A man who admitted killing his wife inside a Gilbert care facility was sentenced to 16 years in prison in a case with two vastly different views about what happened.
Justin Davidson called it mercy when he suffocated Danielle Crosbie-Davidson with a pillow in June 2025.
But her family said Crosbie-Davidson was happy and believed her death was nothing more than murder.
Davidson, 47, pleaded guilty in April to second-degree murder in the death of Crosbie-Davidson, 58.
Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Kevin Wein sentenced Davidson to 16 years under a plea that allowed for 12 to 20 years in prison.
The judge’s sentence landed between the two versions of the case.
Crosbie-Davidson’s family asked the judge to sentence him to the maximum.
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Davidson’s attorney asked for 12 years, arguing the killing was not driven by anger, greed, revenge, jealousy, hatred or money.
The defense called it a “profound failure of judgment” by a husband who had spent years watching his wife lose her health, memory and ability to communicate.
Davidson told the court before he was sentenced that Crosbie-Davidson told him early in their relationship that she never wanted to live in an incapacitated condition.
“I did what I did out of love,” Davidson said. “I did what I did out of a sense of duty to my wife’s wish. And yes, it was to minimize her ongoing suffering.”
Crosbie-Davidson’s family rejected the idea that her death was an act of mercy.
Her youngest daughter, Jayleigh Crosbie, said in a statement read in court that her mother was funny, intelligent, strong and full of life before she became sick. She said dementia changed her mother but did not erase her humanity.
“This was not mercy,” Crosbie wrote. “My mother’s illness did not make her worthless. Her dementia did not erase her humanity. She still deserved dignity, safety, protection and the right to live.”
Crosbie said that, just weeks before her mother was killed, she saw her mother’s eyes light up when she walked into the room.
Three attempts at ending her life
The case began as a first-degree murder prosecution before Davidson pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of second-degree murder.
Crosbie-Davidson had dementia brought on by epilepsy, according to court records.
The couple had lived in California, but Davidson moved her to Arizona in June 2024 and admitted her to Eternal Springs of Gilbert. Prosecutors said Davidson claimed he moved her so she could be closer to the children she had before their marriage and who lived in Arizona.
The two had met in Arizona while teaching before moving to California. They were married for 14 years.
Prosecutors said Davidson drove from California to the Gilbert facility in June 2025 and tried more than once to kill Crosbie-Davidson before she died.
According to prosecutors, Davidson first tried to overdose Crosbie-Davidson with oxycodone pills on June 7, 2025, by grinding them up and mixing them into a frozen dessert. She survived.
Amanda Smuck, who was the memory care director at Eternal Springs of Gilbert when Crosbie-Davidson died, told the judge that Crosbie-Davidson had been awake, happy and singing along to Elvis the morning Davidson arrived.
“She was glowing,” Smuck said. “She was in her element.”
Staff reported that Crosbie-Davidson appeared heavily sedated and could not be awakened, Smuck said.
She said she asked Crosbie-Davidson’s nurse practitioner whether she could drug test her.
“Something is fishy,” Smuck said she wrote in a message at the time.
By June 9, Smuck said, Crosbie-Davidson was slowly coming back. Staff saw fear in her eyes when they entered the room with Davidson present, Smuck said.
Crosbie-Davidson refused to drink from a juice box Davidson had given her, but drank water rapidly when staff brought it to her.
That night, Smuck said, Davidson left to stay with a friend.
The next morning, June 10, Crosbie-Davidson woke up asking to get out of bed, Smuck said. Staff helped her, and she ate two breakfasts, drank water and cranberry juice, smiled, engaged with others and sang.
Then Davidson returned, Smuck said.
“The fear and anxiety returned with him,” she said.
That evening, Crosbie-Davidson again appeared sedated, Smuck said. Her mouth was stained blue from a drink.
Prosecutors said Davidson later admitted he had bought liquid sleep medication and emptied the capsules into a blue Eegee’s slushy he fed to Crosbie-Davidson.
She survived that attempt, too.
On June 11, prosecutors said, Davidson held a pillow over Crosbie-Davidson's face until she stopped breathing. Prosecutors said Davidson later told investigators she resisted slightly at first, raising her hand, before she stopped moving.
Medical staff found Crosbie-Davidson dead in her room around 3 a.m. Davidson was in the room with her, according to prosecutors. Staff noticed marks on her neck.
“Divorce was an option. Separation was an option,” Smuck said. “We would still have Danny today if he had chosen either one of those paths.”
The motives behind the murder
In a sentencing memo that The Arizona Republic obtained before it was sealed, the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office said Davidson had tried to cast the killing as an act of mercy, but prosecutors argued his motives were selfish and tied to money.
Davidson had been paying between $500 and $700 a month to cover some of Crosbie-Davidson’s care and had recently lost his job in California, prosecutors said.
“Defendant wanted to live a life that did not include Danielle and moving her to Arizona was the best way to do that,” prosecutors wrote.
Davidson’s family presented a far different picture at a June hearing.
They described Davidson as a devoted husband who loved his wife and said he moved Crosbie-Davidson to Arizona so she could be closer to her family.
“Justin struggled deeply as he watched that woman he loved suffer,” Davidson’s mother, Norma Jean Davidson, said at the hearing. “From early in their relationship they had discussed her wishes regarding the end-of-life care. While those conversations were never formally documented, Justin believed that he was honoring the wishes of the person he loved the most.”
Davidson’s attorney made a similar argument at sentencing. She said Davidson kept years of notes documenting Crosbie-Davidson’s seizures, doctor appointments, hospitalizations, medications, wandering episodes, memory loss and paranoia.
The defense said those facts did not excuse what Davidson did. But his attorney argued they helped explain how a man with no history of violence arrived at a tragic and unlawful decision.
Crosbie-Davidson’s family said there was no explanation that could turn her death into mercy.
Bryce Crosbie, Crosbie-Davidson’s son, said the killing had left him with grief, anger, financial hardship and a lasting loss of trust.
“Moving forward, I will question the intentions of others and struggle to allow anyone into the circle of my family and the loved ones that I hold dear,” he said. “I know who you truly are in this courtroom today, and I hope you never take this arrow out.“
