Demarcus Parker, Receiving Firearm While Under Felony Information, Arkansas 2023

HELENA-WEST HELENA, ARKANSAS – Demarcus Parker, a 31-year-old man from Marion, Arkansas, has been sentenced to 50 months in federal prison for receiving a firearm while under felony information.

According to a federal indictment, Demarcus Parker was charged with knowingly possessing a stolen firearm and receiving a firearm while under a felony information. Parker pleaded guilty to the receipt of a firearm while under felony information on July 25, 2023.

Parker’s sentence, handed down by United States District Judge D. P. Marshall, Jr. on Friday, January 26, 2024, far exceeds the sentencing guideline range of 15 to 21 months. Additionally, Parker will serve three years of supervised release following his prison sentence.

The charges stem from an incident on Friday, January 17, 2020, when West Memphis Police Department officers stopped Demarcus Parker’s vehicle, a white 2007 Cadillac Escalade, for a traffic violation. During the stop, officers discovered a loaded firearm under the center console of the vehicle. Parker admitted to possessing the firearm and acknowledged that felony charges were pending against him at the time.

The firearm was later determined to be stolen out of Denton, Texas, in 2017. Demarcus Parker’s possession of the firearm while under felony information led to his indictment by a federal grand jury on April 5, 2023.

Parker’s sentence brings an end to a long and troubled history of violence. In 2018, Parker was accused of murdering an off-duty Forrest City police officer, who was struck by a stray bullet in a gang-related shootout. Parker was subsequently convicted of murder but had his conviction overturned on procedural grounds in March 2023.

U.S. Attorney Jonathan D. Ross stated, ‘Today, the man who an Arkansas jury found guilty for the April 28, 2018, murder of Forrest City Police Officer Oliver Johnson, but whose conviction for that murder was later dismissed on procedural grounds, has now been held accountable and punished for the subsequent offense of receiving a firearm while knowingly facing a pending charge of murder.’

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