BURLINGTON — The alleged mastermind in a murder-for-hire plot that led to the kidnapping and fatal shooting of a Danville man more than four years ago appeared Tuesday in a Vermont courtroom to face criminal charges that could carry the death penalty.
Serhat Gumrukcu, 39, of Los Angeles. California, pleaded not guilty in U.S. District Court in Burlington to federal racketeering and murder charges in the slaying of 49-year-old Gregory Davis of Danville in January 2018.
Gumrukcu was arrested in May and, after initially contesting being brought to Vermont to face the charges against him, was brought to the state last week for his arraignment. He is the fourth out-of-state person indicted in the alleged scheme to kill Davis to be brought to Vermont to face federal charges.
If convicted, the charges against Gumrukcu carry up to a life sentence or the death penalty. Prosecutors have not yet disclosed if they intend to seek the death penalty in the case.
Gumrukcu, a biomedical researcher, was led into the courtroom Tuesday in handcuffs and dressed in green prison clothing.
He said little during the hearing, responding with mostly one- or two-word answers to questions posed to him by Judge Geoffrey Crawford regarding his background and whether he understood the charges against him.
He told the judge he was a citizen of Turkey, was fluent in English, and had read and understood the criminal allegations he was facing.
David Kirby, Gumrukcu’s attorney, did not challenge the prosecution’s request that his client remain held in custody while the case is pending. Gumrukcu has been detained behind bars since his arrest by federal authorities in California in May.
Jerry Banks, 34, of Colorado, who was indicted in April, was charged with kidnapping Davis from his home in Danville on Jan. 6, 2018. A day later, according to court filings, Davis’ body was found in a snowbank about 15 miles from his house after having been shot multiple times and killed.
Banks, according to charging documents, posed as a U.S. marshal and told Davis that he had come to arrest him on racketeering charges.
Banks was the first person charged in the alleged plot. Although court filings accused Banks of firing the fatal shots that killed Davis, until now he had only been charged with kidnapping. Banks has pleaded not guilty to that offense and is being held in custody.
Prosecutors announced in a news release late Tuesday afternoon that they had added to the charges against Banks, adding an offense alleging that he took part in the murder-for-hire conspiracy that resulted in Davis’ death.
Another suspect, Aron Lee Ethridge, 42, of Henderson, Nevada, has already reached a plea deal with prosecutors. He is awaiting sentencing and faces up to 27 years in prison.
He pleaded guilty this summer to murder for hire and conspiracy to commit kidnapping with death resulting. Prosecutors said Ethridge found and helped to instruct Banks on carrying out the killing.
Prosecutors allege Ethridge received more than $100,000 from Berks Eratay and Gumrukcu as payment to “cover expenses for the murder.” Eratay, of Las Vegas, Nevada, had been friends with Gumrukcu and also worked with him in the past.
Eratay, like Gumrukcu, is also a resident of Turkey. Both men had also previously worked as magicians, according to court filings in the case.
Eratay, charging documents stated, had told Ethridge that he was acting on behalf of Gumrukcu, that Gumrukcu was putting up the money, and that Gumrukcu was mad with Davis over a failed business deal.
Gumrukcu, according to court filings, feared Davis about going to the FBI with evidence that Gumrukcu was defrauding him in a multimillion-dollar oil transaction that he had entered into with Davis in early 2015.
Eratay had pleaded not guilty in July to the same charges Gumrukcu is facing, and has also been ordered detained pending trial.
Kirby, Gumrukcu’s attorney, had previously been Vermont’s top federal prosecutor before going into private practice.
Kirby, during the hearing Tuesday, told the judge that a bank had frozen assets held in a joint account by his client and his client’s husband following the filing of a federal civil wrongful death lawsuit that was brought earlier this year against him by Melissa Davis, who was Gregory Davis’ wife at the time of his death.
Gumrukcu, according to court filings, had millions of dollars in stock in Enochian Biosciences Inc. — a California biotechnology company in which he had an ownership stake.
Kirby asked the judge Tuesday about the process for unfreezing his client’s account to allow him to access funds to pay for his legal representation in the criminal case against him.
Crawford told Kirby it would be best to take that matter up first as part of the civil wrongful death lawsuit proceedings before addressing it as part of the criminal case.
Kirby said that’s what he would do, and if needed raise it again later as part of the criminal proceeding.
Melissa Davis attended the hearing Tuesday, but declined comment following Gumrukcu’s arraignment.
Gumrukcu’s husband, William Anderson Wittekind, also attended the hearing Tuesday and declined comment outside the courthouse following the proceeding.