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According to a news release, Quentin Woods, a Troy man, was sentenced on Oct. 17 to more than 20 years for a 2023 Troy burglary.

Woods was convicted of second-degree burglary by a jury in Pike County on Aug. 13. According to Alabama 12th Judicial Circuit District Attorney James Tarbox, Woods is a multi-time convicted felon with prior violent felony convictions. On March 15, 2023, Woods allegedly made forcible entry into a home in the Oak Park Neighborhood on Elba Highway in Troy. Woods allegedly broke a window and entered the home in the kitchen.

Upon hearing the window being broken, the homeowner made her way into the kitchen and found Woods. The victim and a friend were able to hold Woods at gunpoint and call for law enforcement, who arrested Woods on arrival.

Assistant District Attorney Greg Locklier represented the State of Alabama at the sentencing hearing, with Tarbox assisting. The two argued at the hearing that voluntary sentencing guidelines should not apply in this situation due to Woods’ prior felony convictions. The district attorney’s office asked Judge Sonny Reagan to sentence Woods under the Habitual Felony Offender Act, which calls for the minimum sentence available to the court be 20 years.

According to Tarbox, Woods spoke at the hearing on his own behalf, asking for mercy from the court. Woods indicated that he had a drug addiction and that he has a teenage child he wishes to be around.
In a rebuttal, Tarbox said that the time for Woods to seek assistance for his addiction would have been after being previously convicted of drug offenses. Tarbox also said that Woods had already received leniency from the court previously when he received a split sentence instead of a straight sentence when he was convicted of a prior robbery in 2011.

Reagan sentenced Woods to 25 years in the Alabama Department of Corrections.

“The District Attorney’s Office believes this sentence properly reflects the seriousness of the actions committed by Defendant Woods,” Tarbox said. “Woods is lucky to be alive after breaking into an occupied home in the middle of the night. Further, Defendant Woods’ actions have been a terror in the life of our courageous victime, and she will have to live with the anxiety and fear inflicted by this event for the rest of her life.

“This sentence should also be a reminder to other criminals that the District Attorney’s Office will seek harsh sentences for repeat offenders and that the judges in the 12th Judicial Circuit (Coffee and Pike Counties) will impose those harsh sentences in cases where they are appropriate, like this one.”