As soon as a jury convicted Dennis Klingbeil of first-degree murder in August for killing his wife, the 77-year-old was all-but-guaranteed to spend the rest of his life in a Wyoming prison.

Whatever slim hopes Klingbeil might have had of one day being released were snuffed out Thursday, when District Court Judge Bill Simpson sentenced the Wapiti resident to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

In open court and in letters submitted by family members, Simpson heard how the August 2018 murder of 75-year-old Donna Klingbeil has hurt her familiy members.

Donna’s son, Brad Lanken, wrote a letter calling her “a beautiful, healthy, kind and considerate person.”

“And my stepfather, Dennis Klingbeil, robbed me and my mother’s grandchildren of her golden years over greed and animosity,” Lanken wrote.

Since his mother’s murder, Lanken said he’s had to attend therapy, another family member took their own life and one of Donna’s grandchildren dropped out of college due to depression.

“There is an impact, believe me, [from] your actions to everyone in this room, myself included,” District Court Judge Bill Simpson told Klingbeil, calling it a “tragedy of horrendous proportions.”

“It was an act that, by your own admission and description, could have and should have been avoided,” Simpson said. “She was loved by many and she’s gone — and she’s gone solely and independently of the actions, of the decision you made that night.”

Klingbeil shot and killed Donna amid a long-running dispute over how to split up the couple’s roughly $14 million estate; he then attempted to kill himself by ingesting a mixture of medications, but survived.

Klingbeil claimed at a weeklong trial this summer that the shooting was an accident, but a 12-member jury determined he had killed Donna purposely and with premeditated malice. The prosecution noted forensic evidence showing that Donna was shot at close range and that Klingbeil never called 911, even though his wife initially survived the shooting.

Klingbeil said Thursday that he doesn’t remember the incident — saying only that he “lost it” on that night in August 2018 — or even what he said at the trial.

Manslaughter versus murder

During a lengthy, generally apologetic statement, Klingbeil disclosed that the Park County Attorney’s Office had offered to let him plead to a reduced charge of manslaughter, an offense that carries a maximum sentence of 20 years.

Mike Blonigen, a veteran Casper prosecutor brought on to handle the case for Park County, explained in court that he felt the evidence against Klingbeil “was quite overwhelming.” However, Blonigen said he offered manslaughter because of Klingbeil’s age and in “recognition of how much damage Mr. Klingbeil had already done to his family and how much more would be inflicted by a trial.”

In his letter to the court, Lanken described his stepfather’s insistence on going to trial as both selfish and as a refusal to accept responsibility.

In his remarks to the judge, Klingbeil said he now wishes he’d taken the plea deal.

While saying that Donna’s death was “all my fault,” Klingbeil also defended himself on Thursday.

“My name’s been besmirched, my relationship with my wife has been misinterpreted in so many different ways …,” he said at the outset of his remarks.

Klingbeil argued he’d been nothing but generous and fair to his wife and that he had not acted out of greed. Klingbeil also sought to clarify a phone call he placed to his son shortly after the shooting, in which he asked that his dog be taken care of. Klingbeil said he only made that request out of concern that the animal would eat the couple’s remains — something that happened to another family member.

“To make an accusation that I thought more about my dog than my wife is absurd,” he said, saying that he still loves her.

A life sentence

Under the Wyoming laws that cover first-degree murder, Judge Simpson had only two sentencing options for Klingbeil: life in prison pursuant to law or life in prison without the possibility of parole.

The prosecution and defense acknowledged there was little practical difference between the two choices; given Klingbeil’s advanced age, he likely wouldn’t live long enough to be offered a chance at parole.

However, Blonigen said the court should send a message about the seriousness of domestic murders by imposing the tougher sentence.

“There seems to be some feeling in Wyoming ... every once in a while that killing one’s domestic partner is somehow a lesser form of murder,” Blonigen said, adding, “In fact in many ways it’s a more aggravated kind of murder, because it’s supposed to be a person you care about.”

For her part, Klingbeil defense attorney Donna Domonkos of Cheyenne argued for life with the possibility of parole “just so there is even a small glimmer of hope left in his life.”

Domonkos said her client was “very remorseful” and that “he’s also hurting, too” from losing his longtime wife.

Klingbeil noted that he and Donna were married for 43 years, traveling the world, owning roughly 200 rental units in the Cody and Miami areas and having a half-million dollars each in the bank.

“My wife and I had a great life,” he said.

However, hours before her death, Donna reportedly told her son that she wanted to leave the house, because Klingbeil was questioning the reason for living. In court on Thursday, Klingbeil apologized for not seeking treatment for depression and thoughts of suicide.

Prosecutor Blonigen argued that, setting aside the money and the couple’s older age, the case was much like many other domestic homicides he’s seen over the years.

“When you boil it all down to one thing, it’s when somebody loses control or feels they’re losing control over a situation and the other party, usually a woman, is leaving,” he said. “And they kill.”

In addition to the prison time, Klingbeil was ordered to pay a $10,000 fine, to cover nearly $6,200 worth of costs associated with prosecuting him and other fees that Simpson said would total around $20,000.

The judge took some time circling around what sentence he would impose before ultimately ruling that the life sentence would come without the possibility of parole.

“It’s a sad and tragic day that we even come to this point,” he said.