Killer's court hearing paves way for resentencing this summer

Robert Dingman in a 2013 image (Courtesy image)

DOVER -- The older of a pair of brothers who murdered their parents inside their Rochester home in 1996 had a status conference on Monday in Strafford County Superior Court to go over resentencing guidelines.

Robert Dingman, who was 17 at the time of the murders, was sentenced to life without parole, however a 2012 Supreme Court ruling ordered automatic resentencing to any minor convicted of murder who had received a life sentence.

Monday's status conference continued a process that began last June setting the groundwork for the resentencing, which could include witness testimony from both sides, additional evidence discovery and even direct testimony from convicted murderer Robert Dingman, who along with his then 14-year-old brother, Jeffrey, fatally shot their parents inside their home because they were tired of what they characterized as strict parental constraints and discipline.

Jeffrey Dingman, who testified against his brother at their widely watched 1997 trial, began parole in March 2014.

Strelzin told The Lebanon Voice on Monday that the next hearing at Strafford County Superior Court will be in August.

No jury will be involved in the resentencing, only a judge.

Ironically, when Robert Dingman killed his parents, a 17-year-old was considered an adult, which is why he could get the life without parole maximum, but since 1996, New Hampshire's law has shifted adulthood to 18.

The resentencing does not guarantee Robert Dingman a reduced sentence as the judge could reimpose life without parole.

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 on a Friday night in February.

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 on Old Dover Road and found the bodies.