Wednesday, March 3, 1999 | 10:51 a.m.
Lonnie Dennis was convicted of first-degree murder Tuesday in the 1997 slayings of his estranged wife and her lover.
After two hours of deliberation, the jury rejected the defense argument that the slayings of Elfie Dennis and John Ludvigson were done in the heat of passion and did not constitute murder. The defense was seeking a verdict of voluntary manslaughter.
Dennis showed no emotion when the verdict was announced.
The jury will return March 10 to District Judge Donald Mosley's courtroom to decide whether the 50-year-old defendant should be given the death penalty or sentenced to life in prison with or without the possibility of parole.
Dennis has admitted being responsible for shooting Elfie Dennis and Ludvigson and slashing the man's throat from ear to ear. But he said he remembers only the shootings and nothing of the bloody aftermath.
The shooting of his wife, he testified, was an accident when his pistol discharged as he and Ludvigson were struggling over the weapon.
Defense attorney Ulrich Smith said Dennis had been trying to reconcile with his wife and was unaware she was seeing another man until the night of July 3, 1997, and when he saw them together in bed, "he snapped."
Deputy District Attorney David Roger reminded the jury that Dennis carried a pistol to the deadly confrontation and burned his bloody clothes and destroyed other evidence after the murders.
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