Julene Simko's 2017 murder conviction upheld by appeals court

AKRON — A woman convicted of killing her husband as he slept in their Vermilion home in 2009 has lost an appeal of her murder conviction. It wasn't until 2014 that police charged Julene Simko with her husband Jeremy's murder, which had happened five years earlier. Vermilion police found him shot to death in the couple's bedroom on the morning of Nov. 18, 2009. Julene Simko was convicted of Jeremy's murder in October 2017 after waiving her right to a jury trial and asking that Lorain County Common Pleas Judge Mark Betleski decide her guilt or innocence. The defense called no witnesses and Julene Simko declined to testify in her own defense. Following a weeklong trial, Betleski found Julene Simko guilty of aggravated murder, murder, felonious assault, tampering with evidence and firearms charges and sentenced her to life in prison with parole eligibility after 28 years. In her appeal, which was handled by attorney Giovanna Bremke, Julene Simko argued that the trial court improperly evaluated the evidence against her; shifted the burden of proof from the prosecution to the defense by requiring Julene Simko's attorney to identify a potential alternate suspect in her husband's killing; that the verdict was against the weight of the evidence; that her due process rights were violated; and that Julene Simko received ineffective assistance from attorney Jack Bradley and fellow attorney Michael Stepanik. The 9th District Court of Appeals in Akron rejected all of Julene Simko's arguments in a unanimous opinion written by Judge Jennifer Hensal and joined by judges Donna Carr and Lynne Callahan. In the decision, Hensal wrote that Bradley brought up "stranger-robber or assassin theories" in his closing arguments, in trying to explain who shot Jeremy Simko. "The trial court, therefore, indicated that it felt compelled to discuss those possibilities, which could lead to reasonable doubt as to whether Ms. Simko murdered Jeremy," Hensal wrote. Betleski also relied on the prosecution's version of events to determine there was not enough reasonable doubt to exonerate Julene Simko, Hensal wrote, and there was more than enough evidence to convict Julene Simko of her husband's murder. Julene Simko not only was familiar with the murder weapon, but there was no evidence than an intruder got past the couple's dogs and "top notch" security system the morning of the murder. The appeals court also rejected Julene Simko's argument that Bradley gave her ineffective counsel because he failed to hire an expert to do blowback testing to determine if the .357 Magnum revolver, which the couple kept in a holster in a china cabinet, was the murder weapon or whether she cleaned the gun after shooting her husband, as prosecutors alleged. Police found the revolver on the floor of the kitchen, loaded but with one round missing. "Ms. Simko's argument in this regard assumes that an expert would have provided an opinion favorable to her position. Mere speculation as to how an expert would have testified, however, is 'insufficient to establish ineffective assistance'" under Ohio law, Hensal wrote. "Further, not only is Ms. Simko's argument based upon speculation, it ignores the fact that such an expert may have discovered evidence further inculpating her." Reached for comment Monday, Bremke denied additional comment on the case other than to say Julene Simko is weighing her legal options. Julene Simko called 911 around 6 a.m. the day of the murder, and in tears told police someone shot her husband. The couple was security-minded with multiple guns in the house, four dogs and a security system that alerted them to possible trespassers or when doors in the house were opened. Julene Simko told police she heard a loud noise she thought was Jeremy Simko shooting at a coyote from their window. She found him dead on their bed, and also told police she thought she heard someone in the house before firing two shots into a hallway from a 9mm handgun the couple kept in a nightstand. Bradley implied in court that an intruder had shot Jeremy Simko, but no DNA was found in the house other than that which belonged to the couple, and there were no signs of a break-in. The defense also argued that none of Jeremy Simko's DNA was found on the alleged murder weapon, though a prosecution expert testified that wasn't unusual even if the murder weapon was 1 to 2 inches away from Jeremy Simko's body when fired. The couple had some financial problems and a unique sexual relationship detailed in a 14-page "handwritten master-slave/father-daughter agreement." Pornographic photos depicting Julene Simko also were found in the house, and as a survivor of sexual assault there were questions whether she was a willing participant, according to appeals court documents. Now 41 years old, Julene Simko's first parole hearing is in September 2045, according to the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections website. The case received widespread media attention and was featured on Oxygen's "Snapped!" true crime series. Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com. Follow him at @daveobrienCT on Twitter.