Expert witnesses could spell the difference in Dingman murder resentencing

Robert Dingman watches the court hearing closely while his defense lawyer Meredith V. Lugo, right addresses the court. (Rochester Voice photo)

DOVER - The Rochester teenager who along with his kid brother brutally murdered their parents - even while taunting them - will get a chance at freedom next year, and it could be expert testimony on his state of mind at the time of the killings that could spell the difference between going back to jail and going free.

Robert Dingman, 37, watched on live video from Concord Men's Prison on Monday as defense and prosecution lawyers sought to work out a timetable for moving forward with his resentencing, which became necessary after a 2012 Supreme Court ruled that life without parole was cruel and unusual punishment for juvenile offenders.

When Dingman, then 17, killed his parents, he was considered an adult, which is why he could get the life without parole maximum, but since 1996, New Hampshire law shifted adulthood to 18.

Strafford County Superior Court Judge Tina Nadeau addresses prosecution and defense lawyers during a sidebar Monday at a hearing for the resentencing of convicted murderer Robert Dingman.

During the hearing Senior Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Strelzin said his office had not determined whether or not they would seek another life without the possibility of parole sentence in the case or whether, in fact, they would seek testimony of an expert witness.

Superior Court Judge Tina Nadeau suggested a timetable of Nov. 1 for the state to offer its preferred sentence and Nov. 2 to say whether it would be seeking an expert witness, however, no rulings were made.

The defense has already secured their expert witness, but their report had not been completed, Strelzin said.

Meanwhile, Strelzin said if the state does decide it wants to secure its own expert testimony, he needed 120 days to find a suitable expert, depose them and file an evidentiary report.

"Finding an expert witness for an adult isn't that hard, it's much more difficult for a juvenile," he said.

Defense lawyer Meredith V. Lugo said she regretted such a protracted timeline and said she saw the case dragging well into the spring of next year.

Throughout the hearing, Dingman, in jail garb, peered intently at a monitor's live feed, but said nothing, except when Nadeau called for a private sidebar with lawyers and he could hear what they said.

"I can hear you privileged conversation," he blurted out.

"That's OK, but thanks for telling us," Nadeau replied.

The resentencing hearings could include witness testimony from both sides, additional evidence discovery and even direct testimony from Robert Dingman,

During the 1997 trial Jeffrey Dingman said his older brother instigated the killings, which they carried out using their father's .22 caliber handgun.

Testimony revealed the two teens took turns fatally shooting and taunting their mother and father inside their Dover Road home on a Friday night, Feb. 6, 1996.

Afterward the two teenagers stuffed their parents' dead bodies into garbage bags, putting their father's corpse in the attic, their mother's in the basement.

Later that night Jeffrey is said to have gone out to play basketball with friends, while his elder brother visited a girlfriend.

When parents Vance and Eve Dingman, both 40, didn't report to work the following Monday, co-workers alerted police who visited their home and found the bodies.

The resentencing does not guarantee Robert Dingman a reduced sentence. The judge could reimpose life without parole if that is what the prosecution calls for.

Meanwhile, Jeffrey Dingman has been out on parole since March 2014. He will remain on parole for the rest of his life.