannette they fought over a drug deal and a potential sexual liaison between Ali and a woman they encountered earlier that night.

Ali claimed he acted in self-defense, which was an argument rejected by the jury following a four-day trial.

“The victim is dead all because of a situation where Mr. Ali believed Mr. Davis was preventing him from having an encounter with a female and he took his life,” said Assistant District Attorney Jim Lazar. “He left this man on the street after he unloaded his gun on him.”

Ali apologized for Davis’ murder.

“Things just went the way they went,” Ali said. “There’s not really anything I can do for the situation but to ask for forgiveness.”