A local music teacher who admitted to having sex with two teenage students will serve 12 years in prison, a sentence recommended in a plea agreement and accepted Friday with some reluctance by an Anchorage judge.
The courtroom was packed with Christopher More's supporters, including his parents, his wife and fellow members at ChangePoint Church. More than a dozen of them huddled together and prayed outside the courtroom before the sentence was handed down.
More, 30, pleaded guilty in March to two counts of second-degree sexual abuse of a minor. The girls were both choir students at West High School, a prosecutor said.
More admitted to detectives in early January, when the allegations were made public, that he'd had sexual relationships with the two girls starting in 2009, when one of them was 15 and the other 16.
As part of the plea agreement, prosecutors dropped a charge of first-degree sexual abuse of a minor, which comes with a presumptive sentence of 20 to 30 years and a maximum of 99.
After teaching at Williwaw Elementary and Palmer High School, More became the choir director at West High and Romig Middle School in 2008.
The Anchorage School District fired More and he agreed in March to a lifetime revocation of his teaching certificate, police said.
In a letter he read in court, More apologized to his victims and their families, the school district, his wife and his young son, who was about a month old when police charged More.
"I have asked myself each and every day, 'How did I get here?'," More said, sobbing and wiping away tears. "I became arrogant and self-righteous. I allowed myself to accept attention from the wrong people to feed my ego."
Earlier in the hearing, Superior Court Judge Philip Volland said he was surprised to see a standing-room-only crowd in the courtroom and also voiced some apprehension about the proposed sentence for More.
"I've sentenced people to a lot more for a lot less," Volland said. "I've got some problems."
Volland took statements from Assistant District Attorney Brittany Dunlop and public defender John Cashion explaining the sentence and the agreement they'd reached.
"Because of that swift acceptance of responsibility, the state felt he was a good candidate for rehabilitation," Dunlop said. The admission of guilt also allowed the victims to avoid the painful process of testifying at trial, she said.
"I was tired of living a lie, and I wanted to come clean with myself, as well as the authorities, and more importantly, with God," More said.
More's spiritual adviser -- identified incorrectly in court as his pastor, according to ChangePoint -- told the judge More was a "changed man."
"I know that he had a relationship with God before this, but his relationship with Christ has been deepened and enriched," Phil Rees said.
There were no statements made by the victims or by anyone in support of a harsher sentence.
In the end, Volland announced he would accept the recommended sentence -- 25 years in prison with 13 suspended and 15 years probation -- because of More's willingness to accept responsibility and the victims' desire to avoid what Volland described as "the usual grind of the justice system" and having to give "torturous" testimony.
"The young women involved here have been spared some of the really unfortunate rigors of the justice system," Volland said. "(The sentence) is on the edge, but still within the range of reason."
Dunlop, the prosecutor, said the sentence was right in the middle of the presumptive range for the crime.
"I think the judge was appropriately hesitant," Dunlop said. "This was a crime that shocked the community."
Reach Casey Grove at casey.grove@adn.com or 257-4589.
By CASEY GROVE
casey.grove@adn.com