Man gets 10 years in 2008 shooting death, has 3 to serve

WEST PALM BEACH — A 29-year-old Belle Glade man this week pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 10 years in prison in the 2008 shooting death of a 21-year-old who died in his mother’s arms before he could identify the trigger man.

Since Quadale Seay has been held in the Palm Beach County jail for more than seven years awaiting trial, he will be released in about three years in the death of Desroy Lowe, according to a plea deal approved by Circuit Judge Cheryl Caracuzzo.

In Seay’s second trial, scheduled for next month, notorious jailhouse snitch Frederick Cobia was expected to testify that Seay confessed to Lowe’s murder. Despite Cobia’s testimony, a jury last year couldn’t reach a unanimous verdict, setting the stage for Seay to be tried again in April.

Instead, facing a possible life sentence if convicted of first-degree murder, Seay took the plea deal hashed out by his attorney Michael Maher and Assistant State Attorney Aleathea McRoberts.

With Seay sentenced, Cobia appears to have fulfilled his promise to state prosecutors to testify against at least eight inmates.

Once facing the death penalty for pistol-whipping and fatally shooting Desmond Dunkley in an argument over a small amount of pot, Cobia was allowed to plead guilty to second-degree murder in the Belle Glade man’s 2009 death. In exchange, the career criminal agreed to testify against inmates he claimed confessed their crimes to him.

While Cobia pleaded guilty in 2012, prosecutors have delayed his sentencing until all eight inmates had been sentenced. Cobia faces a minimum mandatory prison term of 25 years when he is sentenced on May 1. But, in recorded jailhouse conversations he has bragged that he expects to receive far less punishment because he has gathered information for authorities on as many as 60 inmates.

Defense attorneys have scoffed at Cobia’s claims that inmates confess to him. Portraying himself as a skilled jailhouse lawyer, he familiarizes himself with fellow inmates’ cases by stealing their legal documents and then weaves tales about their confessions, defense attorneys say. Despite their complaints, judges have allowed Cobia to testify against at least four inmates who didn’t take plea deals.