State v. Lingmann

2014 UT App 45, 320 P.3d 1063, 754 Utah Adv. Rep. 29, 2014 WL 685599, 2014 Utah App. LEXIS 40
CourtCourt of Appeals of Utah
DecidedFebruary 21, 2014
DocketNo. 20111024-CA
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 2014 UT App 45 (State v. Lingmann) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Utah primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Lingmann, 2014 UT App 45, 320 P.3d 1063, 754 Utah Adv. Rep. 29, 2014 WL 685599, 2014 Utah App. LEXIS 40 (Utah Ct. App. 2014).

Opinion

ROTH, Judge:

T1 Defendant Dennis Lingmann was arrested in 2008 for multiple sex offenses involving a minor. While awaiting trial in the Salt Lake County Jail, he offered his cellmate (Cellmate) $2,000 to kill the minor and [1066]*1066her family. Cellmate contacted investigators, who requested that he surreptitiously record further conversations with Lingmann. Cellmate agreed and recorded two conversations in which Lingmann renewed the offer. Lingmann was charged and convicted of six counts of solicitation to commit aggravated murder, and the trial court imposed six consecutive sentences of five years to life in prison. Lingmann appeals, arguing that he received ineffective assistance of counsel, that three of his convictions were unsupported by the evidence, and that imposing six consecutive sentences was an abuse of discretion. We affirm.

BACKGROUND

12 Lingmann performed odd jobs and worked as a subcontractor for a family-owned business between 2005 and 2008.2 Mother, who co-owned the company with Father, described their office as "more of a home family atmosphere than it is a working office building" and often invited their daughters to the office for weekly staff lunches. As a result, the daughters were "familiar with all of the people there who came and went," including Lingmann, who quickly became a "trusted family friend."

13 In early 2006, however, Lingmann began an inappropriate relationship with one of the family's daughters (Daughter), who was a minor at the time. The relationship continued for three years until Daughter disclosed disturbing details of Lingmann's conduct to her parents and cooperated in the State's subsequent investigation. During the relationship, Lingmann sent Daughter "pretty vile" messages via phone and email, including pornographic images, many of which involved children. He also engaged in unlawful sexual activity with Daughter multiple times. After Daughter ended the relationship, Ling-mann continued to send her threatening and inappropriate messages, and her parents eventually obtained a no-contact order.

T 4 In March 2009, the State charged Ling-mann with ten counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, two counts of stalking, and four counts of unlawful sexual activity with a minor. He was then incarcerated in the Salt Lake County Jail for several months awaiting trial. Lingmann eventually pleaded guilty to four felony sex offenses and stalking.

15 In jail, one of Lingmann's first cellmates was a man who had been arrested on drug charges in March 2009. Cellmate and Lingmann worked in the kitchen together and developed a rapport. Lingmann opened up about his relationship with Daughter and the pending sex-offense charges against him. According to Cellmate, Lingmann also of fered him "some quick money" to kill Daughter's parents because

[Daughter's parents] push{ed] the issue, like they told their daughter, you got to go and press charges on [Lingmann] for what [he's] doing to you.... And [Lingmann] told me the reason he was in jail right now is because [Daughter's] parents don't like him, so they force her to press sex charges that he was in jail for. That's why he wanted to get that done, that killing done so they won't go testify against him, so he will go free.

T6 Cellmate said that Lingmann initially offered him $8,000 and his truck. He was supposed to pick up a gun from Lingmann's brother, and Lingmann promised to pay him with the proceeds of a Utah Labor Commission complaint he had filed against the family's company.

T7 In late April, Cellmate was moved to a different cell after an injury made it difficult for him to continue working in the kitchen. About two weeks later, Cellmate sent a letter to the district attorney's office, claiming that Lingmann had "told [him] how, when{,] where, he used to have sex with [Daughter], since she was 15" and that Lingmann said "he would pay [Cellmate] 8,000 dollars to kill [Daughter's] parents." In response to the letter, investigators met with Cellmate several times to gather more information. In one [1067]*1067of these interviews, Cellmate agreed to surreptitiously record conversations with Ling-mann.

T8 Jason Jones, Sergeant of the Unified Police Department's violent crimes unit, made arrangements for Cellmate and Ling-mann to be returned to the same cell. Sometime in late May or early June, Cellmate said Lingmann approached him again, but this time he "wanted the whole family" killed, not just the parents, and asked him to burn the family's house down with gasoline. Initially, Lingmann said he wanted to spare Daughter and wrote a letter to Cellmate's wife instructing her to find out if Daughter still had feelings for him. According to Cellmate, when Lingmann received no response, he told Cellmate to "kill everybody."

9 On June 16, Sergeant Jones met with Cellmate again and gave him a small recording device. Over the next two weeks, Cellmate recorded two conversations with Ling-mann. In the first conversation, Lingmann mentioned that he had recently accepted a plea agreement in the sex-offense case. He was upset that Daughter told the police "everything" about their relationship, but Ling-mann still thought Daughter's "parents have a big thing to do about it as far as her testifying." Cellmate told Lingmann he was going to burn the house down as they had planned and asked Lingmann if Daughter still lived in her parents' home. Lingmann responded, "as far as anything her life is in God's hands," adding that because Daughter "did nothing to try to keep me out of here," "she's just as big a part as her mom and dad is." Cellmate also asked Lingmann what would happen to Lingmann's labor-commission complaint if the family were killed. "Well, if they're dead," Lingmann responded, "I don't give a shit." Lingmann gave Cellmate the family's address and described the vehicles that would be in the driveway when the family was home. Lingmann also told him when all the family members were most likely to be in the house during the day and

warned him about obstacles he should be wary of to avoid being eaught. Lingmann reassured Cellmate that the family had "so many other people that are pissed off at [them] ..., they would have a list of people that they would have to check with because so many people ... want to see them dead."

{ 10 In the second recorded conversation, Lingmann detailed the layout of the family's home, including where each member of the family slept. When Cellmate asked if it was okay to kill one of the sisters, Lingmann said she "can definitely burn, because she's a dumb ass bitch." He told Cellmate that the other two sisters could "burn too." When Cellmate pressed Lingmann on whether he was sure he wanted the whole family dead, Lingmann hesitated at first about Daughter: "If, if [Daughter] writes me back, I don't know, it's hard to say." But when Cellmate expressed concern that Lingmann would report him to police if Daughter happened to be killed with the others, Lingmann assured Cellmate that he had made up his mind that Daughter should be killed "no matter what [she] says because [she] had her chance." Lingmann then gave him detailed directions to the family's home and admonished Cellmate to make sure he got everyone because if he did not, it "would be a winning situation for them because they have insurance on the house." This time, Lingmann offered to pay Cellmate $2,000 and assured him that he would get enough from his labor-commission complaint to cover the obligations3

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2014 UT App 45, 320 P.3d 1063, 754 Utah Adv. Rep. 29, 2014 WL 685599, 2014 Utah App. LEXIS 40, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-lingmann-utahctapp-2014.