An Akron man who got a plea agreement and testified against his co-defendant in a 2015 shooting death will spend more time in prison than the co-defendant who took his case to trial.
David Quarterman was sentenced to 14 years in prison Thursday in the shooting death and an unrelated robbery. Marcus Price, his co-defendant, will spend three years in prison.
Quarterman and Price, both 19, each blamed the other for the Feb. 15, 2015, shooting death of their friend, Ahmed Hill, 17, in a West Akron alley. No one else witnessed the shooting.
Quarterman, 19, pleaded guilty in February to complicity to commit voluntary manslaughter, a first-degree felony, and aggravated robbery, also a first-degree felony. Prosecutors dismissed charges of murder and tampering with evidence. As part of Quarterman’s agreement, he testified against Price, whose jury trial ended last week with not-guilty verdicts to aggravated murder and murder and a guilty verdict to tampering with evidence.
“I am taking responsibility for my actions,” Quarterman, wearing an orange jail jumpsuit, said in a brief statement before his sentencing Thursday.
Quarterman faced up to 28 years or 14 years for each of the felonies to which he pleaded guilty.
Walter Benson, one of the defense attorneys in the shooting-death case, suggested Summit County Common Pleas Judge Tammy O’Brien sentence Quarterman to nine years, given his lack of an adult criminal record and the fact that he cooperated with prosecutors and testified against Price.
Paul Adamson, Quarterman’s attorney in the robbery case that happened before Hill’s death, agreed with Benson’s recommendation. He said Quarterman brings to mind the famous TV documentary Scared Straight!
“I think that’s what’s happened here,” Adamson said. “He is a different person from [the one] who walked into the jail.”
Assistant Summit County Prosecutor Kevin Mayer disagreed with the defense attorneys’ suggested sentence, arguing for a prison term on the upper end of the range O’Brien could impose. He did not recommend a certain number of years.
“We are talking about the death of a 17-year-old,” Mayer said.
O’Brien sentenced Quarterman to eight years in prison for the robbery and three years for the firearm specification that accompanied this charge, along with eight years for the complicity to commit voluntary manslaughter charge and three years for the firearm specification. Quarterman will serve the two eight-year sentences concurrently, for a total of 14 years.
O’Brien encouraged Quarterman to take advantage of any programs and educational opportunities he has access to in prison.
O’Brien granted a request from prosecutors to have the 9 mm pistol used on Hill, which Quarterman called a “community gun” during his testimony, destroyed.
Vicki Hill, Ahmed’s mother, was distraught by the jury’s verdict in Price’s case. She stormed out of the courtroom and collapsed in the hallway, screaming and crying. She said she blames both Price and Quarterman for her son’s death.
The mother didn’t attend Price’s sentencing Wednesday or Quarterman’s sentencing Thursday. Two other relatives of Hill declined comment after Quarterman’s sentencing.
Quarterman’s family members who attended the sentencing also declined comment afterward, though one of them asked a Beacon Journal reporter, “Do you think a prison sentence is the solution to everything?”
Stephanie Warsmith can be reached at 330-996-3705 or swarsmith@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow on Twitter: @swarsmithabj and on Facebook: www.facebook.com/swarsmith.