Man killed in homeless camp spoke to police about previous camp slaying, attorney says

Aug. 11—Before he was fatally shot in May, a homeless man told law enforcement he believed a man jailed for an October homeless camp slaying was not the killer, according to court documents.

The defense attorney for Dexter Pulliam, the man accused in the October killing, wants to introduce statements at trial that Billie Lee Davis made to law enforcement about the death of Leon Hines, 66.

Pulliam faces a malice murder charge from the Oct. 18 death of Hines who was found slumped over the railroad tracks near his camp in the Industrial Boulevard area of Gainesville.

According to a motion filed Aug. 8 by Pulliam's defense attorney Jake Shapiro, Davis spoke with law enforcement regarding Hines' death.

Some of those statements were about another person becoming "increasingly hostile the day of the murder and was threatening to burn evidence," according to the motion.

Davis also said that the police should look into that person and that he did not believe Pulliam committed the murder, according to the motion.

Shapiro's motion also stated Davis saw another person who was not Pulliam "get into it physically with (Hines)" a few days before Hines' death.

Davis, 37, was killed about seven months after Hines.

He died May 13 after being shot multiple times, according to authorities. Another homeless man, Pedro Morales-Valle, 42, was charged with murder in Davis' death.

The prosecution previously filed a motion to exclude references to Davis' death during Pulliam's trial. They claimed it may cause the jury to make "prejudicial connections regarding (Pulliam's) guilt" because Davis was a witness and "has now been found dead."

Shapiro said the judge has taken these motions in the Pulliam case under advisement but declined further comment.