Man gets 60 years in prison after pleading no contest in girlfriend's death: Body was found in boyfriend's car

Jul 14, 2009 (Pioneer Press - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- LMSAF | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- Christopher Ledesma will spend the next 35 years in prison, but the family of the 19-year-old woman he killed says that is not enough.

A tearful group of Kelly Dahm's relatives and friends watched Monday afternoon as a St. Croix County judge sentenced Ledesma to 60 years, of which at least 35 will be in prison, followed by extended supervision.

Tim Dahm, who carried a picture of his daughter into the courtroom, left the hearing disappointed after Ledesma's plea deal.

"It was not what we expected and not what we wanted," he said.

Before being sentenced, Ledesma, 30, pleaded no contest to second-degree intentional homicide in the death of Dahm, his girlfriend, who was found Sept. 20 shot to death in his car outside the St. Croix County government center in Hudson, Wis.

He was initially charged with first-degree intentional homicide, but the charge was lowered in exchange for a plea. The first-degree charge carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.

Prosecutors and Hudson police officials told the court the sentence was appropriate.

In handing down the sentence, Judge Eric Lundell called Ledesma "a troubled person" who deserved to be behind bars for a long time. Ledesma will be at least 65 before he is eligible for extended supervised release.

Ledesma declined to address the court after sitting expressionless with his eyes lowered through most of Monday's proceedings.

But Dahm's family and friends took the opportunity to express the

loss they felt for a young woman who they said loved children and wanted to be a teacher.

"Kelly is gone, and he is going to jail, and family and friends are left to pick up the pieces," said Tim Dahm, who asked for the maximum sentence allowed.

"I can't imagine anything worse than having to watch a child of mine lying lifeless on a gurney in the morgue," he said.

Krysta Howes, who called Kelly Dahm her best friend, cried while reading a statement to the court.

"Kelly is in a safer place -- away from a controlling, manipulative animal," she said.

Ledesma's lawyer argued that there was evidence that Ledesma was not mentally competent. He said Ledesma suffered from panic attacks, depression and psychotic breakdowns and was hearing voices in jail.

Ledesma confessed to his wife shortly after the killing that he had shot Dahm, a criminal complaint said. Dahm's body lay slumped in Ledesma's car for hours in the parking lot of the county government center before police found it.

Ledesma was arrested outside his parent's Woodbury home after his family became frightened by his strange behavior and called police. A loaded .38-caliber revolver was found near him at the time of the arrest.

Ledesma was sentenced in Washington County District Court in February to five years in prison for possessing the handgun, which was illegal -- Ledesma was already a felon. In 1996, he stabbed three young Minnesota men at a Somerset, Wis., campground. He was tried as an adult and pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree reckless injury.

The Wisconsin and Minnesota sentences will be served concurrently, in a Wisconsin prison.

Dahm and Ledesma met while working at a restaurant in Woodbury while Dahm was a senior at Tartan High School in Oakdale. The couple had an on-and-off relationship. After living with Ledesma for a time, Dahm moved back into her parents' home the day before she was shot. According to investigators, she was trying to break up with Ledesma.

Andy Rathbun can be reached at 651-228-2121.

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