On Sunday, December 17, 2017, 40-year-old Tyion Taylor was shot and killed while sitting behind the steering wheel of his vehicle on Highway 70 West in Stanton, Tennessee.
Marquis Boyland told police that he was sitting in the front passenger seat when a man approached and, after talking to Taylor, got into the rear seat from the passenger side. According to Boyland, the shooter pulled out a revolver and asked if Taylor wanted to buy it. When Taylor got out his revolver to show he was not interested, the man grabbed the gun away from Taylor and fired several shots from both guns. He then got into a car driven by a woman and headed west toward Tipton County.
In the truck, under Taylor’s body, police found $7,900 in cash in a Crown Royal whisky pouch, a set of scales, 18 grams of cocaine and a bag of marijuana.
Boyland said the woman driving the car had short dark hair. He said he did not know who the shooter was.
Police attempted to interview Boyland again in the next few days but were unsuccessful in locating him. On December 19, 2017, the Haywood County Sheriff’s Department received an anonymous telephone call from a man saying he had overheard a conversation in which the shooter was identified as a man known as “Hell Rell.” Another anonymous caller implicated Devon “Debo” Murray in the shooting.
Because the car fleeing the scene was headed toward Tipton County, the police contacted the Tipton County Sheriff’s Department seeking information on anyone using the nickname of Hell Rell. The police learned that 29-year-old Darrell Davis used that nickname. Davis had been recently released from prison after serving a sentence for aggravated robbery, aggravated kidnapping, and aggravated assault, and was reputed to be a member of the Gangster Disciples street gang.
The police found a social media account in Davis’s name that referred to him as Hell Rell.
On December 21, 2017, Boyland was arrested and charged with possession of narcotics based on the drugs found in Taylor’s truck. While he was in the Haywood County Jail, he asked to speak to the investigators assigned to the Taylor murder investigation. When he was shown a photograph of Davis, Boyland identified Davis as the shooter.
On December 25, 2017, Davis surrendered and was placed under arrest. He was charged with felony murder, especially aggravated robbery, and felon in possession of a firearm.
In April 2022, Davis went to trial in Haywood County Circuit. Boyland testified and identified Davis as the gunman. He also said that the woman in the car was white, wore glasses, and had long blond hair. He said that he had not identified Davis and had said the driver of the car had short dark hair because he “was panicked and in shock.” He denied that he implicated Davis in an attempt to gain favor with the prosecution. Boyland said that he identified Davis in the photograph because of a scar on Davis’s neck.
Brock Sain, a special agent with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, said that six bullets were recovered from Taylor’s body. He said that based on a microscopic examination, one bullet was fired from one gun and five others were fired by a different gun. No weapons were recovered in the case.
Haywood County Sheriff’s Lieutenant Shawn Williams testified that when Davis surrendered on Christmas Day, he denied any involvement in the shooting. He said that he had spent the day and evening at the Broadmeadow Apartments, in Covington, Tennessee, where he lived, at the time of the crime
During cross-examination, Williams admitted that texts extracted from Taylor’s cellular phone showed that six months earlier, Taylor had been threatened repeatedly for failing to pay a drug debt. The amount of the debt appeared to be as much as $70,000. The threats were not linked to Davis. Williams said the police had not investigated the person who made the threats.
Williams also conceded that Taylor’s wife had told investigators that on the day of the crime, she saw him counting out $50,000 in cash.
The prosecution presented evidence that on Davis’s social media account, he had posted that he was in a relationship with Bridgett Stafford, a white woman with blond hair.
Dr. Erica Curry, the pathologist who performed the autopsy on Taylor’s body, testified that Taylor had a total of nine entrance and exit wounds.
Lamar Brewer, Davis’s cousin, testified that he was living with Davis at the time of the shooting. He said they spent the day together except for a few times when they walked to nearby stores. Brewer said he and Davis walked because they did not have a vehicle or a driver’s license.
On April 27, 2022, after two days of trial, the jury convicted Davis of felony murder, especially aggravated robbery, and felon in possession of a firearm. The jury then sentenced him to life in prison without parole.
Subsequently, the defense moved for a new trial based on the discovery that the prosecution had failed to disclose that a fingerprint belonging to Taylor’s girlfriend’s son was found on the rear passenger door of the car where the shooter had entered the vehicle.
A hearing was held in 2024. In March 2025, Judge Clayburn Peoples vacated Davis’s convictions and ordered a new trial.
In March 2026, Davis went to trial a second time, represented by attorneys Dawn Deaner and Garrah Carter-Mason. This trial included presentation of the fingerprint evidence. On March 12, 2026, the jury acquitted Davis and he was released.
– Maurice Possley
Posting Date: 05-18-2026
