The Kentucky Supreme Court has affirmed Christian Circuit Court Judge John Atkins’s denial of Jeremy Demars’s motion to withdraw his guilty pleas for the 2017 murders of two Fort Campbell soldiers, including his estranged wife in Oak Grove.
In June 2020, Demar agreed to a plea deal with the Commonwealth and entered guilty pleas on two counts of murder, attempted murder and other offenses in the shooting deaths of his estranged wife, 22-year old Priscilla East, and 28-year old Christopher Hoch at a home in Oak Grove in February 2017. As part of his plea deal, he avoided the death penalty. However, on the day of his sentencing, Demar pleaded with Judge Atkins to allow him to withdraw his plea, stating that he was scared and trying to avoid a death penalty when he agreed to the Commonwealth’s plea agreement.
The opinion released by the Kentucky Supreme Court says the circumstances surrounding the entry of Demar’s pleas are in no way suspect. It goes on to say Demar admits the guilty pleas were voluntarily made, and he does not now claim innocence of any of the charges to which he pleaded, and freely and openly admitted to the criminal acts for which he stands convicted. The state Supreme Court ruled that the trial court properly denied the motion and affirmed the trial court’s denial of Demar’s motion to withdraw his plea.
On June 10, 2020, Judge Atkins sentenced Demar to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
