Thomas Cullen Davis (born 22 September 1933 in Fort Worth, Texas) was an American oil heir. He was arrested for, and later acquitted of, the murders of his stepdaughter and his estranged wife's boyfriend, then hiring a hitman to kill his estranged wife and a judge.

Criminal trials

In August 1976, Davis was charged with the murder of his estranged wife's boyfriend, Stan Farr, and her daughter, Andrea Wilborn. Davis' wife, Priscilla Davis, had filed for divorce in 1974, but in 1976 the divorce proceedings were still ongoing and the divorce had not been made official. Farr and Wilborn had been shot dead, and Davis' wife Priscilla injured, by a gunman who entered their home in Fort Worth on 2 August 1976. Page 1. In November 1977, after what has been called "one of the most expensive murder investigations and trials in Texas history," a jury found Davis not guilty. The children of Stan Farr later sued Davis for wrongful death and were awarded $250,000 in a settlement.

In 2004, Billy Vickers, a man sentenced to death in an unrelated case, claimed that he had been the one who murdered Farr and Wilborn.

In 1978, Davis was arrested again, this time for allegedly hiring a hitman to murder his wife Priscilla, as well as the judge overseeing their ongoing divorce litigation.Shuy, Roger W (2001). "Discourse Analysis in the Legal Context." In The Handbook of Discourse Analysis. Eds. Deborah Schiffrin, Deborah Tannen, and Heidi E. Hamilton. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing. 438. The case hinged around a tape-recorded conversation between Davis and an undercover employee posing as a hitman, during which Davis was alleged to have asked the undercover employee to murder his wife; this trial, Texas v. Davis, has been called one of the first uses of forensic discourse analysis of tape-recorded evidence in a legal setting.Shuy, Roger W (2001). "Discourse Analysis in the Legal Context." In The Handbook of Discourse Analysis. Eds. Deborah Schiffrin, Deborah Tannen, and Heidi E. Hamilton. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing. 439. A discourse analyst testified that Davis' words in the tape did not constitute solicitation of murder; and Davis was ultimately acquitted.

Later life

According to truTV's, Davis lost most of his oil fortune in the recession of the 1980s, and was eventually forced to sell his mansion and declare bankruptcy. Priscilla died of breast cancer in 2001.

In books and television

A book on Cullen Davis, entitled Texas vs. Davis (ISBN 0-451-17054-7), was written by Mike Cochran. Davis was also the subject of the book Texas Justice by Gary Cartwright, which was made into a TV movie starring Peter Strauss as Cullen and Heather Locklear as Priscilla.

The case was covered in a chapter of Creating Language Crimes (ISBN-10: 0195181662, ISBN-13: 978-0195181661) by Roger W. Shuy, a linguistics professor who was a witness in the case.

The case has also been profiled on Power, Privilege and Justice and on A&E's American Justice.

In the episode "Trust Me" of the television show Burn Notice the main character uses a Texas oilman named Davis Cullen for his cover ID.