Probation is revoked for Grandview man in 2011 shooting death and robbery

A Jackson County judge Thursday revoked the probation of a Grandview man who previously avoided prison despite pleading guilty to voluntary manslaughter for serving as a lookout in a 2011 killing.

In exchange for his testimony against two co-defendants in that homicide, Kody Saulmon, 23, had remained free on a suspended sentence.

Now he must serve a 25-year sentence for his role in the Nov. 8, 2011, fatal shooting of Nathan L. Davis of Independence.

Firefighters found Davis’ body in a burning house in the 5400 block of East 28th Street. His widow, Dana Davis of Independence, told The Star last year that she believed he died trying to get his stolen car back.

On Thursday, Saulmon was sentenced to 10 years on the manslaughter conviction and 15 years on two robbery convictions in that case. The two sentences will run consecutively.

“Sometimes justice does not come as quickly as we like,” Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker said afterward. “But I’m glad today to see that for this defendant and his victims, justice has finally been done.”

Saulmon’s probation was revoked after he pleaded guilty Thursday to two charges of tampering with a motor vehicle. He was sentenced to seven years on those convictions. That sentence will run concurrently with the 25-year sentence, according to prosecutors.

In 2011, prosecutors originally charged Saulmon, then 19, with second-degree murder and armed criminal action in Nathan Davis’ death. After he cooperated with prosecutors, his co-defendants pleaded guilty. Prosecutors said they needed his testimony because they found other witnesses in the case to be unreliable.

The Star highlighted Saulmon’s probation case in a two-day series that showed how judges in Jackson County gave probation more often in murder cases than any other circuit court in the state.

This story was originally published June 11, 2015 at 5:18 PM.