Man who turned down plea deal to get life in teen's killing during Daytona Beach drug deal

Prosecutors offered Jaquez Head a plea deal that would have sent him to prison for 25 years for his role in a drug robbery that left an 18-year-old woman dead. With time served and other credits, Head could have been released in 19 years.

But the 23-year-old turned it down and went to trial.

On Thursday, a jury found Head guilty of first-degree felony murder, which carries a mandatory penalty of life in prison without parole.

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The jury deliberated for about two hours before finding Head guilty of the murder charge and robbery with a firearm.

Head was not sentenced on Thursday because the state is preparing a pre-sentence investigation on the robbery charge. Circuit Judge Leah Case will set a sentencing date once the pre-sentencing report is ready.

But there's no discretion on the murder count: Head will be sentenced to life for the killing of Rachael Gasparini two years ago during the drug rip-off.

Gasparini's aunt, Cathy Pippin of Daytona Beach, spoke after the verdict. She thanked the Daytona Beach police officers sitting in the courtroom who worked the case and she thanked the prosecutors.

"She was very loving," Pippin said holding back her emotions. "Part of my life is gone because she's gone."

Moments later, Pippin turned toward Head and encouraged him to try to make a difference in someone else's life in prison, someone who may be serving three years and would be released.

"Please learn from this," Pippin said to Head. "Please try to help somebody else that they don't end in the same predicament that you're in now."

Head shook his head at times as she spoke or looked down at the table.

After speaking, Pippin walked into the gallery and motioned to Head's aunt, Tesha Larkins, who stood up. The two women then embraced for several seconds.

Larkins then spoke.

"First of all I would like to apologize to the family for their loss," said Larkins, adding that she was a mother and also that she had helped raise Head, who was like a son.

"It is heartbreaking for me because I'm losing him as well," Larkins said.

"Despite what the verdict was today or is today, I still stand firm that Jaquez is a very good person," Larkins said. "There were some mistakes made along the way. Nobody's perfect. She didn't deserve to have her life taken."

She said she respected Head's decision to fight for his freedom.

"We will always be there for you to support you and we will always be praying for you," Larkins said. "And we know that prayer takes us a long way."

The day Rachael Gasparini was killed

It was supposed to be a robbery, not a murder, according to prosecutors. Head and three accomplices traveled from Georgia on Sept. 18, 2020, to rob Kevin Berry, who was dealing marijuana out of the apartment he shared with Gasparini, his girlfriend, at the Eagle Point Apartments, 468 Brentwood Drive in Daytona Beach.

While Berry spoke with the men, Gasparini remained in a bedroom.

Head was the "muscle" for the group and put the smaller Berry in a chokehold, according to prosecutors. But Berry was still able to escape the chokehold and and continued to struggle with the much larger man, according to testimony.

Berry testified he had not seen that one of the men had a gun when he yelled for Gasparini to get his gun.

Gasparini stepped out of the bedroom, but she did not have a gun. Another one of the robbers, Jordan Graham, fired at her, said Assistant State Attorney Andrew Urbanak, who prosecuted the case along with Assistant State Attorney Boone Forkner.

One bullet only grazed Gasparini, but another slug struck her lower left back before traveling upward and damaging organs and a vital blood vessel, according to testimony.

A police body camera video showed her on the apartment floor still moving as neighbors tried to comfort her after the shooting. She died later that day at Halifax Health Medical Center.

Berry checked on Gasparini before grabbing his AR-15. Berry then went outside and fired about 22 shots at the men fleeing in a borrowed Toyota Scion. Berry hit the car multiple times but no one inside the vehicle was shot.

Besides Head, prosecutors said Armonta Waters, 22, was the “set-up” guy who arranged the buy; Kimba Kimble was the getaway driver; and Graham, 20, was the triggerman who fired the gun that killed Gasparini.

Waters and Graham have also been indicted on charges of first-degree murder and robbery with a firearm.

Kimble, 23, was charged with third-degree felony murder with a firearm. Kimble did not enter the apartment; he remained in the car, according to Urbanak.

The four men are being held at the Volusia County Branch Jail. Head’s case is the first to go to trial.

Closing arguments

Urbanak told jurors that Head participated in the robbery, and since the robbery led to Gasparini's death, Head was guilty of felony murder.

Urbanak said that the men had a gun and went to rob a drug dealer who had $8,500 in cash and more than 2 pounds of marijuana.

“Somebody getting shot and killed in that circumstance is reasonably foreseeable,” Urbanak said. “Mr. Berry fighting back in that circumstance is reasonably foreseeable.”

Urbanak said that Graham yelled at Head to "put Berry to sleep," which on the street means to kill him. He said that Head choked Berry, who said at one point he thought he would lose consciousness.

None of the men went to Berry’s apartment with the intention of killing Gasparini, but that’s what happened as a result of the robbery, he said.

Head’s defense attorney, Philip Massa, told jurors that prosecutors had not shown that Head knew anything about a robbery or even that robbery was the reason that the men drove down from Georgia.

“He’s in the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong people,” Massa said of Head.

Massa said there was no proof that it was Head who had given Berry a blackeye.

“All we know about what happened is from Kevin Berry and that's weakness in the evidence itself,” Massa said.

Massa said he questioned why Berry was considered a victim when he was an admitted drug dealer with a semi-automatic weapon. Massa said Berry fired at the car 22 times, trying to kill the people in the car. Massa said Berry tried to kill four people.

“And he skates,” Massa said.

Urbanak compared the situation to a sports team. If a team wins, each team member gets the reward. And if something goes wrong, each team member shares the blame.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Daytona Beach murder trial: Jaquez Head guilty, sentenced to life