For the third time, a DeKalb County man has been found guilty of killing his wife in 2010, officials said.
Dennis Allaben was convicted Thursday of malice murder, felony murder and aggravated assault, DeKalb district attorney spokesman Marcus Garner said. DeKalb Superior Court Judge Linda Hunter sentenced him to life without parole.
Allaben soaked a rag in ether and put it in his wife Maureen’s face before he strangled her, Garner said. He then wrapped her body in a blanket, put the body in the rear of his truck and drove to Virginia to take his two children to relatives there, Garner said.
He did this so the children would not be taken into state custody, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution previously reported.
Allaben then returned to Georgia, with his wife’s frozen body still in the truck, and turned himself in to police.
In June, the Georgia Supreme Court threw out his second conviction on grounds that the trial judge prohibited testimony from a defense witness who would have supported Allaben's claim that he didn't mean to kill his wife.
In his first trial in 2011, Allaben was convicted of murder and other offenses and sentenced to life in prison. But in 2013, the state's high court granted him a new trial on grounds that his jury rendered "mutually exclusive" verdicts — one that said he intentionally killed his wife and another that indicated he did not intend to kill or injure her.
At the time of her death, Maureen was a set decorator for “The Mo’Nique Show” on BET, as well as preparing food for advertising photos.
