Hersh convicted in 1978 murder

After deliberating for 10 hours over two days, a Clark County jury on Thursday convicted Michael Allen Hersh of two counts of first-degree murder in the 1978 stabbing death of a Vancouver woman.

The seven-women, five-men jury rendered its verdict shortly after 2:30 p.m. Thursday, deciding the DNA evidence presented was reliable proof that Hersh, now 49, killed Norma Simerly on April 28, 1978.

“It feels wonderful to get justice,” Simerly’s 81-year-old sister, Marge Boyer, said after hearing the verdict. “It’s not closure because you never forget, but still …”

Simerly’s family members and several police officers packed Clark County Superior Court Judge Robert Harris’ courtroom for the reading of the verdict. Jurors convicted Hersh of first-degree murder on two separate theories — first, that the slaying was premeditated, and second, that it was committed during a rape attempt.

Hersh appeared dazed as Harris read the verdict. He showed no other reaction.

Sentencing was set for April 19.

Deputy Prosecutor Tony Golik said he intends to seek a sentence of life without possibility of release under the state’s three-strikes law for persistent offenders. It’s unclear whether Hersh’s murder conviction is eligible for a third strike, as the crime predates the state’s modern sentencing laws.

At the very least, Hersh faces 20 years in prison, Golik said.

One of Hersh’s strikes is for the brutal attack in 1978 of Joy Fletcher. He’s still serving time at Clallam Bay Corrections Center for that conviction.

Hersh’s second strike came in 1985 when he was convicted of second-degree assault for attacking a female prison guard. He is expected to begin serving that sentence next year, after finishing his first term.

Testimony in the eight-day trial indicated that Simerly was killed after an intruder forced his way inside her home in Vancouver’s Lincoln neighborhood.

Blood splattered throughout the kitchen, hallways and master bedroom showed evidence of a protracted struggle, during which Simerly was stabbed four times and bludgeoned in the face with a piece of firewood.

Though there were no physical signs of sexual assault, the 47-year-old Simerly was found naked inside her bedroom, her hands bound with a woman’s blouse and a vodka bottle lying on her body.

Golik said police had no suspects until Hersh was arrested in the assault of Fletcher at her Hazel Dell home on July 12, 1978. The two attacks were similar, he said, in that both women were attacked in their homes, bludgeoned in the face, bound and stripped.

Fletcher recounted her ordeal to jurors, identifying Hersh in court as her attacker.

Police in 1978 couldn’t arrest Hersh in connection with the Simerly case because they had no physical evidence. But Vancouver police Detective Wally Stefan reopened the case in 2002 in hopes that new DNA technology could link Hersh to the scene.

It did. DNA from a single hair on a bloody washrag closely matched Hersh’s DNA, jurors were told. Also, a partial, mixed DNA profile was created and tested from bark chips at the scene, which showed Hersh could not be excluded as a contributor, experts testified.

Defense attorney Jeff Sowder had tried to argue the DNA evidence was neither definitive nor foolproof. The hair could have been subject to contamination, he argued, because modern protocols for handling and storing evidence weren’t followed.

Also, he suggested, the DNA was not airtight proof of his client’s guilt, considering the genetic marker is shared by nearly 1 percent of Caucasians.

But Golik told jurors that none of 11 people who handled the evidence contaminated it with their own DNA. Also, he saw the fact that more than 99 percent of Caucasians being excluded from having the same DNA profile as convincing evidence Hersh was the killer.

Laura McVicker: 360-735-4516 or laura.mcvicker@columbian.com.