Anchorage man sentenced to 85 years in prison for 2017 murder

A 27-year-old Anchorage man was sentenced Friday to spend 85 years in prison for fatally shooting another man in an apartment near downtown seven years ago.

Investigators said Kuach Kuach shot and killed 22-year-old Devan McDonald while he was resting in bed on a Sunday morning in December 2017. Kuach was convicted last year of first- and second-degree murder, evidence tampering, and weapons misconduct.

The shooting followed an impromptu birthday party that McDonald and his girlfriend threw at their apartment, according to a sworn affidavit written by detective Ross Henikman and included with the criminal complaint. They invited Kuach, whom they’d known for several years, it said.

Kuach woke up at the apartment the next day and threatened to “take Devan out,” the affidavit said. Just before he left with someone giving him a ride, Kuach went into the bedroom and shot McDonald in the upper body, it said.

The document doesn’t provide any specific motive for the shooting.

Kuach threw the gun he used on the side of the road, assistant district attorney Whitney Bostick wrote in a sentencing memorandum. He was arrested after a standoff with police at the apartment where he lived with his family.

At the time of the homicide, Kuach was on probation for a felony weapons conviction tied to a fatal car crash near Merrill Field the year prior that involved an exchange of gunfire.

McDonald’s death was “senseless, avoidable and without any provocation, justification, or mitigation,” Bostick wrote in the sentencing memorandum. She requested that Kuach be sentenced to serve 85 years in prison.

Craig Howard, an assistant public advocate who represented Kuach, requested the court sentence him to spend 35 years in prison.

Superior Court Judge Michael Wolverton sentenced him Friday to 105 years with 20 suspended. Kuach will be on probation for 10 years after he is released.