Photo by Rashah McChesney/Peninsula Clarion In this Nov. 13, 2015 file photo, convicted murderer Demarqus Green reacts after Kenai Superior Court Judge Anna Moran decided to reschedule a sentencing hearing in Kenai, Alaska. Green has been sentenced to 40 years in jail for a 2012 shooting.

Photo by Rashah McChesney/Peninsula Clarion In this Nov. 13, 2015 file photo, convicted murderer Demarqus Green reacts after Kenai Superior Court Judge Anna Moran decided to reschedule a sentencing hearing in Kenai, Alaska. Green has been sentenced to 40 years in jail for a 2012 shooting.

Green gets 40 years for 2012 shooting

Finding a need for community condemnation and to isolate him from society, Kenai Superior Court Judge Anna Moran on Monday sentenced Demarqus Green to 40 years in prison for second-degree murder. Last May, a Homer jury found Green, 23, of Anchorage, guilty in the shooting death of Demian Sagerser, then 40, on July 7, 2012. The jury also convicted him of tampering with physical evidence.

Moran also suspended 15 years of Green’s sentence, giving him 25 years of actual prison time. With time off with good behavior, Green could serve as little as 17 years.

“This is a difficult case. Many lives were changed,” Moran said.

Sagerser’s parents lost their only son, Moran noted. Green’s daughter won’t know her father until she is much older.

Sagerser’s mother, Marjorie Bantz, and Green’s father, Freddy Green, both attended the hearing. Neither made a statement.

Green had claimed self-defense. At his trial, he said when he went to buy marijuana from Sagerser at Sagerser’s Stariski Creek cabin north of Anchor Point, Sagerser pulled a 1-inch utility knife on him. Green shot Sagerser twice, once in the back and once in the left-hand side.

To discount the self-defense, the jury had to disprove several factors, such as that Green had a duty to retreat or that the force used wasn’t needed to protect himself. Kenai District Attorney Scot Leaders asserted that Green was involved in a felony drug transaction and that Green robbed Sagerser of pot and cash. Under Alaska law, a defendant cannot claim self defense if involved in a felony drug deal. Green claimed he had only intended to buy a half-ounce of marijuana, less than a felony amount.

The jury rejected the state’s theory that Green intended to kill Sagerser, and found him not guilty of first-degree murder. It also found him not guilty of robbery.

“This is a drug deal gone wrong. What kind of drug deal? It’s unclear,” Moran said in her sentencing remarks. “No one really knows what happened that fateful afternoon except Mr. Sagerser and Mr. Green who sits before me.”

At the sentencing, Green apologized to Sagerser’s family.

“I’m really sorry for everything they’re going through. My family is going through a lot,” he said. “It’s kind of easy to see everyone as evil and a bad guy.”

Green admitted that he initially lied to investigators, but said everything he said in court was true. He said what happened in Sagerser’s cabin was “it escalated not on the price of drugs, but on me bringing a phone into his residence.”

Leaders had asked for a harsher sentence above the presumptive range of 20 to 30 years, arguing for 55 years with 15 suspended. Green’s attorney, Adam Franklin, asked for 15 years of active time.

“Mr. Green was not your typical offender and this was not your typical offense,” Franklin said.

In making her sentence, Moran said she was conflicted by the case.

“So who is Demarqus Green? A young man who acted too quickly to pull a gun in a drug transaction or a man who committed a cold-blooded murder? I don’t know,” she said.

Moran said she wanted to believe Green had a chance at rehabilitation, but she kept coming back to the facts of the case — that instead of calling 911 after the shooting, Green drove away and didn’t show any remorse or emotion. She also noted that while in custody Green had been written up for 10 infractions, been in five fights and was caught trying to roll up a magazine to use as a weapon.

In her sentence, Moran also imposed other conditions, including that Green be on probation for 10 years after his release, that he submit to DNA testing, that he notify the court of any vehicles he purchases, and that he not have concealed weapons or live in a home with concealed weapons. Green also was ordered to pay restitution at an amount to be decided.

Michael Armstrong can be reached at michael.armstrong@homernews.com.

More in News

Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly Candidate Bill Elam waves signs on election day on Tuesday, Oct 3, 2023, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
Voters take to the polls during Tuesday municipal election

Poll workers report low turnout across the central peninsula

Some of the pumpkins submitted to the pumpkin-decorating contest are seen here during the 5th annual Kenai Fall Pumpkin Festival in Kenai, Alaska, on Oct. 10, 2020. (Photo by Brian Mazurek/Peninsula Clarion file)
Kenai’s Fall Pumpkin Fest set for Saturday

The fun actually starts early, as a central element of the festival is a pumpkin decorating contest already underway

Aurora Borealis Charter School Art and Music Teacher Eleanor Van Sickle leads students in a performance of "Autumn Canon," a Hungarian song at a meeting of the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District Board of Education meeting on Monday, Oct. 2, 2023 in Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O'Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
Student serenade

Aurora Borealis Charter School students sing at the assembly during the regular school board meeting on Monday

Bear 747, defending Fat Bear Week Champion, stands on the bank of the Brooks River in Katmai National Park, Alaska. The winner of a Thursday matchup between Bear 128 Grazer and Bear 151 Walker will meet 747 in Fat Bear Week competition on Saturday. (Photo courtesy C. Cravatta/National Park Service)
Survival of the fattest

Paunchy ursine competitors go head-to-head in annual Fat Bear Week

Soldotna Elementary School Principal Dr. Austin Stevenson walks amid natural gas pipes anchored to the outside of school on Friday, Sept. 30, 2022, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
High costs stall work on school bond

A cost estimate for the reconstruction of Soldotna Elementary School came back $13.5 million over budget

(City of Seward)
Police standoff closes Seward Highway

Police say standoff was with ‘barricaded individual,’ not escaped inmate

Mount Redoubt can be seen across Cook Inlet from North Kenai Beach on Thursday, July 2, 2022. (Photo by Erin Thompson/Peninsula Clarion)
Alaska not included in feds’ proposed 5-year oil and gas program

The plan includes a historically low number of proposed sales

A copy of "People, Paths, and Places: The Frontier History of Moose Pass, Alaska" stands in sunlight in Soldotna, Alaska, on Friday, Sept. 29, 2023. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Moose Pass to receive award for community historical effort

“People, Paths, and Places: The Frontier History of Moose Pass, Alaska” was a collaboration among community members

Most Read