Resentencing for man who killed parents now set for August

Robert Dingman (Rochester Voice file photo)

DOVER - A Rochester man sentenced to life in prison for murdering his parents almost 20 years ago when he was a teenager will get a chance at a shorter sentence or maybe even freedom in August due to a Supreme Court ruling that changed the definition of who is considered a minor.

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, along with his younger brother, Jeffrey, 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.

After Monday's hearing Senior Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Strelzin said he couldn't comment on how many witnesses he might call, however at an earlier hearing this past fall, it became apparent that expert testimony on Dingman's state of mind at the time of the killings could be key in determining whether his earlier sentence might stand up or not.

As of now final motions in the case are set for January and final depositions for May with an August date for resentencing still unset.

Throughout the hearing, Dingman, in jail garb, peered intently at a monitor's live feed, but said nothing

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.