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TULSA, Okla. (AP) — An Oklahoma teenager has been sentenced to life in prison without the chance of parole for fatally shooting a teacher, plus 290 years for raping an 81-year-old woman and other crimes.
Tulsa County District Judge Kelly Greenough sentenced Deonte Green, 18, on Wednesday. Green entered guilty pleas in March to first-degree murder, 18 other felonies and one misdemeanor.
Prosecutors said Green was 16 on October 1, 2017 when, over the course of one day, he fatally shot Broken Arrow Public Schools teacher Shane Anderson at his home, raped the woman and committed a series of armed robberies. But his contact with police stretches back to when he was just 11.
"This is not a single bad day," Assistant District Attorney Kevin Gray said. "Deonte Green has worked up to this for years. For somebody that age to have this kind of criminal history is staggering."
Green's attorney read a letter in court in which the teen stated he was "not a monster," instead describing himself as a "misunderstood boy."
In her sentencing, Greenough found the teen "irreparably corrupt and permanently incorrigible," which is a standard for imposing life without parole on a defendant who was a juvenile when the crime took place.
"I'm grateful the judge's sentence reflected (Green's) character, his crimes, his inability to live within the boundaries of society," Darcie Anderson, Anderson's widow, said after the decision. "But in the end, nothing's going to bring my husband back. So while I'm glad that justice was served in his case, I would trade anything to have my husband back."
As part of his plea, Green acknowledged stealing a vehicle from an elderly couple on Sept. 30, 2017, then robbing a second elderly man and woman the subsequent day. He forced the couple to drive him to an ATM to withdraw money and eventually robbed another ATM customer who tried to help with the transaction.
He admitted to later raping the elderly woman at her home. Green went from that home to the Andersons' home. He held Darcie Anderson at gunpoint in the garage, demanding money, before killing her husband in their living room, according to her victim impact statement.
Green's stepfather, Mario Brown, said the sentence was too severe.
"Deonte is a nice kid. They make him out to be a monster," Brown said.
But Gray, the prosecutor, said Green's conduct just got worse and worse, and that he showed no genuine remorse.
"In a rare situation like this particular situation, justice, I believe, demanded that he stay off the streets forever," he said.
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