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Thread: Quentin Marcus Truehill - Florida Death Row

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    Quentin Marcus Truehill - Florida Death Row


    Vincent Binder




    June 4, 2010

    State seeks death penalty against suspects in killing of FSU grad student

    The three prison escapees charged in the April death of Florida State University graduate student Vincent Binder will face the death penalty, the State Attorney's Office announced today.

    Police said that Peter Marcus Hughes, 22, Kentrell F. Johnson, 39, and Quentin M. Truehill, 23, escaped from a jail in Avoyelles Parish, La., after holding a makeshift knife to a guard's throat and eluding police dogs. They were captured in Miami on April 12.

    Binder, 29, was reported missing on April 8. His body was found in an open field near Interstate 96 and Florida 16 on April 28.

    All three men were indicted May 10 by a grand jury in St. Johns County on charges of first-degree murder and kidnapping to facilitate a felony, spokesman Chris Kelly of the State Attorney's Office said.

    http://jacksonville.com/news/crime/2010-06-04/story/state-seeks-death-penalty-against-suspects-killing-fsu-grad-student

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    Friends Share Beer, Laughs To Remember Slain Jupiter Man

    JUPITER, Fla. -- Friends of a slain college student gathered Saturday night in Jupiter to share a beer and laughs as they remembered the 29-year-old.

    Vincent Binder's body was found in late April in northeast Florida, hundreds of miles from where he was last seen in Tallahassee.

    Saturday's memorial for the Jupiter High School graduate was far from somber. Friends called it the "Vince-A-Palooza," and it was more about sharing laughter and good memories than lamenting.

    "I think he'd be really happy, and I think he'd feel really cared about," friend Erin Kelly-Boschen said. "He was really loved, and I think he would feel that tonight."

    The friends met at Quarterdeck Bar and Grill, where they worked together seven years ago.

    "All of the time you have any of his friends talk about him, they'll always remember what a great dude he was, and that is what this is all in the spirit of -- to get together and remember all of the great things about him," friend Jim Schultz said.

    Binder's friends and family came out to honor the Florida State University graduate student who was found dead. He disappeared in Tallahassee, where he was last seen walking from a friend's apartment April 8.

    More than two weeks later, his body was found about 200 miles away in an open field near Interstate 95.

    "Vince was a dude who had a lot of opposition in his life and had a lot of obstacles in his life, but he never once would've thought of himself as a victim," Schultz said. "He always literally had a bounce in his step."

    Prosecutors announced they will seek the death penalty against the three jail escapees accused of killing him.

    "I don't know what it does, but I'm certainly not opposed to it," Schultz said about the announcement. "It seems like if anybody ever has earned the death penalty, these dudes did a good job of it."

    Friends said they haven't thought much about the men accused of killing Binder.

    "I haven't really thought about it," Kelly-Boschen said. "I really just wanted to celebrate tonight and just stay positive."

    Binder's friends have started a scholarship fund in his name. They've already raised more than $8,000. The money will go to help Urban Debate League students, because debating was Binder's passion.

    http://www.wpbf.com/news/23810465/detail.html

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    August 11, 2010

    Slaying suspects in court

    Three escapees from Louisiana who face the death penalty if convicted of kidnapping and killing a Florida State University graduate student were given a Dec. 9 pre-trial date in St. Johns Circuit Court on Tuesday.

    Security was tight as Peter Marcus Hughes, Kentrell Feronti Johnson and Quentin Marcus Truehill were brought separately to Circuit Judge Wendy W. Berger's courtroom.

    At one time, 11 deputies were within pouncing distance of the suspects.

    Each defendant was in the courtroom no more than minutes, just long enough to learn the date of their next appearance. They were kept separate from each other as well as the remaining 69 defendants on Tuesday's docket.

    The State Attorney's Office announced in June that it was seeking the death penalty agains all three.

    Johnson, 39, Truehill, 23, and Hughes, 22, reportedly held a homemade shank to a guard's neck and escaped March 30 from a jail in Avoyelles Parish, La., northwest of Baton Rouge.

    The three reportedly robbed two people before they came upon Vincent John Binder, a 29-year-old graduate student in FSU's College of Communication.

    Binder was last seen walking home from a friend's house in Tallahassee on April 2. His body was found April 29 in a remote field near State Road 16 and Interstate 95 in St. Johns County.

