Norristown man accused of killing father won’t face death penalty

“This is not a case where the commonwealth is seeking the death penalty.”

A Norristown man will not face the specter of death if he’s convicted of intentionally fatally shooting his father during an altercation at his borough residence.

Steven Mark Quadrel, 25, of the 600 block of East Airy Street, showed no emotion on Thursday after Montgomery County prosecutors revealed they won’t seek the death penalty against him in the event he’s convicted of first-degree murder in connection with the Oct. 24, 2018, fatal shooting of his father, 58-year-old Mark Quadrel, of New Jersey.

“This is not a case where the commonwealth is seeking the death penalty,” county Assistant District Attorney Kelly S. Lloyd informed Judge Thomas C. Branca during Quadrel’s formal arraignment hearing.

With the death penalty off the table, Quadrel will face life imprisonment if he’s convicted of first-degree murder, which is an intentional killing.

Under state law, firstdegree murder is punishable by either life imprisonment or death by lethal injection. It’s during a formal arraignment hearing that prosecutors must notify a judge about their intentions regarding the death penalty.

In order to obtain a death penalty, prosecutors must show that aggravating factors – circumstances that make a killing more heinous – outweigh any mitigating factors – circumstances that favor a defendant. Specifically,

prosecutors have 18 aggravating factors, under state law, which they can use to seek the death penalty.

“The district attorney evaluated the case and you evaluate the aggravating factors versus the mitigating factors and there were not sufficient aggravating factors in this case to warrant seeking it,” Lloyd explained.

Quadrel also is charged with third-degree murder, a killing committed with malice, which carries a possible maximum sentence of

20-to-40-years in prison upon conviction.

Quadrel faces additional charges of aggravated assault, possessing an instrument of crime and recklessly endangering another person for allegedly using a semiautomatic pistol to wound a 12-year-old Norristown boy he encountered on a borough street when he left his residence after killing his father. Quadrel allegedly told detectives he shot at the child because the boy “creeped” him out.

Quadrel, who is represented by defense lawyer Carrie L. Allman, chief homicide lawyer for the Montgomery County Office of the Public Defender, waived a formal reading of the charges against him and pleaded not guilty to all the charges during his arraignment hearing.

Judge Branca set a May 4, 2020, trial date for Quadrel, who will remain in the county jail without bail pending that jury trial.

Allman informed the judge that Quadrel is being evaluated by a defense psychologist expert but she did not reveal if Quadrel will wage a mental infirmity defense at trial.

“As you sit here today are you clear-headed?” Allman asked Quadrel, to which he replied, “Yes,” adding he receives medication as part of his mental health treatment

while in jail.

Quadrel previously underwent a competency evaluation and was determined to be competent to proceed to trial.

The investigation began about 3:59 p.m. Oct. 24 when Norristown police were dispatched to the 600 block of Sandy Street for a report of a man shooting a gun in the vicinity. Arriving officers found Quadrel there and he was taken into custody after a struggle with police, according to the criminal complaint filed by county Detective James Reape and Norristown Detective William Klinger.

Police recovered a Beretta 9mm semiautomatic

pistol with a laser sight hidden behind a parked truck, according to authorities.

A 12-year-old boy told police that he was riding his scooter on Sandy Street with two friends when he saw a man, allegedly Quadrel, run past him and then moments later run back toward him.

“(The child) said the male pointed a gun with a red beam at his face, lowered the gun and shot at him. (The child) said he ran and later discovered he was struck across the top of his left hand,” Reape and Klinger alleged in court papers.

Authorities said the child was treated at a local hospital for a non-life-threatening graze wound to his hand and arm and released.

A Sandy Street resident told police he was inside his home when he heard gunshots and went outside and observed a man with a handgun. The resident told Quadrel to put the gun down and Quadrel allegedly dropped the gun behind a parked truck, according to the criminal complaint.

At the scene, Quadrel asked police about his father and repeatedly stated he killed his father, court papers indicate.

“Quadrel also kept asking officers to check on his father and said, ‘I think I shot him,’” Reape and Klinger alleged.

In an attempt to locate Quadrel’s father authorities went to Quadrel’s East Airy Street apartment at 10:30 p.m. and discovered a deceased Mark Quadrel, lying face-down on the floor

of the apartment, according to court documents.

“The male sustained multiple gunshot wounds. Also inside the apartment was an empty pistol magazine, multiple fired shell casings and black plastic gun box,” Reape and Klinger alleged.

Detectives allegedly recovered 23 fired cartridge casings and eight projectiles inside the apartment.

An autopsy determined Mark Quadrel, who lived in New Jersey, died as a result of gunshot wounds to the head and torso. The manner of death was ruled homicide.

When he was interviewed by detectives, Quadrel allegedly stated his father arrived unannounced at his residence on the afternoon of Oct. 24.

“Quadrel said he was having a conversation with his father which escalated into an argument. Quadrel then went to his truck, retrieved his 9mm Beretta pistol and returned to his apartment bedroom where he loaded the pistol,” Reape and Klinger alleged. “Quadrel then walked into the living room and began shooting his father in the back and head as he fell to the floor.

“Quadrel said he fired 2030 shots at his father and emptied ‘four or five clips,’” detectives added. “After shooting his father, Quadrel said he ran from his apartment toward Sandy Street and encountered a ‘kid’ on the street. Quadrel said the sight of the kid ‘creeped’ him out and he fired one shot at him.”