Monroe County: Prosecutors seek death in child sex crime case
On March 10, the State filed a Notice of Intent to Seek the Death Penalty, indicating its intent to seek death against Michael Demerjian under Florida's 2023 legislation.
In February, Michael Demerjian was indicted by grand jury for capital sex crimes against a minor child under the age of 12. At the time, he was already in jail on other charges. According to reporting by the Tampa Bay Times, Demerjian “is being held without bond on the child-pornography and sexual-battery charges” and is represented by the Public Defender’s Office.
The docket reflects that, on March 10, the State filed a Notice of Intent to Seek the Death Penalty, indicating it intends to seek the death penalty against Demerjian—as authorized by Florida’s 2023 capital sex crime legislation. The case documents, including the Notice, are not publicly available—likely due to the victim’s age.
As far as I can tell, this is only the second case since the capital sex crime legislation went into effect October 1, 2023,1 in which prosecutors have actually filed a notice of intent to seek the death penalty. The prior case in which prosecutors sought the death penalty was in Lake County but ended in a plea for a sentence of life imprisonment. More on that case here.
An appropriate sentence would be life without possibility of parole. Such a sentence would prevent this Criminal from being on vacation for the next 30 Years getting room service three times a day with his own private television. With a life sentence he would be required to work between 40 and 60 hours each week making a contribution in lieu of being a burden to the state of Florida. It just makes sense.