Palm Coast man gets 10 years in prison for rape, still faces felony murder charge

A Palm Coast man embraced his mother in a Flagler County courtroom Wednesday before he was led away to serve a 10-year prison sentence for sexual battery.

Kwentel Moultrie, 24, was convicted in August of sexual battery by person 18 or older on a person 12 or older but younger than 18. Moultrie raped a 16-year-old girl in 2019 when he was 20 years old, according to court records. 

Moultrie is also charged with second-degree felony murder and burglary of a dwelling while armed in a separate case involving an attempted drug rip-off on Dec. 29, 2021, on Regent Lane in Palm Coast, according to court records. Each charge is punishable by up to life in prison.

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Moultrie and Zaire Roberts, 23, whose residence was listed as Jacksonville, originally planned to buy drugs from the resident, but instead tried to rob him of the drugs, according to the sheriff’s office. The resident, who was not identified in a report, confronted Roberts, who shot the resident twice. The resident returned fire and killed Roberts, according to the sheriff’s office. The resident survived, but Moultrie was charged because his alleged accomplice died.

State Attorney R.J. Larizza issued a statement after the sentencing on Wednesday: “One case down and one to go. This defendant is a menace and should never see the light of day as a free man.” 

In the rape case, Moultrie and a friend of his had joined the 16-year-old and her friends on June 21, 2019, at Steak 'n Shake in Palm Coast. The 16-year-old and one of her girlfriends suggested playing a drinking game and both became intoxicated, according to investigators.

The group ended up at the home of one of the girls' sisters, and that’s where Moultrie raped the 16-year-old, according to investigators. 

Moultrie was tried twice on the charge. The first time the jury could not reach a decision and the judge declared a mistrial. The jury at the second trial returned guilty verdicts. 

Moultrie testified during the trials that the sex was consensual. The girl did not testify at either trial.

And the girl was not present at the sentencing hearing on Wednesday, something Assistant Public Defender Regina Nunnally pointed out.  

At the start of the hearing, Nunnally said she wanted to know how much of an effort Assistant State Attorney Melissa Clark had made to reach the girl before the trials. Clark said that her office had contacted someone at an address for the girl in Maryland who said they did not know her. Clark said the girl’s family was not returning calls. Clark said after she was unable to reach the girl, she decided to continue the prosecution without her. 

Circuit Judge Terence Perkins told Nunnally that it did not matter why the girl or her family was not present. He said the most important fact was that they were not present.

The issue led to a sharp exchange later between Nunnally and Clark. Nunnally told the judge that the girl had made inconsistent statements about what had occurred and did not say she was “raped” when a friend asked her what happened. 

“She had all these different statements and I'm going to say it: That’s another reason why the state wouldn’t try to find that child,” Nunnally said. 

“That's not true and I take offense to that,” Clark responded.

Nunnally also said that Moultrie's family was in court to show their support for him. About 10 family members and supporters were there for Moultrie. She asked where the girl's family was indicating none were present.

Before sentencing, Moultrie asked for a chance to be with his daughter.

“So, I ask for mercy, your honor, and I ask you to give me a chance to be there for my daughter,” said Moultrie, adding the judge would not regret giving him a chance.

'Absolutely a danger to society'

During her argument, Clark asked the judge that Moultrie be sentenced to 20 years in prison followed by 10 years' sex-offender probation. 

She said Moultrie had lied about whether he had sex with the victim and had asked a friend to lie for him. She said Moultrie had lied about his past criminal record to police. And he had lied about graduating from Matanzas High School. 

She said a psychosexual evaluation had rated him a five, which is considered a higher risk to reoffend. 

“But also, they did some additional testing on him and found that he is a psychopath that he has an anti-social personality disorder,” Clark said. 

“Judge, I just think that in this situation he’s demonstrated that he’s absolutely a danger to society,” Clark said.

'He was 7 when father was murdered'

Nunnally, who represented Moultrie along with Assistant Public Defender Alexis Nava-Martinez, asked the judge to go below guidelines and sentence Moultrie to two years in prison followed by four years' sex-offender probation. 

Nunnally argued that the scores showing him to be a higher risk to reoffend were inflated by factors the judge could not consider for sentencing. Nunnally pointed to another evaluation which stated that Moultrie did not show behavior patterns associated with sexual deviance, found an absence of major mental disorders, and that he had mood episodes in response to stressors. 

She said that Moultrie was 7 when his father was murdered.  

Nunnally said Moultrie had been working two jobs and doing what “he could as a young adult to make sense of life” before his arrest. 

She said that the girl told investigators that she had been sleeping and when she felt someone having intercourse with her she told him to stop and he did.

She said at one point the state had offered a deal that would have allowed Moultrie to avoid prison and placed him on probation. That offer was withdrawn after he was charged with felony murder.

Moultrie faced up to 30 years on the charge. State sentencing guidelines called for a minimum of just over eight years in prison. A Department of Corrections report recommended 15 years. 

Perkins sentenced Moultrie to 10 years in prison followed by 15 years of sex-offender probation. The judge also designated Moultrie a sexual predator. 

Before he was led away, Moultrie and his mother were allowed to share a hug.