Stephenson Given Life In Prison Without Parole

Tuesday, July 2, 2013 at 7:28 AM

Charles Robert Stephenson

file photo

ISP Detective Tracy Rohlfing (left) shares a smile with friends and relatives of Leigh Jennings following the sentencing of murderer Charles Stephenson.

Mike Perleberg-Eagle 99.3

(Lawrenceburg, Ind.) – At the wishes of his victim’s granddaughter, Charles Robert Stephenson will likely die in prison.

In May, a jury convicted Stephenson in the murder of Leigh Jennings. He used a pepper grinder and a large iron skillet to brutally beat the 67-year-old to death in her Aurora home before stealing money from her safe.

Stephenson, 59, learned his sentence in Dearborn Circuit Court Monday morning. After hearing emotional testimony from Jennings friends and relative, Judge James D. Humphrey handed down a sentence of life in prison without parole.

Stephenson sat emotionless in an orange jail jumpsuit as those testifying expressed their disgust with him.

Brandon Siebe, Jennings’ son, cursed at Stephenson during his testimony. He held up two middle fingers in Stephenson’s direction as he walked from the witness stand back to his seat in the gallery.

Others showed more restraint, but still had unforgiving words for Leigh’s killer.

“You changed my life. You took her away from all of us,” said Bryon Doss, Jennings’ neighbor who was the first person to find her bloody dead body in her home seven days after the murder.

“Hopefully the department of corrections gives you a Bible and you hold onto it as hard as you can, because you’re going to hell,” he continued.

Tracey Doss, Bryon’s wife and also a close friend of Jennings, called Stephenson a monster and told him that not one person in the courtroom would forgive him.

“You took a friend, neighbor, mother, grandmother, daughter, ex-wife. She was all of these things,” Doss said. “Leigh was the type of person that you want to be.”

Jennings was also about to be a great-grandmother when her life was taken by “insidious and evil intentions,” said granddaughter Victoria Siebe.

“I take some small measure of comfort knowing that the last breath you take will be in your cell,” she said.

Humphrey allowed Stephenson to be escorted out of the courtroom by the bailiff before adjourning court – an apparent effort to diffuse any possible confrontation in the courthouse lobby.

Outside the courtroom after the sentencing, Jennings’ friends and family hugged and shook hands with Dearborn-Ohio Prosecutor Aaron Negangard and lead investigator Indiana State Police Det. Tracey Rohlfing.

“They’ve had to endure watching the proceedings and not being given the opportunity to say their piece until after the sentence, due to the way Indiana law works in that regard. I think a lot of pent up emotion gets released at that time, but I think it’s beneficial they got that opportunity,” Negangard said.

The prosecutor also credited law enforcement for solving the case.

Stephenson’s public defender, Jeff Sharp, indicated that his client will be appealing his sentence and/or conviction.

“I don’t see any appeal issues so I think the verdict will stand,” Negangard remarked.

LINKS:

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