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Man sentenced to 20 years in Yakutat murder

Published 10:30 pm Tuesday, February 7, 2023

By Jonson Kuhn

Investigator Markus Bressler, defendant John Stapleton, and public defender Eric Hedland sit in court on Jan. 13, 2022. (Michael S. Lockett / Juneau Empire File)
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Investigator Markus Bressler, defendant John Stapleton, and public defender Eric Hedland sit in court on Jan. 13, 2022. (Michael S. Lockett / Juneau Empire File)

Investigator Markus Bressler, defendant John Stapleton, and public defender Eric Hedland sit in court on Jan. 13, 2022. (Michael S. Lockett / Juneau Empire File)
Investigator Markus Bressler, defendant John Stapleton, and public defender Eric Hedland sit in court on Jan. 13, 2022. (Michael S. Lockett / Juneau Empire File)

A man was sentenced to 20 years in prison after being found guilty of second-degree murder following a fatal stabbing in Yakutat.

[Jury returns mixed verdict in Yakutat killing trial]

John Lee Stapleton, 51, was sentenced on Monday in the October 2018 murder of John Fergerson.

Stapleton was previously found guilty of manslaughter and second-degree murder and not guilty of first-degree murder following a three-week trial that concluded late last January.

Stapleton was arrested in October 2018 in Yakutat after emergency services received a call about a man not breathing, the Empire previously reported. That man was identified as Fergerson, who was found lying on the floor without a pulse and not breathing when police officers from the Yakutat Borough Police Department arrived on the scene.

• Contact reporter Jonson Kuhn at jonson.kuhn@juneauempire.com.

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