Judge gives man convicted of killing wife 10 years to life

By Matt Pordum

Wednesday, Aug. 10, 2005 | 8:24 a.m.

A judge called a man who claimed he accidentally shot his wife in the head while he was cleaning his gun "a drunk and abusive guy all his life" and then sentenced him Tuesday to 10 years to life in prison.

District Judge Stewart Bell defended his decision not to sentence 55-year-old Jesse Dennis to 10 to 25 years in prison for the killing of 48-year-old Leslie Dennis on March 14, 2004. He said Jesse Dennis would have a chance at parole while "a lady died and she's not getting out of the dirt."

When given the chance to address the court Jesse Dennis was hardly contrite.

"I'm caught in a system where the truth has no place," Dennis said. "I can't defend the character assassination. I accepted responsibility for this accident. I'm not guilty of the charge, but I did plead the Alford plea.

Dennis was originally facing first-degree murder with use of a deadly weapon, but as the result of negotiations with prosecutors, he entered an Alford plea to second-degree murder on May 20. Under an Alford plea a defendant technically does not admit guilt but agrees that prosecutors could prove their case at trial.

Jesse Dennis called 911 about 12:30 p.m. the day of the killing and said he had shot his wife and that the shooting was accidental. But then he said he and his wife had an altercation, police said.

Police found Leslie Dennis with a gunshot in the back of her head. She was lying on the living room floor of her home in the 3100 block of Blossom Glen Drive near Green Valley Parkway and Warm Springs Road.

She later died at University Medical Center.

Dennis said he was sitting on the sofa in the living room and his wife was sitting in a chair 6 to 8 feet away. According to the arrest report, he was wiping his gun with a rag "when suddenly the gun went off and he saw his wife fall to the floor and she was bleeding from the head."

Jesse Dennis first told police he accidentally shot his wife in the head while he was cleaning his gun, but later changed his story, saying his wife was going to stay with their daughter and son-in-law and she gave Dennis the gun for protection from the son-in-law.

Jesse Dennis was charged with misdemeanor domestic battery against his wife in January 1997, according to his arrest report. He was sentenced to 10 days in jail and ordered to pay a $1,000 fine.

Deputy District Attorney Alexandria Chrysanthis said that maybe if that crime was punished differently, Leslie Dennis wouldn't be the victim of "domestic murder."

The couple's daughter, Lisa Flemming, told police her father had a history of domestic violence, and she gave officers a statement about what happened the day of the killing.

Fleming said her parents were fighting because her father wanted to use a credit card but her mother had it and she wasn't home, the report says. Leslie Dennis had spent the night at her daughter's apartment and went home around noon.

Fleming said she called her mother to say she was on her way over to swim in their pool, according to police. Fleming said her mother told her that her father had a loaded gun.

Fleming told her mother she was going to call police, but Leslie Dennis told her not to, police said. When Fleming pulled up to the house moments later, the police were there and she found out her father had shot her mother, the report says.

She told police that "her dad has been beating her mom for years," and every time he beat her he had been drunk, the report says.

About eight months earlier, Jesse Dennis threw an ash tray at Leslie Dennis and she needed stitches for the head wound it caused, Fleming told police. She said her mother talked her out of calling the police.

About two years ago, her father pointed a gun at her mother, called her names and threatened to kill her, the report says. He also pointed a gun at his daughter and told her to get out of the house, Fleming told police.