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It was the lightest sentence possible under minimum mandatory laws. He could have received life for the fatal shooting.
By CHRISTOPHER GOFFARD, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published December 21, 2002
TAMPA -- It was Randy Puryear's chance to say he was sorry, to show the remorse his supporters say has tortured him since he brought a handgun to a fight on Sept. 10, 2000.
Nora Wells, the widow of the man he killed, had been waiting for this moment for two years.
But as the Town 'N Country dentist stood before a judge Friday, ostensibly to express the pain in his heart, his mumbling tone left only a word or two audible. Nora Wells leaned forward, straining. If there was an apology, she missed it.
"I certainly hope for his soul that he is remorseful," Wells said.
For the second-degree murder of 39-year-old Jemale Wells, Hillsborough Circuit Judge J. Rogers Padgett sentenced Puryear to 25 years in prison. It was the lightest sentence possible under minimum mandatory laws. He could have received life.
Defense lawyers spent the first part of Friday morning arguing that Puryear got an unfair trial last month. Despite the jury's verdict, they said, he was guilty of no crime.
When that failed to persuade the judge to scuttle the conviction, the defense called on Puryear's friends and family to say how sorry he was about Sept. 10, 2000.
A fraternity brother described Puryear as a "loving, caring, compassionate human being." His pastor at Tampa's Real Life Ministries, Scot Ballantyne, said the dentist has "shed many tears" over the incident. Andre Edge, a dental patient, said Puryear was a nice guy who asked about his teeth.
Puryear's sister said he "has paid in ways that no one could ever imagine." His civil lawyer, David Henry, said Puryear has "cried like a schoolgirl" since the shooting.
On Sept. 10, 2000, Jemale Wells broke up a fight between neighborhood kids in the cul-de-sac outside his Countryway home. A boy complained to his mom that Wells manhandled him, and the mom complained to Puryear, her boyfriend, that Wells had roughed her up.
Puryear raced to the scene with a .357-caliber Magnum, and witnesses say he screamed racial slurs at Wells.
Puryear is white. Wells was black. The gun went off during a scuffle, killing Wells.
During the trial, prosecutors portrayed Wells as a neighborhood peacemaker trying to protect his family. Defense attorneys portrayed him as an "enraged, crazy, drunken man" who precipitated his own death by charging Puryear.
Nora Wells told the judge how she went outside to find her mortally wounded husband lying in the street with open eyes.
"He was staring up at the sky," she said. It was "your worst nightmare -- worse than that."
When she walks outside to her car these days, she said, her two young daughters follow her for fear she will never come back. Their father went outside and never came back.
She said Puryear has never shown "a scintilla of remorse," and asked the judge to give him life.
Defense attorney Ed Suarez told the judge that 25 years in prison would be punishment enough for the 43-year-old dentist. He would be an old man when he got out. There wouldn't be much of his life left.
"Give him the last three or four years," Suarez said.
If Puryear was sorry, said prosecutor Curt Allen, he was sorry he was convicted.
"He has to this day not given a single good reason for what he did," Allen said. "He has done everything he could to beat this and walk out the door."
-- Christopher Goffard can be reached at 813-226-3337 or goffard@sptimes.com .