    Johnson, reportedly told authorities that his co-defendants forced Binder into their pickup truck, intending to rob him.

    Johnson allegedly told investigators that Hughes and Truehill later led Binder into some woods, then returned without him.

    The suspects are said to have used Binder's debit card in Tallahassee, Madison County and Jacksonville.

    The three fugitives reportedly continued driving south. In Opa-locka, just north of Miami, a bank clerk became suspicious when a black man tried to use a card belonging to a white man, the Tallahassee Democrat reported.

    A security guard wrote down the license tag of the fugitives' stolen truck. That helped U.S. marshals find them hiding out in Miami, according to the Tallahassee paper.

    Truehill and Johnson were brought into court Tuesday wearing red jumpers over orange pants.

    A red jail outfit alerts officers that a defendant is charged with a serious offense. Defendants wearing orange have been placed in isolation.

    Hughes wore an orange jumpsuit, along with a mesh-and-nylon spit mask. The thickest part of the mask, which runs from the bridge of the nose to the bottom of the neck, muffled all of his responses to the judge's questions.

    Hughes was charged Aug. 5 with battery on a jail employee "by expelling certain fluids or materials."

    According to the U.S. Marshals Service, Truehill was serving 30 years for manslaughter and armed robbery, Hughes four years for unlawful entry into an inhabited dwelling and Johnson 10 years for armed robbery and a parole violation.

    Truehill is represented by Assistant Public Defenders Val Quetti and Jim Valerino.

    Johnson's attorney is Junior A. Barrett of Orlando.

    Hughes is represented by Richard R. Kuritz of Jacksonville.

    http://staugustine.com/news/local-news/2010-08-11/slaying-suspects-court

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    Men Accused in Binder Kidnapping & Murder in Court

    Three men accused of abducting and killing an FSU student earlier this year were back in court today.

    Peter Hughes, Kentrell Johnson and Quentin Truehill went before a judge in St. Johns County this morning for a pre-trial hearing.

    The trio is accused of kidnapping FSU student Vincent Binder as he walked home from a friend's house in Tallahassee back in April.
    Binder's body was found in a field off Interstate 95 in St. Johns County almost a month later.

    Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty in this case.

    The judge today did not set a trial date for Hughes, Johnson and Truehill.

    The three are expected to be back in court April 5, 2011.

    ----------------------------------------------------
    Three men accused of kidnapping and killing FSU student Vincent Binder appeared before a judge this afternoon.

    Peter Hughes, Kentrell Johnson and Quentin Truehill attended a pre-trial hearing in St. Augustine this afternoon.

    The three are accused of kidnapping Binder in Tallahassee as he walked home one night in April and then killing him in a field off I-95 in St. Johns County. That's where the men will be tried.

    The judge set another court date for December 9th.

    http://www.wctv.tv/news/headlines/Me...E.html?ref=159

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    Capital murder case continued to August

    Three Louisiana men who face the death penalty if convicted of killing a Florida State University graduate student almost a year ago now have an Aug. 2 pretrial date in St. Johns County Circuit Court.

    Kentrell Feronti Johnson, Quentin Marcus Truehill and Peter Marcus Hughes were all scheduled to appear before Circuit Judge Wendy W. Berger Tuesday morning.

    They stayed behind bars, however, while the judge approved their attorneys' requests for continuances.

    The men, who reportedly escaped from a Louisiana jail on March 30, 2010, face capital murder charges for allegedly killing Vincent John Binder, a 29-year-old graduate student in FSU's College of Communication.

    Binder's body was found April 29 in a field near State Road 16 and Interstate 95 in St. Johns County.

    Johnson, 39, Truehill, 23, and Hughes, 22, reportedly held a homemade shank to a guard's neck and escaped on March 30 from a jail in Avoyelles Parish, La., northwest of Baton Rouge.

    The three reportedly robbed two people before they came upon Binder, who was last seen walking home from a friend's house in Tallahassee.

    Johnson reportedly told authorities that his co-defendants forced Binder into their pickup truck, intending to rob him.

    Johnson allegedly told investigators that Hughes and Truehill later led Binder into some woods, then returned without him.

