Green

HOLLIDAYSBURG — An Altoona teenager was sentenced Friday afternoon to 15 to 30 years in prison after pleading guilty to third-degree murder in the 2020 shooting death of a classmate.

Damien Green and two other minors planned a meeting with Devon Pfirsching, 15, in an effort to rob him of money and marijuana during the early morning of Feb. 27, 2020.

The group included Green and Logan Persing, both then 15, and Owen Southerland, then 16.

After an all-day planning session Thursday in court to prepare for his trial set to start Monday, defense attorney Dan Kiss said Green wanted to bring finality to his case. Kiss began discussing a possible plea agreement with District Attorney Pete Weeks, First Assistant District Attorney Nichole Smith and the lead investigator in the case, Sgt. Terry Merritts of the Altoona Police Department.

Blair County President Judge Elizabeth Doyle convened a plea session early Friday afternoon, and after hearing from Kiss and Weeks, she accepted the agreement.

It included a reduction in the murder charge from second degree to third degree.

Green also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit robbery, robbery and illegal use of a communication facility.

While Green was sentenced to 15 to 30 years, if he maintains a clean record, he will eventually be released.

Green, who remained cuffed during the plea, asked Kiss to speak on his behalf.

Kiss pointed out that Green, who has been housed in the State Correctional Institution at Pine Grove in Indiana County, has matured during his more than three years behind bars.

He received his high school diploma and, despite his young age, has become a mentor for other inmates. His prison record is without blemish, Kiss emphasized.

After the hearing, Kiss said Green was a child and immature when the killing happened. “He is not the person he was in 2020.”

Kiss said Green’s goal is “to learn and practice a trade, but also he wants to help others (to avoid the mistakes he made).”

“It’s been a long road,” Kiss concluded as he discussed the years since the Pfirsching murder.

Kiss said Green did not speak during the hearing because he couldn’t find the right words to express his condolences to the Pfirsching family members who were in the courtroom.

Those family members also did not want to speak during the brief sentencing hearing.

After the hearing, Weeks explained why he fought so hard to keep the Green case in the adult court.

He cited past cases in which juveniles who committed violent crimes and received light sentences ended up committing murder and other serious crimes as adults.

“This (the killing of Pfirsching) is an adult crime. We felt all four should be tried in adult court, and we were able to fight to have them here. We felt it was important to keep the people in adult court.”

Weeks was critical of the present juvenile system that permits juveniles to go free at 21 years of age despite having carried out very serious crimes, yet he expressed the idea that possibly sending a young person away for (second-degree) felony murder for 30 years takes away a judge’s discretion that possibly a lesser sentence may be more appropriate.

Weeks then lauded the Altoona Police Department’s handling of the Pfirsching case.

Green’s mother, Melissa Risban, stated in an email Friday afternoon that Damien, at 15 years of age, held his own in a state correctional institution and that he obtained his high school diploma and mentors other inmates.

“He has had zero incidents of behavior that needed to be addressed and has privileges because of his character and impeccable behavior. This is someone that Pete Weeks paints as unable to be rehabilitated with a discipline problem.”

She said her son “accepted the plea against everything we stand for, and I believe that it is a gross miscarriage of justice.”

Southerland pulled a gun on Pfirsching during the robbery and then began hitting him on the head with it. The teen fought back, and the gun fired, killing Pfirsching.

Altoona police were able to make arrests in the case and over the past three years Southerland, Persing and the youth who supplied the gun, Omedro T. Davis Jr., pleaded guilty for negotiated sentences by Doyle.

Southerland was sentenced to 35 years to life; Persing to 17 to 34 years; and Davis was to 10 to 20 years.

All entered pleas to third-degree murder.

Green, who was charged with second-degree murder, faced a mandatory minimum of 30 years in prison, if convicted.

Green’s trial was delayed by court filings about whether he should be tried in adult or juvenile court.