Woman apologizes for role in killing
The first of three women to testify against three men who were convicted of robbing and killing an Armstrong County drug dealer pleaded guilty Monday and was sentenced to prison.
Dayna Kocinski, 25, of Allegheny Township, will serve five to 10 years on a charge of third-degree murder for the 2001 killing of Larry Dunmire, 48, of Kiski Township. Kocinski originally was charged with criminal homicide, second-degree homicide, kidnapping, robbery and conspiracy to commit robbery.
After she was sentenced by Westmoreland County Judge John Blahovec, Kocinski turned and apologized to members of the Dunmire family seated in the courtroom.
"This is the most sincere apology I've ever had to give anybody," she said. "I'm sorry I was involved in something like this. I tried to make it right even though what I did was wrong.
"I just want to say I'm sorry, to everybody."
Kocinski was the first of three co-defendants to be treated leniently in exchange for testimony against three others who carried out the killing. Two other women also are scheduled to enter guilty pleas in exchange for similar sentences.
James A. Provitt, 19, of New Kensington, was convicted of first-degree murder, and Bryan L. Chambers, 19, of New Kensington, was convicted of second-degree murder. Both men will serve life in prison without parole.
John Smith, 19, of Arnold, was convicted of third-degree murder and faces 20 to 40 years in prison.
The men were convicted of killing Dunmire during a robbery. They shot him 14 times and struck him 30 times with a blunt object before leaving his body near his van that was set ablaze in Bell Township.
In addition to Kocinski, co-defendants Kimberly Trentin, 23, and Sara Rattigan, 24, also testified for the prosecution against the men.
District Attorney John Peck said Kocinski was the first to come forward to testify. He said he could not have convicted the men without her testimony. He said the men were more dangerous than the rest of the defendants.
Prosecutors alleged the six defendants concocted a plan to lure Dunmire to Rattigan's mobile home in Kiski Township to rob him of 8 kilograms, or nearly 18 pounds, of crack cocaine in his possession. When he arrived at the home, the three men jumped him, beat him and then shot him.
They were arrested after the killing when state police stopped Kocinski's vehicle and found three weapons inside, including one with Dunmire's blood on it.
