A man is facing prison time after choking his wife in an attempt to kill her. At the time of the incident, his wife had terminal cancer and was in hospice care in Utah. According to her son, she had been considering ways to legally end her own life, but her husband took matters into his own hands, which family members didn’t like.
In the husband’s eyes, he was doing the right thing by trying to give his wife what he thought she wanted. However, there was a better way to honor his wife’s wishes. Now he’s facing time behind bars for his actions.
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The widower accepted a lesser charge.
DeWayne McCulla pleaded guilty to attempted manslaughter last week. DeWayne McCulla accepted a deal from prosecutors for choking his wife Arenda McCulla in 2021, the New York Post reported. At the time DeWayne McCulla choked his wife, she was in hospice, dying from terminal cancer.
Arenda McCulla who was diagnosed with invasive ductal carcinoma breast cancer in 2020 that then spread to her neck, brain, lungs, and liver, died on December 21, 2021.
DeWayne McCulla claims to have been trying to help his wife.
On December 20, 2021, a small group of family members surrounded Arenda McCulla as she lay in bed. While she was in bed, 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 court documents reported by KSL. Other family members pulled him off his wife.
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Arenda McCulla's son filed a complaint against DeWayne McCulla.
In 2022, Anthony Michael Ryder, Arenda McCulla’s son, filed a complaint against DeWayne McCulla with Utah’s La Verkin police. Based on Ryder’s complaint, DeWayne McCulla was charged with attempted murder, which is a first-degree felony.
“She didn’t die with dignity,” Ryder told KSL at the time. He shared that he believed DeWayne McCulla’s “claim that his actions were in benevolence of my mother is ludicrous.”
DeWayne McCulla says he doesn't regret his actions.
After Arenda McCulla’s death, a La Verkin police officer called DeWayne McCulla for his side of the story.
“During the conversation with DeWayne, he admitted to placing his hand over the victim Arenda’s neck in an attempt to ease her suffering as she was dying from cancer and was on hospice,” the charges, reported by KSL say. “He said this was all stopped by family members who observed what he was doing and pulled him off of her.”
“DeWayne said he would do this again because he loved his wife.”
DeWayne McCulla faces prison time.
The initial attempted murder charge would have DeWayne McCulla serving 15 years to life in prison. But his plea deal reduces the charge to attempted manslaughter, a third-degree felony, which would see him serving up to five years in prison. His sentencing is scheduled for December.
Ryder told KSL that he opposes the plea deal and hopes to address the court at sentencing.
