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Plea deal gets teen 35-year sentence
Marquis Devon Alexander pleaded guilty Thursday to a role in a deadly 2004 robbery.
By ALEXANDRA ZAYAS
Published March 17, 2006
At 16, Marquis Devon Alexander made one of the most serious decisions of his life: He and a friend donned masks, packed guns and robbed a Town 'N Country Subway restaurant, leaving one employee dead and another severely injured in December 2004.
At 17, it was time for another life-changing decision: take a 35-year sentence in a plea deal for second-degree murder and a list of other charges. Or face a jury trial and risk life in prison.
On Thursday afternoon in Hillsborough Circuit Court, it was decision time.
"Forty-three," Alexander did the math as he mulled the decision over for hours with his mother, friends and attorney. "I'll be 43 when I get out."
He vacillated between accepting the deal and rejecting it. He grew frustrated several times, sticking his middle finger up at a television camera. At one point, he ripped the signed plea deal into shreds.
As Judge Ronald Ficarrotta set the trial date for Monday, prosecutor Doug Covington interjected.
"I don't think this young man has seriously thought about this," Covington said. "I have an airtight case. I have an hourlong confession. I have a co-defendant testifying against him. I have a videotape of this murder."
After strong advice from his attorney and more minutes of mulling, Alexander accepted the deal and pleaded guilty to the list of charges for the homicide robbery:
Second-degree murder. Attempted first-degree murder. Two counts of armed robbery with a firearm. Aggravated assault with a firearm. Shooting at, within or into a building.
Alexander was sentenced to 35 years in state prison and 10 years of probation. And he wasn't the one accused of pulling the trigger that night.
Phillip Austin Jr., 19, is suspected of being the shooter in the death of Subway employee Danielle Miller, 22, and injury of co-worker Dorothy Hayes, then 37. Alexander identified Austin when arrested.
Austin, an ex-Subway employee, has not yet been charged with this crime, but has been in jail since Dec. 11, 2004, in an unrelated taxicab carjacking case. As a condition of Alexander's plea deal, he has to help detectives investigate Austin.
Darrell Sebron Doby Jr., 20, admitted driving his friends to the Subway and helping them escape the crime scene. He was sentenced to six years in prison in December 2004.
Alexander's family declined to comment on the plea deal.
Alexandra Zayas can be reached at 813 226-3354 or azayas@sptimes.com
[Last modified March 17, 2006, 01:54:15]
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