Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
- DeWayne McCulla was sentenced to 150 days of home confinement for attempted manslaughter.
- He admitted to choking his terminally ill wife, claiming it was to ease her suffering.
- Family members expressed anger, stating McCulla's actions caused lasting harm and lacked remorse.
ST. GEORGE — Arenda Lee McCulla's family says her husband tried to kill their terminally ill loved one and blames him for not allowing her to die in peace.
DeWayne McCulla says he was only trying to ease his wife's suffering, but admits he was "selfish" in the moment.
"I lost it. I failed epically," he told 5th District Judge John J. Walton.
On Thursday, McCulla, 46, who pleaded guilty in September to a reduced charge of attempted manslaughter, a third-degree felony, was sentenced to 150 days of home confinement with electronic monitoring followed by three years of probation. A prison sentence of zero to five years was suspended. A pre-sentence report by Adult Probation and Parole had recommended 105 days in jail followed by five years of probation.
Arenda Lee McCulla, 47, died on Dec. 21, 2021, following her battle with breast cancer. But the night before, when a small group of family members were by her side in La Verkin, DeWayne McCulla "choked the victim in an attempt to kill her to ease her suffering while they were with her during her terminal cancer and being on hospice," according to charging documents.
Family members say they pulled McCulla off of his wife, but he broke free and attempted to wrap his hands around her neck a second time. When questioned by police, McCulla "said he would do this again because he loved his wife," according to charging documents. He was originally charged with attempted murder, a first-degree felony.
In court on Thursday, Arenda McCulla's son, sister and brother all pleaded with the judge to issue the maximum sentence.
"There hasn't been a day that his behavior hasn't affected me," Arenda McCulla's son, Anthony Michael Ryder, said, noting that DeWayne McCulla's "calculated and cruel" actions that night have caused "deep and lasting harm" and that McCulla "has never shown remorse."
"My mother deserved dignity in her final moment," he said. "DeWayne deserves to sit with the gravity of what he did. ... This is about more than punishment. It's about justice."
"I will never forget or forgive DeWayne," Arenda McCulla's sister, Kareena Burns, told the court. "My sister deserved way better. She deserved to die in peace. …There is no reason to do what he did."
Prosecutor Tyler Bonzo concurred that even if DeWayne McCulla was acting out of care, "There's still no excuse for taking matters into his own hands."
Furthermore, the state contends that even today, "He seems to think he was justified in his actions. … He seems to be focused on himself and trying to justify his actions."
While addressing the court, Ryder also talked about other allegations involving McCulla, including taking money from a fundraiser that was to be used to take his mother to Oregon to participate in the Death with Dignity Act.
When asked about the allegations, Bonzo said there was an ongoing fraud investigation by police but no charges had been filed as of Thursday. The judge also asked McCulla about the allegations. He said initially his wife was given three to 5 years to live, but the diagnosis unexpectedly became three months during a follow-up doctor's appointment.
"There's no way we could have moved to Oregon at that time," he said. "It became evident quickly that the Die with Dignity Act was not an option."
At that point, McCulla said his wife had always wanted a Toyota Tundra and a big screen TV, and he wanted her to experience those before she died.
"I gave in to her wishes," he said. "It wasn't so I could play 'Call of Duty' … that was not the intention."
He says he bought those items with funds he had saved up for in his personal account. He did not remember how much money the fundraiser had raised but contended he did not use that money to purchase the truck and TV.
When asked about his statement to police that he would "do it again," McCulla told the court that he was "caught off guard by the investigator" and said, "I wouldn't do that again, obviously." He also said that when he wrapped his hands around his wife's neck, he had not slept in three days and had been drinking. McCulla said Thursday he "didn't consider how (his actions) would affect everyone else" and acknowledged "it has destroyed the family."
When it was time to hand down his sentence, Walton said he "can't base a sentence off unproven theories."
"It's not uncommon at all for victims in a case to take a different position than the state has when they prosecute the case," he said, noting that the family's claims aren't completely the same arguments presented by prosecutors. "If (McCulla) is the sadistic monster (that the family believes he is), he'll punish himself appropriately by his own future actions."
McCulla was ordered to begin his home confinement within 10 days. During that time, he is allowed work release and can leave the home for medical treatment and two hours a week for church, but otherwise cannot leave his house.
