Frank Quarles was fifteen when he fatally shot a classmate in Florida. According to court documents Frank Quarles and the victim were in an argument over a bicycle. Quarles would take the bike and returned with a gun when he pulled it out and shot the victim twice . It took seven years for the case to go to trial where this teen killer was convicted and sentenced to thirty five years in prison
Frank Quarles 2023 Information
DC Number: | B16265 |
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Name: | QUARLES, FRANK |
Race: | WHITE |
Sex: | MALE |
Birth Date: | 04/29/1996 |
Initial Receipt Date: | 04/30/2018 |
Current Facility: | OUT OF DEPT. CUSTODY BY COURT ORDER |
Current Custody: | CLOSE |
Current Release Date: | 01/29/2047 |
Frank Quarles Other News
A jury last October found Quarles guilty of second-degree murder, rejecting the defense claim that it was an accidental killing or manslaughter.
Prosecutors Chrichet Mixon and Jill Richstone requested a life sentence, contending it was a deliberate act because Quarles pulled the trigger twice, and has since been charged with fighting and other offenses at the jailhouse.
But Quarles’ lawyers argued he was a juvenile at the time of the shooting, and deserved less than the minimum possible sentence of 25 years for “a chance for some kind of future.”
“Frankie Quarles is far from the worst of the worst,” attorney Michael Salnick said at a March 26 hearing, telling the court his client is remorseful and merely had to defend himself in jail as a matter of survival.
After the sentencing, Salnick said there is still hope for a retrial.
There’s significant issues on appeal and that’s the next step,” he said, citing a detective’s statement that was mistakenly provided to the jurors during their deliberations.
In February, Quarles apologized and begged for forgiveness from the victim’s family. He said he never intended harm when he pointing a gun at the Santaluces High football player.
“I stand today as a man and just wish I could have thought before I acted,” Quarles said. “This is something I will regret for the rest of my life because the damage is irreversible. … Mike did not deserve what happened to him.”
But the victim’s mom said she was “hurt” having waited more than six years for the criminal case to be resolved and never heard an apology until recently. She did not recommend a specific sentence.
Dismissing apologies from Quarles and his parents and sister, Coogle lamented not being able to celebrate what would have been her first born child’s 23nd birthday on March 18.
“Michael’s gone forever,” she said. “This put a lot of anger in me … I have to go to the graveyard.”
According to trial evidence, Quarles confronted Coogle-Robertson about 4:30 p.m. in the Seminole Manor neighborhood near the high school.
They argued about a bike that Quarles said was stolen from him.
Quarles took back the bike and left, but returned about 20 minutes later with a loaded .38-caliber revolver.
“I am very sorry for the loss of Michael but I swear on my freedom that it was an accident, regardless of what anybody says,” he said.
At the trial last fall, prosecutors argued for a first-degree murder conviction. They said Quarles was angry, went home to grab a gun he had hidden under his bed, and intentionally pulled the trigger.
In seeking a life sentence, the prosecutors said Quarles is sorry only for what his actions meant for him and his family, not the victim.
“Does he realize what he’s done?” Mixon asked, rhetorically. “Has he tried to reform his behavior? No, he hasn’t. He continues to exhibit the same behavior of breaking the law … that’s who you are as a person.”
Salnick, the defense attorney, said Quarles is worthy of a chance of redemption and a return to society.
“Punish him, but give him an opportunity to have a life that he might have at a much older age,” he urged the judge.
Frank Quarles More News
Frank Quarles was 15 when he shot and killed a 16-year-old high school classmate after an argument over a bicycle eight years ago.
Quarles confessed to a detective that he grabbed a gun “just to prove a point … all I was doing was just flashing it” at Michael Coogle-Robertson, but the .38-caliber revolver “went off.”
The Fourth District Court of Appeal ruled Wednesday it was a mistake for the jury at Quarles’ 2017 trial to hear a recording of his police interrogation, conducted five hours after the Lantana-area neighborhood shooting.
Finding Quarles’ confession wasn’t given voluntarily, a panel of three appellate judges tossed his second-degree murder conviction and 35-year prison term, and ordered a new trial.
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Frank Quarles 2021
Frank Quarles is currently out of the Florida Corrections as he appeals his sentence
Frank Quarles Release Date
Frank Quarles is eligible for parole in 2047