MARQUIS A. DELCAMPO of Longwood faces 15-30 years in prison for beating up and hospitalizing an Uber driver who asked him to exit his vehicle after a ride concluded.

A Seminole County jury found Delcampo, 34,  guilty on January 21 of aggravated battery on rideshare driver Jovanny Mercado Guzman in 2023. Prosecutors Domenick Leo and Martine McCarthy presented evidence including witnesses’ phone video of the attack, video surveillance from a nearby business, Uber records, eyewitness testimony identifying Delcampo as the passenger, and photos and medical records of the then-50-year-old victim’s cuts, contusions, broken nose and fractured upper jawbone. 

Delcampo tried unsuccessfully to use Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law as a defense for his violent outburst.  

Because Delcampo committed the aggravated battery within three years of his release from prison, Leo and McCarthy successfully made the case to jurors in a second trial phase that Delcampo should be sentenced as a Prison Releasee Reoffender and Habitual Felony Offender.  Delcampo previously served time in jail and state prison for cocaine possession, possession of a firearm by a delinquent, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, and failure to return a rented U-Haul pickup truck.

Why those sentencing classifications matter: 

• Prison Releasee Reoffender status requires the court to impose a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years for the offense, meaning Delcampo could not accrue any “gain time” for good behavior while incarcerated for no less than 15 years.
• Habitual Felony Offender status gives the sentencing judge discretion to potentially double the 15-year sentence for the second-degree felony to 30 years in the Department of Corrections.

Seminole County Sherriff’s investigators said the violent incident started at about 8:50 a.m. on February 22, 2023, when the driver stopped his SUV on East State Road 436 in Casselberry, got out, opened the rear passenger door and motioned for Delcampo to exit as the ride had concluded.  Delcampo refused to exit the victim’s vehicle and argued that he had paid to ride and wanted to keep going.  He then got out and started punching Mercado Guzman in the face and head.

Circuit Judge Jessica Reckseidler scheduled sentencing for March 4 at 9 a.m.