    The suspects are said to have used Binder's debit card in Tallahassee, Madison County and Jacksonville.

    The three fugitives reportedly continued driving south.

    U.S. Marshals found them hiding out in Miami, according to an article in the Tallahassee Democrat at the time.

    According to the U.S. Marshals Service, Truehill was serving 30 years for manslaughter and armed robbery, Hughes four years for unlawful entry into an inhabited dwelling and Johnson 10 years for armed robbery and a parole violation in Louisiana.

    http://staugustine.com/news/local-ne...ntinued-august

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    Trial expected this summer in FSU student's death

    Three Louisiana prison escapees facing the death penalty in the kidnapping and murder of a Florida State University student in 2010 will be tried together, with the trial likely to be sometime this summer.

    Quentin Marcus Truehill, 25, Peter Marcus Hughes, 25, and Kentrell Feronti Johnson, 42, are charged with killing Vincent John Binder, a 29-year-old graduate student in FSU’s College of Communication, in April 2010 and dumping his body in a field near State Road 16 and Interstate 95 in St. Johns County.

    The men went before Circuit Judge Raul A. Zambrano Friday morning for a pre-trial hearing in the St. Johns County Courthouse, accompanied by a bevy of defense attorneys.

    Zambrano, a 7th District judge who normally presides over civil cases in DeLand, asked Assistant State Attorney Mark Johnson whether he wanted to try the three men together or separately, suggesting that three individual trials with different juries would be “a logistical nightmare for me.”

    “Your honor, right now I think we can plan on doing them all together,” Johnson said. “The only problem we’re going to have is that the three defendants were all interviewed and only one of them made a statement.”

    Johnson said his office was hoping to try the case over the summer, and agreed with the defense that the trial would probably take three to four weeks.

    The judge set the end of January as the deadline for the state to file a motion of consolidation to try all three at the same time.

    The defendants, all clad in bright red shirts that high-risk inmates wear, were not in the courtroom together. Truehill faced the judge first, flanked by Assistant Public Defenders James Valerino and Raymond Warren.

    The judge said he did not wish to delay the trial further, and asked the defense where they were with their case. Valerino said the defense needed to take five or six witness depositions in Miami.

    “I just want you to know, and I think Mr. Johnson will agree, that we have been diligently preparing this case,” Valerino said. “We haven’t been goofing off and delaying things. We’ve been to Louisiana, we’ve been to Tallahassee, we’ve been to Pensacola, we’ve been to prisons up in the Panhandle of Florida. We’ve been everywhere.”

    After Truehill was removed from the courtroom, there was a delay of about 20 minutes before each of the other defendants, Hughes and Johnson, were brought in, in that order. Attorneys Sung Lee and Adam Rowe were there to represent Hughes and Johnson, respectively.

    None of the defendants said anything in court.

    The three escaped from a Louisiana jail on March 30, 2010, by holding a homemade shank to a guard’s neck. While at large, they reportedly robbed two people before coming upon Binder, who was last seen walking home from a friend’s house in Tallahassee. Binder’s body was found April 29, 2010, in a field near State Road 16 and Interstate 95 in St. Johns County.

    Johnson reportedly told authorities that his co-defendants forced Binder into their pickup truck, intending to rob him. Investigators said Johnson told them Hughes and Truehill later led Binder into some woods, then returned without him.

    According to the U.S. Marshals Service, Johnson was doing 10 years for armed robbery and a parole violation in Louisiana, Truehill was serving 30 years for manslaughter and armed robbery and Hughes was serving four years for unlawful entry into an inhabited dwelling.

    Hughes also faces additional felony charges, including introducing or possession of contraband in a county detention facility and battery of facility employee by expelling certain fluids or materials.

    Judge Zambrano said he would schedule another pretrial hearing in the case for sometime after the first of the year.

    http://staugustine.com/news/local-ne...h#.UMzGeKwrnjg
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

    "Y'all be makin shit up" ~ Markeith Loyd

  7. #7
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    Judge pushes for quick start to Binder murder case

    3 men accused of breaking out of Louisiana prison, killing Binder in 2010

    If Judge Raul Zambrano gets his way, the three suspects accused of killing Vincent John Binder in 2010 will go on trial Sept. 30.

