Judge sends Munhall man to life in prison for murder, then tacks on 43 more years

The judge minced no words as he sentenced the Munhall man before him to life in prison with no chance for parole for first-degree murder.

“This case is an outrageous disregard for anyone but yourself,” Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Anthony M. Mariani told the defendant on Monday. “You represent an enormous danger to the community. You just won’t quit.”

Mariani ordered Quentin Primus, 24, to serve another 43 years in prison beyond the life term.

A jury convicted Primus in January in the Hazelwood shooting death of Darrian Davis, 18, of West Homestead.

The extra prison time that Mariani added to Primus’ life sentence represents additional punishment because he wounded two other people as well as illegally carried a gun and engaged in a conspiracy.

Davis and two other people were sitting in a car on Johnston Avenue on July 1, 2022, when a charcoal gray sedan circled the area for several minutes, according to street surveillance cameras.

After about an hour, police said, a person hung out of the passenger-side window and fired at least 14 shots.

Davis was struck and died a short time later. One passenger was wounded in the chest and neck, and the third victim’s hand was grazed.

Police obtained the sedan’s license plate and found Primus driving it later that night. He said he had been renting it from the owner and driving it for a month and a half, according to the criminal complaint. Primus claimed he was at his girlfriend’s house at the time of the shooting.

But investigators told the jury otherwise.

Fingerprints on the passenger-side window matched Primus, and they believed he gripped the top of the window to brace against the vehicle to fire.

Also, the vehicle’s entertainment system showed that Primus’ cellphone was connected to the car’s Bluetooth system in the minutes surrounding the shooting, and the GPS tracker showed the car traveling through the area of the attack for about an hour, slowing down as it passed the victims’ vehicle.

On Monday, Primus offered his condolences to the victim’s family but said he didn’t commit the crime.

“I’m truly innocent,” he said. “This is all a misunderstanding.”

Mariani said there was clear evidence of intent, premeditation and planning — whether Primus was the shooter or the driver of the car.

Defense attorney Art Ettinger suggested that a life sentence was more than enough to address the crimes, especially given that the two other people in the car who were wounded did not cooperate with police or testify at trial.

But Assistant District Attorney Chris Decker said each victim should be represented in the sentence. He also noted that Primus had been convicted of a violent robbery of a stolen vehicle a few years before the shooting.

In that case, Mariani said, Primus held a gun to a man’s head before stealing his car.

“There’s nothing about these two cases that suggest self-defense,” the judge said. “This is planned use of violence to rob and intimidate.”

“Any chance at freedom would be a grave risk to the public.”