Man who fatally shot William Sims gets life without parole
MARTINEZ >> In a packed courtroom Friday, a Superior Court judge handed down a sentence of life without the possibility of parole for a man who shot and killed an East Bay musician outside of a bar nearly six years ago.
Ray Simons of Hercules nodded his head and took a sip from a cup of water as Judge Theresa Canepa informed him he will die in prison, barring a successful appeal or change of law that makes him eligible for parole. Simons shot and killed 28-year-old William Sims outside of the nowdefunct Capri Club bar in El Sobrante, a murder that originally was charged as a hate crime.
Sims was shot and killed in November 2016. Prosecutors say he stopped by the bar on his way home from a different bar and was brutally gunned down when he attempted to get his wallet back from Simons. They argued that Simons and two others, Daniel Porter-Kelly and Daniel Ortega, beat Sims to a bloody pulp and that he staggered out front just in time for Simons to shoot him in the head.
Simons was convicted of murder last year alongside Porter-Kelly and Ortega, who jurors found participated in the beating of Sims behind the bar a few minutes prior to the murder. Ortega was in the same car as Simons when he shot Sims, but Porter-Kelly already had left the bar and
was driving away in his own vehicle when the shots were fired. Ortega maintains he had nothing to do with the assault beforehand.
“It feels like my heart has been cut out and removed since my brother is gone,” Sims' sister said at the sentencing hearing. “I am suspicious and guarded of people's intentions and motivations. I am extra cautious of my surroundings when I'm out and about.”
Sims' murder originally was charged as a hate crime after a surveillance camera and microphone showed Porter-Kelly called him a racial slur inside the bar, before the beating out back. In 2017, a grand jury rejected the hate crime enhancement.
Both Porter-Kelly and
Ortega were sentenced to life with the chance of parole.
Sims was a jazz musician who played in a group called Jazz-ology, which won several awards and performed at festivals throughout Northern California. His family portrayed him as a gentle and compassionate young man who posed no threat to his attackers.
“Although Will was the youngest person in our family, he was the center of our lives. I have not slept soundly since then,” his mother said in court. “Every night I go to sleep thinking about Will and reliving this horrible trauma.”
Sims' mother said that on the evening of the shooting, she drove near the crime scene and saw a section of San Pablo Dam Road had
been shut down. Only later did she learn it was her son that had been killed, she said.
Sims' father died before Simons and Porter-Kelly were sentenced, but wrote a letter to Canepa asking for a maximum penalty for all three defendants.
“We have lost so much losing Will. The peace and joy we once had are gone forever,” he wrote. “No matter what punishment is dealt out to Ray Simons, Daniel Porter-Kelly and Danial Ortega, it can never be enough.”
Before the sentencing, Canepa rejected new trial motions by both PorterKelly and Simons. Canepa retired from the bench earlier this year but returned Friday to preside over the hearing.