    Zambrano, a circuit court judge who usually works in Volusia County, made it clear to a St. Johns County courtroom full of attorneys Wednesday that he doesn’t want anything to delay justice for a crime committed more than three years ago.

    Three assistant state attorneys and five attorneys for defendants Kentrell Feronti Johnson, Quentin Marcus Truehill and Peter Marcus Hughes were present to decide how to proceed in the death penalty case.

    The three co-defendants are accused of breaking out of a Louisiana prison on March 30, 2010, and committing several robberies before abducting and killing Binder, a 29-year-old Florida State University graduate student.

    The fugitives were apprehended April 12, 2010, in Miami. Binder’s body was found on April 29, 2010, in a field near State Road 16 and Interstate 95 in St. Johns County.

    Not much was decided Wednesday in a case filled with motions and witnesses scattered all over the South.

    But Zambrano did his best to get the judicial process moving forward. He told the attorneys involved to make the Binder case a priority and offered to write letters to other judges, if necessary, to clear up scheduling conflicts.

    There was some consternation from defense attorney Richard Kurtiz, who is committed to murder cases almost the entire fall. He asked that the Binder case be moved to February 2014.

    “I’m not sure I would delay it that much,” Zambrano said. “This is an old case. I know it’s difficult to line up the sun and the moon and the stars.”

    The trial of co-defendants Johnson, Truehill and Hughes is expected to last four to six weeks.

    Of course, that assumes there is just one trial. Attorneys for Truehill and Hughes have filed motions opposing trying all three defendants together.

    The state is asking for one consolidated trial.

    “We feel that (separate trials) would not be in the best interest of justice or judicial economy,” said Assistant State Attorney Mark Johnson, the lead prosecutor.

    Zambrano said he would send out a ruling on the consolidation issue.

    The other major decision made by Zambrano was to hear all motions in the case the week of Aug. 19.

    “If we can’t get everything done in a week, then it’s my fault,” the judge said.

    Among the key motions to be heard is one that comes from Kentrell Johnson’s defense.

    His attorney, Junior Barrett, is asking the state be prohibited from pursuing the death penalty against his client because Assistant State Attorney Georgia Cappleman had authorized U.S. Marshals to agree not to pursue the death penalty against Johnson if he assisted in leading authorities to Binder’s remains.

    The motion says Johnson tried to help investigators find the body even though he was confused about which city the killing took place. It says he drew a sketch of the area where Binder’s body could be found, and authorities located the body 11 days later. The motion also says Johnson was taken to the scene of the discovery “to have him reconstruct the events leading up to the demise of Mr. Binder.”

    Barrett wrote that the state was clearly aided by his client’s cooperation.

    “Mr. Johnson made a deal with the prosecutor, fulfilled the terms of the deal and now the prosecutor wants to renege after acceptance and performance,” Barrett wrote.

    http://staugustine.com/news/local-ne...er-murder-case

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    Capital murder cases to be tried at one time with two juries

    Judge Raul Zambrano acknowledged there is no easy way to try three co-defendants at one time — especially with one of them separated from the other two.

    But the judge has decided on what he thinks will be the best format in the capital murder case of three Louisiana prison escapees accused of kidnapping and killing Florida State University graduate student Vincent Binder in April 2010.

    Co-defendants Peter Marcus Hughes and Quentin Marcus Truehill will be tried by one jury at the trial while Kentrell Feronti Johnson will be tried by a second jury at the same time. Jury selection is expected to begin Feb. 3, 2014, and the trial could last four weeks or longer.

    Johnson is separated because he tried to negotiate a separate deal with prosecutors in Tallahassee after the men were apprehended April 12, 2010, in Miami. He offered to help investigators locate Binder’s body, downplaying his role in the killing.

    There has been pretrial testimony from a jailhouse informant who said Johnson admitted to killing Binder and then lying to investigators that Hughes and Truehill were the main perpetrators of the murder.

    Zambrano announced his decision Friday before a motion hearing at the St. Johns County courthouse. He also suggested the trial be moved from the regular courtrooms to the jury reporting room near the north entrance of the courthouse complex.

    There are security and logistical concerns that will have to be addressed. However, there is simply not enough room for a full complement of two juries in a regular county courtroom.

    “I don’t know that we can get 30 jurors in this room,” Zambrano said.

