By Sharon Coolidge
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Almost 27 years after Doris Davis fled Ohio a wanted woman, she was back in a Hamilton County courtroom.

Davis, 50, pleaded guilty to an escape charge Wednesday after years of using a host of aliases in other states to avoid authorities.

When Common Pleas Court Judge David Davis, who is not related to the defendant, asked her why she never came to court to face the charge, she replied: "I was scared. I was just young."

And, Doris Davis added, she thought her mother had taken care of everything.

In 1977, Davis ran away from a Hamilton County sheriff's deputy who had arrested her on prostitution and drug abuse charges, only to be caught two blocks into the chase, according to prosecutors.

It was so long ago, it is unclear what happened to the original charges, but Davis went to Texas while the escape charge - a felony - was pending.

Over the years she has used a host of aliases, making it difficult for law enforcement officers to catch up to her. In January, prison officials in Texas were preparing to release her after an eight-year stay on a theft charge when they discovered that she was wanted in Hamilton County.

Instead of being freed, Davis was transported to the Hamilton County Jail on Jan. 28.

"She just wanted to go home," said her attorney, Loveleen Bajwa.

The judge convicted Davis on the escape charge, which back in 1977 - before Ohio's sentencing reforms in the mid-90s - could have meant a sentence of up to five years in prison.

Davis sentenced her to the time she had already served in Hamilton County. She wasn't released, however, because another jurisdiction had a warrant for her arrest, a court official said.

"An indictment is not like a having a bad hair day. They're very serious and they don't go away," said Hamilton County Prosecutor Mike Allen.

E-mail scoolidge@enquirer.com