PROVIDENCE, R.I. — A Superior Court judge sentenced a 21-year-old city man to serve 20 years in prison after he admitted to his role in a botched robbery that led to the slaying of three people in July 2012.
Quandell Husband, of Douglas Avenue, pleaded guilty to one count of assault with intent to commit robbery and one count of conspiracy to commit robbery for plotting with his childhood friend Russell Burrell and another friend, Donovann Hall, to rob a marijuana dealer of drugs and money July 30, 2012. During the robbery attempt, Burrell shot to death Damien Colon, Shameeka Barros, and Michael Martin at the Arbor Glen housing complex on General Street, while three children slept just rooms away.
Husband, who had just turned 16 at the time of the murders, was indicted as an adult in the shooting deaths. A jury convicted him of all three murders after a trial in 2014. Superior Court Judge Robert D. Krause sentenced him to serve two consecutive life sentences, plus 10 years, behind bars.
The state Supreme Court in June, however, vacated Husband’s conviction, finding that Krause abused his discretion by allowing the jury to consider “enormously prejudicial” evidence that should not have been admitted at trial. In doing so, the court sent the matter back to Superior Court for a new trial.
In exchange for the plea earlier this month, the state amended the original charges against Husband, according to the attorney general's office. The count of murder in Barros's death was revised to assault with intent to commit robbery on Barros, Martin and Colon. The state agreed to dismiss murder and firearms counts for the deaths of Colon and Martin. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit robbery, as originally charged.
"On the evening of July 30, 2012, Quandell Husband did not have the gun, did not fire the gun, and did not kill anyone — Russell Burrell did ... After the robbery and murders, and in the furtherance of the conspiracy, Quandell Husband took the gun from Russell Burrell and hid it," Assistant Attorney General James Baum told Judge Netti C. Vogel during the hearing on Husband's plea, according to a draft of his Baum's statement provided by the state.
"He accepts responsibility for engaging in a conspiracy with Russell Burrell and hiding the firearm that was used by Russell Burrell," Husband's lawyer, Thomas G. Briody, said Friday. "He continues to deny that he was present at the scene of the robbery ... He is, however, remorseful for the loss of life."
Briody said his client asked the victims' families for forgiveness during the Dec. 20 hearing.
"I think he's done a lot of growing up in a very difficult environment," Briody said.
Husband was the only one of the four people charged — three who were teenagers at the time of the killings — to go to trial. Burrell, now 22, the admitted trigger man who wielded the 9mm Glock with a red laser sight, pleaded guilty in the deaths of Martin, Colon and Barros. Burrell gave very reluctant testimony at Husband's trial.
Krause sentenced Burrell to four consecutive life sentences plus 10 years in prison for being what a judge called a “cold-blooded, pitiless slayer.” Burrell, who has two children with Husband’s half-sister, refused to implicate Husband in testimony at trial.
Timothy DeBritto, 31, of Providence, is serving 40 years in prison after admitting his role in the triple murder, plus another 50 years for shooting a romantic rival with the same Glock he provided to Burrell.
Hall, now 23, who testified it was his idea to rob Martin of marijuana and money, is serving life in prison after pleading guilty and agreeing to cooperate with the state in prosecuting Husband.
Husband will get credit for the time he's served since his arrest.