A 27-year-old man who fatally shot a father while he was protecting his one-year-old son has been sentenced to 50 years in prison.
Tamarius Blair Davis was sentenced on Thursday for the murder of 21-year-old Dustin Wakefield, who was dining with his family during a vacation in Miami Beach on August 24, 2021.
Davis must serve at least 25 years before becoming eligible for parole. He will receive credit for the five years he has already spent in custody, the Miami Herald reported.
He pleaded guilty in May to second-degree murder, attempted murder and child abuse charges stemming from the shooting. Witnesses said Davis approached Wakefield’s family, aimed a pistol at the child and declared: ‘It’s time to die.’
Before Davis could fire, Wakefield stepped in front of his son. He was struck five times, including at least once in the head.
Video recorded moments after the gunfire captured people screaming outside the oceanside La Cerveceria restaurant. One witness said Davis appeared to celebrate by dancing over the young father’s body.
Davis later told police he had been high on mushrooms and had ‘randomly chosen’ Wakefield after attacking another man on the street minutes earlier.
His attorney has also said Davis believed he was inside a video game during the attack, CBS Miami reports.
At Thursday’s hearing, Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Laura Stuzin questioned whether drug use alone explained the killing.
Dustin Wakefield, 21, was shot dead as he ate dinner with his wife Karina Olguin, and their one-year-old son Eli, while they were on vacation in Miami Beach, Florida on August 24, 2021. Source: Facebook
Tamarius Blair Davis, 27, was sentenced on Thursday to serve 50 years in prison for murder
‘This was not a mistake or merely a bad episode. This was preventable,’ she told Davis.
‘There was something lurking in your inner being that was dark, and you knew it. You could have asked for help.’
The judge described the case as one of the most difficult she, or any judge, would ever have to weigh. She was deciding between prosecutors’ request for a life sentence and the defense’s plea for no more than 25 years, according to WSVN.
‘I have tried my best to impose a sentence which punishes, but also allows for some hope, even though it may be small,’ Stuzin said, citing Davis’ age and guilty plea, which spared Wakefield’s family a lengthy trial.
‘Your son, husband, father and brother was in the prime of his life and was, by all accounts, an exemplary human being,’ she told the victim’s family. ‘Nothing, including a life sentence, will bring your son back.’
Davis showed no visible reaction when Stuzin announced the sentence. His attorney, Juan Mourin, said it was ‘a case that was not going to have a happy ending for anybody no matter what.’
‘There’s so much tragedy to go around,’ Mourin added, saying the Davis family wanted to ‘reiterate how much their hearts are broken for the Wakefield family.’
Wakefield’s relatives were later seen leaving the courtroom quickly and embracing in the hallway.
Davis pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and child abuse in May
He was arrested in an alley following the brutal shooting. He was said to have told cops he shot Wakefield at random because he was ‘high on mushrooms’
Wakefield’s widow, Karina Olguin, had previously described her husband’s final moments, fighting back tears as she recalled the horror.
She said Wakefield pleaded for his life and told Davis that he had a one-year-old son, Elijah.
‘I remember Dustin saying, like, “Please, I have a son, he’s just a boy.” And that’s when it all happened,’ Olguin said.
‘I was like, “Dustin, the baby.” I yelled. Dustin got up, got Eli and took him to my grandma.’
Davis then opened fire on her husband. ‘It was so fast,’ Olguin recalled.
She said she remembered Wakefield ‘as a hero, as a courageous man and as an amazing, loving father’ who shielded their child from danger.
Just moments before the fatal shooting, Davis had been recorded firing at another man, who was not injured.
Police said Davis ran from the restaurant and was apprehended in a nearby alley.
Cellphone footage obtained by the Miami Herald showed Davis lying spread-eagle on his back and smiling as three officers approached with their guns trained on him. They shouted commands and warned him that he would be shot if he touched his weapon.
FIND OUT MORE: World’s Biggest-Ever Crypto Heist Sees Hackers Steal Billions
Davis rolled onto his side into a fetal position, then turned onto his back again as officers moved closer.
He shouted, ‘I give, I give, I give,’ as officers turned him onto his stomach and handcuffed him. A black handgun was lying roughly 10 feet away.
In court this week, Davis acknowledged that the murder was ‘unspeakably awful.’
He apologized to his own family and told the victim’s relatives there were ‘no words I can express to the Wakefield family to express how sorry I am.’
Davis insisted that his actions did not reflect the person he was, saying he could not remember how the day unfolded after taking the drugs.
‘I was raised better than that,’ he said. ‘There are no words that will come out of my mouth that describe the pain and remorse I carry… every day.’
Several of Davis’ relatives also testified, highlighting the strong faith in God shared by both families.
His father, Tommy Davis, described him as respectful, calm and hardworking, saying he regularly attended church with his family.
He said Davis played baseball and football while growing up and had never faced disciplinary problems at school.
The elder Davis said he did not recognize the man who took Wakefield’s life that day.
‘I’m shocked. I’m just totally dumbfounded,’ he said.
‘I would like to personally apologize to the Wakefield family. The person you saw is not the Blair that we know,’ he continued, referring to his son’s middle name.
Taking the stand at his sentencing hearing this week, Davis admitted that the murder was ‘unspeakably awful’
Davis’ mother, Deangelina, also broke down while testifying, saying she could not understand how her son had shot and killed someone.
She said she hoped to meet with the Wakefield family, adding that she believed her son would want that as well.
‘He did a monstrous thing,’ she said. ‘He’s not a monster.’
Talia Brianna Davis wiped away tears as she described her brother’s murder conviction as ‘unimaginable.’
‘That is not my brother. That is not the version of my brother that I grew up with, that I know,’ she told the court. She said she wished the two families had met under different circumstances so the Wakefields could have known ‘the version of my brother that I know.’
‘I’m so sorry that my brother… has played a role in this,’ she said before turning toward the Wakefield family.
‘I know that nothing I could say could ever make up for what you guys are going through, for what my brother put you through.’
Family members have shared how Wakefield jumped in front of Davis’s pistol to protect his one-year-old son, Elijah. Source: GoFundMe
His widow, Karina Olguin (pictured), told the court how she grew up without a father and she did not want that for her son
Olguin also testified about the lasting impact of the murder on her family.
She said she, Wakefield and their one-year-old son, Elijah, had traveled from their home in Castle Rock, Colorado, for their first family vacation.
In the years since that trip, Olguin said, Eli—now seven—has begun asking more often about how his father died. She said she once told him that his father was a ‘hero.’
The mother said she was heartbroken that her son would grow up without his father because she had experienced that absence herself.
‘When I became a mother, there was one thing I wanted more than anything: I wanted my son to grow up with a daddy,’ she said.
Matthew Wakefield, Dustin’s father, said Davis had chosen to kill that day, while his son had chosen to give his life so his child could survive.
He said Dustin would have helped Davis, bought him food and prayed with him if the gunman had simply asked for assistance.
‘What you asked for was his life,’ the elder Wakefield told Davis. ‘So you got exactly what you asked for—my son’s life.’
