Jul 17, 2010 By Jennifer Harr 4 min read

After listening to emotional statements from the family of a slain Brownsville man Friday, a Fayette County judge sentenced the woman who killed him to serve the maximum sentence. Dayna McMaster, 32, of Brownsville was convicted of third-degree murder earlier this month, and will spend 20 to 40 years in prison for stabbing to death her boyfriend, Clarence Blair III, 46. The stab wound pierced his heart, and Blair died shortly after McMaster drove him to the Uniontown Hospital on June 26, 2009.

“No mom should ever have to bury their child,” said Blair’s mother, Shari Blair, reading from a prepared statement in court.

She told President Judge Gerald R. Solomon she still plays a recording of her son’s last phone call just to hear his voice. Shari Blair said her son was a good, thoughtful man who would help her with anything. She said he was a loving father, who never will be able to hold his first grandchild, a little girl born to one of his children.

Since her son’s death, Shari Blair said she has prayed for peace from the loss, and the anger with which it’s left her.

“Punish this crime to the fullest extent of the law,” she told Solomon.

Clarence Blair’s daughter, Molly Jo, said her father’s death left “a hole in the world” of her and her two siblings.

“Our daddy was a good man, not the kind of many they portrayed him to be,” she said. “We hate what was done to our family.”

She said her, her brother and sister miss her father’s surprise phone calls – just to say “I love you” to them – and said the weekend he was killed, he was supposed to teach his children to water ski.

After those and other statements were read, District Attorney Jack R. Heneks Jr. declined further argument on McMaster’s sentence.

“I don’t think I could say anything more eloquently than the family has today,” Heneks told Solomon.

McMaster also spoke, apologizing through tears to Clarence Blair’s family and to her family.

During the trial, McMaster testified he abused her, and she hid his hunting knife under her leg while she was a passenger in his truck because she felt he would kill her. Several prosecution witnesses testified that they’d never see Clarence Blair abuse McMaster, but on multiple occasions saw her attack him.

“I did everything I could that night to try to save him,” McMaster said to his family. “I’m not a cold-hearted or terrible person. I wish I could go back in time and make everything better.”

McMaster also apologized to her family and two children.

“You don’t ever deserve to go through all the pain and stress I caused you all,” she said.

Since her imprisonment while awaiting trial, McMaster said she’s come to realize that God, her children and family are paramount.

“In a way, God has given me a second chance at life,” she said. “

McMaster, represented by attorneys Jeremy Davis and Melinda Dellarose, also addressed her general lack of emotion during the trial.

“Just because I did not cry on the stand does not mean I had no remorse,” she said.

“Whatever happens, I’m going to make the best of it,” McMaster said, noting that she would like to help women who have been involved in domestic violence situations.

Solomon told McMaster that while she testified she was in fear on June 26, she didn’t get away from Clarence Blair – and instead hid the knife and went to a secluded gas well in Redstone Township with him.

“The jury saw through your version, and by the verdict entered, found you meant to kill Mr. Blair, and did so with malice,” Solomon said.