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SALT LAKE CITY — James Dekota Brunson offered no excuse for killing 57-year-old Linda Nemelka during his sentencing Thursday.
The man walked into the narrow, third-floor courtroom from a holding area to the right and slipped into a seat next to his attorney with little ceremony despite the anticipation by Nemelka's family and friends. They waited for almost two hours for him to appear before the court.
Brunson faced forward — just a day before his 28th birthday, with tattoos climbing onto his scalp. His sandy hair radiated outwards in all directions and did not fully obscure the markings.
He pleaded guilty in October to murder, with a firearm enhancement, and aggravated robbery, both second-degree felonies.
The deal allowed him to plead guilty to a reduced version of both charges, which were previously first-degree felonies. As part of the deal, a third charge, possession of a dangerous weapon as a restricted person, a second-degree felony, was dismissed He also agreed to drop a federal firearms appeal after being convicted by a jury in 2022 for unlawful transport of firearms and possession of stolen firearms and sentenced to 20 years in prison.
On March 11, 2020, Unified police say the engine of Nemelka's car was still running, the driver's side door of the car in the driveway was open, and the Millcreek woman was found shot and slouched over the console. She was taken to a hospital where she died from her injuries.
Days later, Brunson and his girlfriend Anika Celeste Thorpe were arrested for stealing two shotguns, three handguns, one revolver, two .22-caliber rifles and one AR-15 from Thorpe's mother's house, court documents say.
The two were found at an apartment complex in Salt Lake City, and during the arrest, Brunson threw one of the guns, a Ruger pistol, over a fence.
At the time, Brunson had a parole violation warrant from February 2020 — for a case where he tried to carjack an elderly female — the prosecution said during the sentencing hearing Thursday.
Thorpe was convicted in July 2020 for the incident by pleading no contest to theft and two counts of attempted theft by receiving stolen property. She was sentenced to one to 15 years in the Utah State Prison.
Nemelka's killing was overshadowed as the COVID pandemic dominated the headlines in the weeks that followed, but her family did not stop searching for her killer. Over a year later and with the help of a confidential informant, investigators were able to match the Ruger to the gun used on Nemelka, charges say.
Brunson and Thorpe were both charged with Namelka's murder in July 2021. The couple had been working on selling the stolen guns for cash, according to court documents, when they used one to try and steal Nemelka's car, killing her in the process.
The crowd filled the rows of pews on the left side galley, leaving all seats vacant behind Brunson. "Nobody is here for James," his attorney, Samantha Dugan, said before the family addressed the man. "He does not want to provide excuses, he does not want to provide context because he doesn't want to put the victim's family through anything additional," she said.
Nemelka's daughter Sarah Mansfield directly addressed Brunson and said, "I believe my mom forgives you." Mansfield expressed sympathy for the things they learned about the man in other hearings. "I genuinely want you to be happy eventually."
Dugan said Brunson's upbringing and "the things he was exposed to ... led him to early incarceration at the age of 11."
"His own mother introduced him to methamphetamine at the age of 10," one federal sentencing report says.
Susan Barnes told Brunson the woman he killed — her sister — was generous, kind, funny and witty. "You can't bring her back," Barnes said. "There were so many years left with her."
Amanda Wood, Nemelka's oldest daughter, quoted the "Life of Pi" book to the courtroom Thursday. "To lose your mother, well, that is like losing the sun above you," Wood read tearfully. She said Brunson's actions "stole that sunlight" from Nemelka's five children, 12 grandchildren and 168 family members. She asked the judge to make sure Brunson "is never again free to harm another innocent human being."
"I'm very sorry for the things you've experienced in your life," Mansfield said. "I hope that you can overcome your addictions."
Brunson spoke last so that he could "personally apologize to the family and accept full responsibility for my actions."
"The fact that I've spent every day wishing I could turn back the wheels of time is no excuse for my failure to prevent what brought me here today," he said. "Nothing I can do or say will bring her back, nor will anything remove the stain of this tragedy."
Judge James Blanch said he was "overwhelmed by the capacity for generosity" from the family. Blanch said it is "impossible to impose a just sentence" when life is taken, but the charges, while reduced, may provide the family closure that a trial would not have.
Prosecutors would have faced an uphill battle pursuing the original charge of first-degree felony murder, Blanch said, with "circumstantial" evidence and no eyewitnesses. It would be like "putting together a jigsaw puzzle," and may have resulted in a "not guilty" verdict. "Now there's certainty," the judge said.
Blanch sentenced Brunson to a term of two to 20 years for the murder charge, and one to 15 years for the aggravated robbery, and ordered them to run consecutive with each other and to the sentence from an earlier case, but concurrently with his federal time.
Prosecutor Vince Meister said he anticipates Brunson will serve 30 more years in prison, based on guidelines. It will ultimately be up to the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole.
Thorpe is scheduled for a jury trial Jan. 7, charged with murder and aggravated robbery, both first-degree felonies, and possession of a dangerous weapon by a restricted person, a second-degree felony.
