BRONX MAN IS SENTENCED TO UP TO LIFE IMPRISONMENT FOR THE BRUTAL MURDER OF HIS LOVER

Bronx District Attorney Robert T. Johnson announced today that a 38 year-old Bronx man has been sentenced to a term of up to life imprisonment for the brutal murder of his 32 year-old lover.

John Dingle, of 914 Hoe Avenue, the Bronx, was found guilty last March of Murder in the 2nd degree "under circumstances evincing a depraved indifference to human life," in the death of Clifford Clark. Acting State Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Strauss sentenced Dingle to a term of 22 years to life imprisonment.

Dingle fatally beat and stabbed the deceased in the head with a baseball bat and also stabbed him once in the chest in their apartment on September 4th or 5th 2001. Various members of the victim’s family had been trying to contact him by telephone for several days between September 4,through September 8, 2001. When the victim could not be reached by telephone, the victim’s uncle went to the apartment and discovered his nephew’s body.

Dingle, in video taped and written statements, admitted that he and the deceased had been living together and were in the middle of an argument when Clark was killed. Dingle said it was Clark who was trying to attack him with a knife and a baseball bat before he managed to disarm Clark. Dingle alleged that the stabbing was accidental and occurred when he fell on top of Clark while holding the knife that he had taken away from him. The medical examiner, however, testified that the deceased had a fractured skull and 17 stab wounds to his head. The medical Examiner was unable to determine the exact date that Clark died because the body was so badly decomposed when it was discovered.

Assistant District Attorney’s Michele Rodney and Rachel Filasto of the Homicide / Major Case Bureau prosecuted this case.