On Memorial Day, a young Jackson Police officer stopped long the shoulder of Interstate 220, pulled out a handgun and took his own life. Hours before he’d been publicly accused of having a sexual relationship with a teenage girl.

The attorney for the girl’s family told the media that videos of the encounter existed and that the police were not taking the matter seriously enough. James Davis was suspended as the investigation into his relationship with the girl started.

His family has begun speaking out, defending their loved one and shedding new light on the incident.

“He made a mistake as young people do by allowing himself to be deceived by a woman (as she claimed and appeared to be when he met her as she was leaving from a 21+ club),” Davis’ stepmother Dawn Davis posted to social media this week. “This wasn’t going on for 6 months! That’s a LIE being told by a lawyer who want to manipulate the system for her own personal gain.

“This 16 year old (NOT 15, lying lawyer Lisa Ross!) has a fake ID, a fake name and not a single one of you would have questions whether she was of age!”

Dawn Davis said her stepson was devastated when he found out the girl was a minor.

“He had no idea she was not an adult!” Dawn Davis wrote. “And after he found out he could not live with himself nor bear the thought that he might be found guilty in spite of what he knew to be true about this situation. He could not bear the thought that he might not be able to be a police officer anymore. All he ever wanted to be was an officer. He loved protecting people. He loved serving. And he could not bear the thought that this mistake might cost him his family. … but he was too distraught after seeing all the hate and ignorant comments from people calling him a pedophile, a child molester, a predator, and a rapist.”

“He was none of those!”

Dawn Davis said the quick judgment people threw out caused tremendous pressure on James Davis.

“His blood is on your hands … He was our baby and he is gone!” she wrote. “I’m praying hard to forgive Lying Lisa Ross for telling her lies without regard to the lives she impacted with them. I’m praying hard for James’s soul because the God I know is full of mercy and grace.”