    None of the attorneys from the state or the defense voiced any objections to the setup.

    Zambrano heard one motion, ruling against the defense’s objection to the courtroom identification of Truehill by Mario Rios.

    Rios testified during an August motion hearing that he had contact with the three co-defendants shortly before Binder was believed to have been kidnapped. Rios said the men were trying to rob him outside a Tallahassee apartment complex.

    In an interview two weeks later with Det. Craig Isom of the Tallahassee Police Department, Rios identified Hughes in a photo lineup. He identified all three co-defendants in court during his August appearance.

    “It’s our belief that this identification of Mr. Truehill was made through impermissibly suggestive means,” defense attorney Jim Valerino said.

    Zambrano disagreed.

    http://staugustine.com/news/local-ne...s#.Un4XRSezLF8
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

    "Y'all be makin shit up" ~ Markeith Loyd

  9. #9
    AdamSmith
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    The jailhouse informant's statements do not seem credible in this matter. They are inconsistent with what happened.

    It seems more likely that the other two begged the informant to cook up the story.

  10. #10
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    Capital murder case gets underway

    Prison escapees on trial in death of FSU student

    Jury selection for a capital murder trial begins Monday for one of three Louisiana prison escapees charged in a 2010 death.

    Investigators believe that Louisiana residents Quentin Marcus Truehill, 26, Peter Marcus Hughes, 26, and Kentrell Feronti Johnson, 43, escaped from a Louisiana parish prison and traveled to Miami, killing a man and attacking others along the way.

    All three are charged with kidnapping and killing Florida State University graduate student Vincent John Binder, 29, whose body was found in a field off State Road 16 on April 28, 2010. The defendants were arrested earlier in the month, April 12, in Miami.

    After more than three years and some changes in the trial format, the case is set to begin with jury selection Monday in Truehill’s case.

    There are more than 30 witnesses. Preparing for this trial has been a challenge for prosecutors, said State Attorney R. J. Larizza.

    “With the size of this case … it spans Louisiana, the Florida Panhandle, St. Johns County and Miami ...,” he said. “Putting cases like this together takes a lot of work.”

    A string of crimes

    All of the defendants have criminal pasts that include violence.

    Truehill was serving a 30-year sentence for manslaughter and armed robbery. Johnson was serving a 10-year sentence for a parole violation and was awaiting trial on armed robbery charges. Hughes was serving a four-year sentence for unlawful entry into an inhabited dwelling.

    They escaped March 30, 2010, from the Avoyelles Parish Sheriff’s Office Detention Center in Marksville, La.

    Truehill and Johnson were seen in a stolen truck trying to use a stolen credit card at a gas station in Louisiana the next day, according to the U.S. Marshals Service. The truck and some of the defendants were seen at several locations along the way.

    Officers found the stolen truck on April 7 in Miami with a bloody knife and other items inside.

    Witnesses said they were attacked by the defendants, including one woman who said her skull was fractured and several of her fingers were severed during an attack on April 1 in Pensacola.

    Binder, originally from Brooklyn, N.Y., was last seen leaving a friend’s home in Tallahassee on April 2. Officials searched for weeks before finding his body.

    Binder was studying for a master’s degree in media and communications. He graduated from the University of West Georgia before moving to an apartment in Tallahassee. After Binder went missing, his friends raised reward money and used a website to seek tips from the public about his whereabouts.

    State seeking death penalty

    If convicted, the defendants could face the death penalty.

    In Florida, if a person is convicted of a capital felony, the court holds a separate hearing to decide whether that person will be sentenced to death or life in prison, according to Florida law. The trial judge holds the penalty phase of the trial as soon as possible after the trial. During the hearing, prosecutors and defense attorneys can present evidence and arguments to the jury for or against a death sentence.

    Defendants’ trials separated

    A decision in November had set the defendants to go on trial at one time with two separate juries, one for Johnson and one for Truehill and Hughes.

    The trials were later separated.

    Johnson is expected to go on trial after Truehill. Prosecutors have until the end of May to get records for an evaluation of Hughes’ intellectual abilities. The outcome of that investigation could change whether Hughes would face the death penalty if convicted.

    Trial dates have not been set for Hughes or Johnson.

    http://staugustine.com/news/local-ne...y#.Uu4Q1vuZQUU
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

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