Sequoyah County Judge Sentences Defendants For Roles In 2011 Slaying [Times Record, Fort Smith, Ark.]

Oct. 03--SALLISAW -- Sequoyah County judges on Thursday sentenced an Arizona woman to the maximum sentence for her role in the July 2011 slaying of her husband, and a Sequoyah County man for his participation.

Sequoyah County Special District Judge Larry Langley sentenced Raelynne Simonin, 25, to 45 years in prison.

Simonin is one of four defendants charged in the July 25, 2011, fatal shooting of Jack "Vince" Purselley, 38, of Gans.

On Sept. 10, the second day of her trial, Simonin entered a blind plea of no contest to being an accessory to first-degree murder. Langley accepted her plea and found her guilty. A blind plea means a defendant has no plea agreement arranged with the prosecution.

Langley told Simonin he'd presided over her preliminary hearing, the presentence investigation and statements made in the case.

"There is a difference between explaining what you did and excusing what you did," Langley said.

Later Thursday, District Judge Jeff Payton sentenced co-defendant David Joseph Danylchuk, 54, of Sequoyah County to life in prison for first-degree murder and 10 years in prison for conspiracy, the sentences to run concurrently.

On July 29, a jury found Danylchuk guilty on both charges and recommended he serve the prison terms and pay a $5,000 fine for the conspiracy conviction. Payton told the attorneys he suspended the fine, based on the sentence. Under Oklahoma law a life sentence is counted as 45 years, and Danylchuk must serve 85 percent, or 38 years and three months, of it before becoming eligible for parole.

Defense attorney Frank Sullivan III, representing Danylchuk, told Payton that Danylchuk did not fire the shots that killed Purselley, that there are various degrees of culpability, and he asked to court for mercy in Danylchuk's sentencing.

In both sentencing hearings, Purselley's mother, Virginia Purselley, told the court her son was a very good man, a good son and a good father. There are no words to express the anger and grief his family feels for his death, she said. Her son called his parents three times a day, she said.

"We were all very close, and that's why we knew something was wrong. ... Do you know what it is like to not hear the phone ring? ... All that came home to us was his ashes. How do you put your arms around that and say everything will be OK and you love him?" Virginia Purselley asked.

She said Purselley's older brother continued having nightmares from identifying his brother's body, shot six times and left to rot.

Virginia Purselley said she learned of her son's death when Simonin called to ask for his life insurance policy information.

"When I asked, 'Are you telling me my son is dead?' that's when she said, 'Let me tell you my story,'" Virginia Purselley said.

It was the same story Simonin told police, Purselley's mother said.

During Danylchuk's sentencing hearing, Virginia Purselley turned to him and said, "I know you have a 9-year-old son, and I hope to God and pray you never have to go through what we did. The pain never goes away. ... Not only did you hurt my family, you hurt your family."

Danylchuk, shackled and clad in orange jail garb, bowed his head and clasped his hands in his lap as she spoke.

Danylchuk asked to speak to the court, saying: "I'd like to express my deepest sympathy for the Purselley family. Alcohol was a part of this. This should never have happened. They lost their son, and I lost mine. I express my deepest apology to them, and ask the judge to sentence me as he thinks I deserve."

Assistant District Attorney Anthony Evans said, at the time of Simonin's presentence investigation, she still had not accepted responsibility for her role in Purselley's death.

"'I did not do it. I was not part of it,' is what she said," Evans told the court.

Simonin notified Purselley's family by asking for his life insurance number, he said. She pleaded no contest, he said. She drove through numerous states before notifying police, then when she did, she concocted a rape and kidnapping story, Evans said.

Under defense attorney Ryan Wyrick's questioning, Simonin's maternal grandmother, Donna Stout of Arizona, testified that Simonin has had a continually disrupted life, moving around the country with her mother and cowboy stepfather every few months. Stout testified that Simonin never formed any relationships outside the family, never had a social life, and was naive, believing anything others told her.

Stout said Simonin left with Purselley to remove herself from a relationship with another older man who had worked for her mother.

If the court grants Simonin probation, she could live with her, Stout said. Stout said she's never known her granddaughter to be violent or to have a drug or alcohol problem.

Simonin's sentence is not a state-mandated 85 percent sentence, Evans told the Purselley family. She won't have to serve 85 percent of it before becoming eligible for parole. Whether and when she is paroled is up to the Oklahoma Department of Corrections and the state Pardon and Parole Board, Evans said.

A third defendant in the Purselley homicide, Craig Neal Hart, 56, of Vian, is expected to enter a plea agreement. The agreement was offered in exchange for his testimony in the Simonin and Purselley cases. He has a court appearance scheduled Oct. 21. He is charged with first-degree murder, first-degree burglary, conspiracy to commit burglary and impersonating a police officer. Hart allegedly used a U.S. Marshals badge to gain entrance to the Purselley home.

Co-defendant William Douglas "Doug" Daniel, 54, of Sallisaw, the actual shooter, pleaded guilty in August 2012 to second-degree murder in exchange for a 20-year prison sentence and his testimony in the others' cases. Daniel, who is terminally ill, testified that he shot Purselley because Danylchuk held him at gunpoint and ordered him to shoot.

___

(c)2013 Times Record (Fort Smith, Ark.)

Visit Times Record (Fort Smith, Ark.) at www.swtimes.com

Distributed by MCT Information Services