<font color="#FF0000">COURTS:</font> 30-year sentence for armed robbery attempt

Local News

February 4, 2010

By Carnell Hawthorne Jr., Reporter

Quinton Lee Woods, 21, of Live Oak was sentenced to 30 years in prison by Judge Paul Bryan in a Suwannee County courtroom Thursday.

During a two-day jury trial in December Woods was found guilty of attempted robbery while armed with a deadly weapon and of driving without a license.

Woods was arrested Feb. 3, 2009 after trying to rob a man at a drive-through ATM outside First Federal Bank the night before.

According to reports, as the victim was preparing to drive away, Woods reached through the open window and placed the knife at the victim's neck, demanding money. The victim accelerated from the scene and escaped harm. Woods then fled south on foot and entered a black Dodge Magnum. The victim and witness attempted to follow Woods but lost his trail. About an hour later, a sheriff's deputy stopped a vehicle matching the description of the one Woods had entered. Woods was identified by the victim and was arrested. He had been in jail ever since.

Just weeks before the February 2009 incident, Woods had been released from prison after four years in Jefferson Correctional Institution for carjacking with a firearm, robbery with a firearm, grand theft auto and fleeing and eluding a law enforcement officer. He remained on probation for those crimes committed in Broward County in 2004, and still faces an additional penalty.

Thursday, Quinton Woods' mother, Sabrina Woods, pleaded with the judge for leniency for her son.

"He's not a bad child," she said. "He just needs a second chance. Really, I need a second chance," she said, referring to her son's upbringing.

However, it wasn't enough to sway Judge Bryan from levying the maximum 30-year penalty, with a 10-year-minimum mandatory sentence for the armed robbery.

Under count two, no driver's license, Woods was sentenced to 60 days in the Suwannee County Jail, but received jail credit. The motion for a new trial and a request for a furlough were both denied. Woods has 30 days to appeal.