A Tallahassee, Florida teen has been sentenced to 45 years in prison for the murder of a teenager outside the Regal Governor’s Square movie theater in 2019 when they were both 16 years old.
Goidia Porter, now 18, was sentenced earlier this month to second-degree murder charges with a 25-year minimum mandatory sentence, and 20 years for carrying a concealed firearm, which will run concurrently with the murder charge.
His sentencing comes about two months after he was found guilty by a Leon County jury for the murder of 16-year-old De’Quan Davis.
Davis dreamed of playing football for Florida A&M University. He was remembered by family and friends for his passion and drive.
The trial lasted two days and featured 15 witnesses between the defense and state prosecutors.
The shooting occurred in September 2019 and came as local, state and federal law enforcement officials launched a crackdown — led by the Leon County Sheriff’s Office and the U.S. Attorney’s office — to take guns and known criminals off the street.
It was also one of numerous shootings that investigators linked to gang activity in the capital city and county. “This senseless killing sparked a wave of retaliatory gun violence in the city,” the State Attorney’s Office said in a statement on Porter’s sentencing.
In court documents from 2020, Tallahassee Police investigators said the shooting sparked “a feud between ‘Northside’ and ‘Southside’ gang members. Court records described Porter and Davis, a Rickards High School student, as members of the rival gangs.
Local police also connected local gangs with the November 2019 shooting outside the North Florida Fairgrounds. That shooting left 16-year-old Amarion James and 19-year-old Trent Lee dead.
An August 2020 drive-by shooting outside the Time Saver on Alabama Street injured two suspected gang members and killed a bystander, 40-year-old Centel “Po Boy” Deshazier, who had no known ties to anyone involved.
“The State Attorney’s Office thanks the Tallahassee Police Department for their diligent investigation and also thanks the members of the community who came forward to help bring this defendant to justice,” the plea and sentencing notification says.
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