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Ex-prison guard who stabbed his wife to death loses appeal
ANNIE YAMSON
Special to the Legal News
Published: August 10, 2015
In the 9th District Court of Appeals recently, a panel of three judges ruled that William Dembie, a former Lorain County Jail corrections officer, was properly convicted and sentenced for the murder of his wife, Holly Dembie.
The ruling affirmed the judgment of the Lorain County Court of Common Pleas which heard the case at a bench trial.
After hearing the evidence, the Lorain County court acquitted Dembie of aggravated murder but found him guilty of two counts of murder, two counts of felonious assault and a count of domestic violence.
At sentencing, Dembie argued that his convictions were allied offenses of similar import that should merge.
The state disagreed, arguing that Dembie had committed the felonious assault separate from Holly’s murder.
The trial court determined that one of the felonious assault charges should not merge and it sentenced Dembie on one of the murder counts and one of the felonious assaults to 15 years to life and five years, respectively, for a total of 20 years to life in prison.
On appeal to the 9th District court, Dembie challenged the trial court’s refusal to merge the offenses. According to him, the murder and felonious assault took place as part of the same course of action.
Writing on behalf of the court of appeals, Presiding Judge Jennifer Hensal laid out the facts of the case in order to determine whether the offenses were, in fact, allied offenses of similar import.
“Although there is some dispute whether the events in this case occurred over the course of second or minutes, the parties do not dispute what occurred,” she wrote.
Case summary states that, on Aug. 11, 2011, a call came in on the direct line of the Lorain County Sheriff’s Office and Joiann Sanchez, a dispatcher, answered the call.
Dembie, who was employed as a corrections officer at the time and knew Sanchez personally, identified himself and told Sanchez that he had killed his wife, Holly.
A recording of the call was released to the public. In it, Dembie can be heard calmly stating that he killed his wife.
The recording begins with Dembie asking, “Who is this?”
“Oh Dembie, this is Joi,” Sanchez replies.
Dembie then says something about a fight and then his address. In an attempt to clarify Sanchez asks, “A fight?”
“No, like, almost a beheading, yeah,” Dembie replies.
A noticeably rattled Sanchez can then be heard saying, “A beheading?”
“Yeah I killed her,” Dembie says to Sanchez, who then asks, “Who did you kill, Dembie?”
Dembie replies, “My wife,” pauses, and then adds, “My ex wife,” and chuckles.
The recording indicates that, when Sanchez asks if Dembie is armed or has any weapons in the house, he replies, “I’m not dangerous, I just couldn’t deal with her s--- anymore.”
Deputies were sent to Dembie’s house where he was taken into custody. He recounted to detectives the events that led to the death of his wife, maintaining the entire time that he acted in a fit of rage.
Court documents state that, during an argument on the night of the murder, Dembie struck Holly in the face.
News reports from the time state that the Dembies were having marital problems and that they had been sleeping in separate bedrooms for some time.
Court records state that Dembie went into his room and retrieved a sheathed knife that he held while speaking with Holly.
“Mr. Dembie became upset when (Holly) told him what he wanted to hear because he believed that she was lying to him,” case summary states.
When Holly attempted to run out of the house, Dembie grabbed her and a struggle ensued. Holly was able to get away by removing her shirt and then locking herself in the bathroom.
Dembie proceeded to kick in the bathroom door and a new struggle ensued.
He stabbed Holly several times as she tried to escape out of the second-story bathroom window and then fell after being stabbed in the abdomen.
Dembie then proceeded to walk downstairs and through the house, out the back door to where Holly was laying and then stabbed her repeatedly and cut her throat twice, killing her. He then placed the phone call to Sanchez.
After reviewing the record, the court of appeals sided with the state in finding that the felonious assault occurred before Holly fell out of the bathroom window.
“The state urged for the court to conclude that the felonious assault that occurred as (Holly) attempted to flee out of the bathroom window to have happened with an animus separate from that the subsequent killing,” Hensal wrote.
Dembie, on the other hand, argued that the evidence demonstrated that he had not formed a separate animus between the first stabbing and the cuts that finally killed his wife.
“Upon review of the record, we agree with the trial court’s determination that Mr. Dembie’s convictions for felonious assault with a deadly weapon and murder are not allied offenses,” Hensal wrote, noting that the fall from the window interrupted the attack. “Although he resumed the attack a short time later, the fall created a distinct line of demarcation between the attack the occurred in the house and the one that occurred after (Holly) fell.”
The reviewing court concluded that the murder was committed with a separate animus and that it should not have merged with the felonious assault.
The appellate panel went on to overrule Dembie’s final arguments that his right to due process and to know the charges against him were violated.
“Mr. Dembie’s assignments of error are overruled and the judgment of the Lorain County Court of Common Pleas is affirmed,” Hensal concluded.
Judges Donna Carr and Julie Schafer joined Hensal to form the majority.
The case is cited State v. Dembie, 2015-Ohio-2888.
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