PALM COAST, Fla. – A 17-year-old indicted on a first-degree murder charge in the death of a Palm Coast high school senior will be tried as an adult, the State Attorney’s Office has decided.
“It is a somber reality of our job that sometimes requires the charging of juveniles in adult court -- but some acts are so violent and have such little regard for the value of human life that the perpetrator has to be held accountable with adult consequences,” State Attorney R.J. Larizza said.
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Marion Lee Gavins Jr. was indicted Friday in the shooting death of 18-year-old Curtis Gray in April.
Gray was shot just after midnight April 13 in the parking lot of a strip mall on Belle Terre Parkway in Palm Coast, according to deputies. Gray died at a hospital, and deputies arrested Gavins the next day when he turned himself in.
Sheriff Rick Staly said he fully supports Larizza’s decision.
“Sadly, this is a young man who exhibited increasingly violent behavior that ultimately caused another teenager’s death,” Staly said. “Being tried as an adult is the most appropriate way to prosecute this crime.”
Flagler court records show Gavins was previously arrested on charges of:
- Selling marijuana near a school at 13 years old, in 2014
- Violation of probation and possession of a weapon -- an 8-inch kitchen knife -- in 2015
- Domestic violence toward his mother, in 2016
- Violation of home detention, in 2016
Gavins, who is currently being held by the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office at the Duval County Jail, will be returned to Flagler County when he turns 18 on May 16.