WINK NEWS EXCLUSIVE: Case of 10-year-old boy accused of making school threat headed to trial

Illustration with Lee County’s Sheriff Carmine Marceno and Daniel Marquez. (Credit: WINK News)

The case against a 10-year-old Cape Coral boy accused of threatening violence at a school event will go to trial.

Daniel Marquez is a fifth-grader who gained national and international media attention after the Lee County Sheriff’s Office posted his perp walk on Facebook more than a year ago with few details about what happened.

Daniel and his family were hoping its case would be over before the boy wraps up sixth grade on Tuesday.

Now, they are gearing up for a fight to clear his record.

More than 370 days after the Lee County Sheriff’s Office arrested Daniel, walked him in front of the cameras and then locked him up, Judge Carolyn Swift decided Daniel’s days in court aren’t love.

“I’m denying the motion to dismiss and this case is now over a year old. We’ll be setting it for an adjudicatory hearing,” Swift said during a recent hearing.

The sheriff’s office arrested Daniel for sending texts to a friend that included pictures of money, guns and the words, “get ready for water day.”

In a WINK News exclusive shortly after Daniel’s arrest, the boy told WINK News he was making a joke about a scam and explained the pictures.

“Because, like, rifles are expensive, and like I said, ‘a billion dollars,’ like a lot of money. Rifles, they cost a lot of money. So, that’s like what I was thinking,” he told WINK.

Daniel claimed he didn’t intend to scare of hurt anyone on water day and maintained his innocence a year later.

“I never did anything wrong,” Daniel said.

Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno disagreed.

He said he felt Daniel’s texts alone were enough to warrant his arrest under Florida Statute 836.10, written or electronic threats to kill, do bodily, or conduct a mass shooting or act of terrorism.

“Any person would look and say, guns, get ready for water day. That is a threat,” Marceno said.

The judge made the decision to go to trial after hearing both prosecutor Scott Miller and Daniel’s attorney Alex Saiz cited different case laws to support their own arguments over whether Daniel’s intent should be a factor in determining his guilt or innocence.

“So, if there’s a dispute as to the facts, and there’s a dispute in the law, then under a motion to dismiss standard, the court has to follow what is most favorable to the state,” Swift said.

Prosecutor Scott Miller also claimed he may have more witnesses to testify.

“There were other youth services such as Sergeant John Amato who were dispatched. There is additional information for your honor,” Miller said.

but the prosecutor didn’t share that additional information out loud in court.

In the year since Daniel’s arrest, the now 11-year-old boy and Lee County Sheriff’s deputy Tyler Mackereth are the only ones who have been formally interviewed about what happened.

In a deposition obtained exclusively by WINK News, Mackereth admitted they didn’t interview the boy Daniel was texting or his father.

“Where I disagree, again, with my with Mr. Miller, is the idea that there is another witness who could come and impeach their original witness. He’s not saying that will happen. He’s just saying there’s a possibility that somebody could come in and possibly seeing something different. I don’t think that is enough,” Saiz said.

While Daniel’s dad Dereck Marquez was hoping for a different outcome, he said he has faith in the justice system and looks forward to their day in court.

“I understand it’s, the court system has its steps that you have to take. And so I’m not surprised. I I understand that,” Marquez said.

Since this is going to trial, the boy Daniel texted and his father may be called to testify.

LCSO said the father, in a brief phone conversation, simply described the texts as inappropriate.

You can read more about this case below:

Part 1: Exclusive: 10-year-old arrested, accused of threatening mass school shooting speaks out

Part 2: Cape Coral 10-year-old accused of threatening a mass shooting officially charged

Part 3: 10-year-old accused of mass shooting threat declines plea deal, says not guilty

Part 4: Alan Dershowitz gives case analysis of SWFL 10-year-old accused of threatening mass shooting

Part 5: Law enforcement weighs in on 10-year-old accused of threatening mass shooting

Part 6: ‘She should be euthanized’; Experts weigh in on Lee sheriff’s commentary on suspects

Part 7: Family of 10-year-old charged with mass shooting threat requests DOJ investigation into LCSO

Part 8: Hear the last conversation LCSO had with Daniel Marquez, 10, before he was handcuffed