Three men involved in a Hells Angels hit in Dartmouth, N.S., more than 25 years ago are now out of prison on day parole.

The men — Dean Daniel Kelsie, Neil Smith and Wayne Alexander James — were given life sentences for their roles in the shooting death of Sean Simmons in October 2000.

Kelsie gunned down Simmons in the lobby of a north-end Dartmouth apartment building, a killing that was allegedly ordered by a Hells Angels member after Simmons had an affair with his wife.

Kelsie was originally convicted of first-degree murder, but the Nova Scotia Appeal Court reduced his conviction to second-degree murder, which was later upheld by the Supreme Court of Canada.

Kelsie, who is in his early 50s, was released on day parole in July 2024. He had previously been out on day parole in 2021 but that freedom was revoked when Kelsie threatened a coworker.

Smith, 67, has been on day parole since last July. He was convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder in Simmons’s death. In a February hearing, the Parole Board of Canada agreed to extend Smith’s parole for another six months.

In its latest decision, the board noted Smith has turned his life around from his past, despite “a dense, persistent and serious criminal history with no discernible gaps from 1987 to 2003.”

‘Risk would be low’

James, 70, was also convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder. The parole board included an assessment by a psychologist in approving James’s day parole in January.

“He [the psychologist] concludes that, because of the presence of many static factors, you still present a high risk of violent recidivism in the long term,” the board wrote in its decision.

“However, he assesses that the risk would be low in the context of the day parole.”

The board imposed a special condition on James, preventing him from entering Nova Scotia except for special, compassionate grounds.

Charges against a fourth man charged in connection with Simmons’s murder were stayed in 2024 by a Nova Scotia Supreme Court justice. Steven Gareau was tried and convicted of murder twice, but both convictions were overturned when the judge brought a permanent end to any further trials.

MORE TOP STORIES