County Names Special Prosecutor for Klingbiel Case

A special prosecutor has been brought on by the Park County Attorney’s office to work on the upcoming trial of a Wapiti man accused of murdering his wife.

According to an article in the Casper Star Tribune, former Natrona County District Attorney Mike Blonigen will be assisting Park County Attorney Bryan Skoric in the case against 76-year-old Dennis Klingbiel, who is accused of killing his wife in August of last year.

Blonigen has the distinction of being the prosecutor in the state’s last successful death penalty case. In 2004, Blonigen helped convict Dale Wayne Eaton of the murder of Lisa Marie Kimmell in 1988. That conviction was overturned ten years later, after a judge ruled that Eaton did not receive a proper defense.

The Tribune reports that Skoric’s office is currently short handed, as one of the deputy prosecutors recently left to take a position in the Albany County Public Defender’s Office. Skoric says that Blonigen will be working from Casper and billing the County for his work.

The case is set for trial in March.