MARION COUNTY, Fla. — For the second time in a day, a Marion County judge sentenced a teenager to life in prison for murdering his friends during a crime spree in 2023.
Robert Hodges ordered Robert Robinson, now 19, to serve five life sentences for the deaths of Layla Silvernail, Michael Hodo and Camille Quarles, who were shot in the Ocklawaha area in late March as the group robbed people.
Investigators testified Robinson and his two co-defendants, Tahj Brewton and Christopher Atkins, turned on the other three because Brewton wanted to rob Hodo of the gun he was carrying. They believe Robinson shot Silvernail and ordered Atkins to shoot Quarles, though they said Brewton and Robinson have both blamed each other for the shootings.
Silvernail was left for dead near the shooting site. Brewton dumped Hodo’s body in a ditch about a half mile away, while the boys left Quarles’ body inside Silvernail’s car, which they attempted to sink into a retention pond.
Brewton was ordered to serve four life sentences Wednesday morning, while the younger Atkins was sentenced to 40 years on Tuesday. All of them will be eligible for parole in 2048, 25 years after their arrests, though there is no guarantee any of them will be freed early.
Robinson and Atkins’ family members testified that they believe both can be rehabilitated.
“I believe there’s hope for anybody,” Robinson’s mother, who deputies testified was extremely helpful in getting her son to confess and caught on when he was lying, said. “When he first went in it was no accountability at all.”
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