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Denis Gailey kidnapping trial begins
Prosecutor calls Gailey a ‘desperate man with a sick plan’By DAWN THOMPSON, Messenger staff writer
SAC CITY — Proceedings began Tuesday in the trial of Denis Gailey, a Webster County man charged with two counts of first-degree kidnapping, one count of first-degree burglary and second-degree arson.
Gailey, 41, is accused of kidnapping his wife and daughter at gun point April 25 and leading police on a high-speed chase outside Fort Dodge. He is also accused of dousing his home near Moorland with diesel fuel in preparation for burning it.
The case is being tried in Sac County due to a change of venue request approved in November by District Court Judge Joel Swanson. A jury of 12 men and two women, including alternates, was selected from a pool of around 60 people by early afternoon.
In opening statements, Sarah Livingston Smith, an assistant Webster County attorney helping to prosecute the case, described Gailey as a ‘‘desperate man with a sick plan.’’
She told the jurors he put together his plan after being served with a protective order by his wife, Dawn Gailey, and learning he was under investigation by the Sheriff’s Department regarding another case. Livingston Smith said Denis Gailey went out, accessed a large amount of cash, bought a gun and began to hunt for his wife.
He found her four days later near their child’s elementary school where the state alleges he stopped her vehicle by blocking the road with the one he was driving. Livingston Smith told jurors he climbed into the back seat next to their daughter with his gun and demanded his wife drive to his father’s farm in rural Webster County.
While parked behind a shed on the farm, Livingston Smith said Gailey pointed the gun at his wife, asking her ‘‘do you want it in the head or the heart?’’ After a half hour of begging and pleading for her life, Livingston Smith said Dawn Gailey was told to drive to a storage place where they met a friend of Denis Gailey’s who had the cash he had previously collected.
Sheriff’s deputies were searching for the Gaileys by this time, Livingston Smith said, after finding the family’s home doused in fuel when executing a search warrant there. When officers came upon the couple, a high-speed chase ensued over 15 miles of gravel roads and black tops in the county. At one point, Gailey moved his wife from the driver’s seat and took control of the vehicle. Eventually, law enforcement forced the vehicle to spin out to end the chase.
In the opening statement for the defense, James Koll told the jury the charges against his client are based on twisted statements by an estranged wife.
‘‘This is a domestic situation in which a woman is anxious to get her hands on $85,351 — plus the house, the children, everything — and all she has to do is accuse him of these crimes,’’ Koll said.
There was no kidnapping, he said. The defense claims Dawn Gailey went willingly with her husband to talk about their relationship, which was in trouble. She was the one, Koll said, who offered to go with him to collect the money, and she was the one who failed to pull over for law enforcement.
Someone did vandalize the Gailey home, Koll said, but there was no proof to support arson.
The state began its case to prove its version of events with testimony by James Stubbs, a deputy with the Webster County Sheriff’s Department who served Denis Gaily with the protective order on April 21 at the Gailey home in rural Moorland.
Stubbs was followed on the stand by Anita Harris, manager of Shoppers Supply in Fort Dodge. She testified a box of ammunition submitted for evidence matched a store receipt dated April 22.
The trial continues today and is expected by the judge to run through the remainder of the week.
Contact Dawn Thompson at (515) 573-2141 or dthompson@messengernews.net
Gailey, 41, is accused of kidnapping his wife and daughter at gun point April 25 and leading police on a high-speed chase outside Fort Dodge. He is also accused of dousing his home near Moorland with diesel fuel in preparation for burning it.
The case is being tried in Sac County due to a change of venue request approved in November by District Court Judge Joel Swanson. A jury of 12 men and two women, including alternates, was selected from a pool of around 60 people by early afternoon.
In opening statements, Sarah Livingston Smith, an assistant Webster County attorney helping to prosecute the case, described Gailey as a ‘‘desperate man with a sick plan.’’
She told the jurors he put together his plan after being served with a protective order by his wife, Dawn Gailey, and learning he was under investigation by the Sheriff’s Department regarding another case. Livingston Smith said Denis Gailey went out, accessed a large amount of cash, bought a gun and began to hunt for his wife.
He found her four days later near their child’s elementary school where the state alleges he stopped her vehicle by blocking the road with the one he was driving. Livingston Smith told jurors he climbed into the back seat next to their daughter with his gun and demanded his wife drive to his father’s farm in rural Webster County.
While parked behind a shed on the farm, Livingston Smith said Gailey pointed the gun at his wife, asking her ‘‘do you want it in the head or the heart?’’ After a half hour of begging and pleading for her life, Livingston Smith said Dawn Gailey was told to drive to a storage place where they met a friend of Denis Gailey’s who had the cash he had previously collected.
Sheriff’s deputies were searching for the Gaileys by this time, Livingston Smith said, after finding the family’s home doused in fuel when executing a search warrant there. When officers came upon the couple, a high-speed chase ensued over 15 miles of gravel roads and black tops in the county. At one point, Gailey moved his wife from the driver’s seat and took control of the vehicle. Eventually, law enforcement forced the vehicle to spin out to end the chase.
In the opening statement for the defense, James Koll told the jury the charges against his client are based on twisted statements by an estranged wife.
‘‘This is a domestic situation in which a woman is anxious to get her hands on $85,351 — plus the house, the children, everything — and all she has to do is accuse him of these crimes,’’ Koll said.
There was no kidnapping, he said. The defense claims Dawn Gailey went willingly with her husband to talk about their relationship, which was in trouble. She was the one, Koll said, who offered to go with him to collect the money, and she was the one who failed to pull over for law enforcement.
Someone did vandalize the Gailey home, Koll said, but there was no proof to support arson.
The state began its case to prove its version of events with testimony by James Stubbs, a deputy with the Webster County Sheriff’s Department who served Denis Gaily with the protective order on April 21 at the Gailey home in rural Moorland.
Stubbs was followed on the stand by Anita Harris, manager of Shoppers Supply in Fort Dodge. She testified a box of ammunition submitted for evidence matched a store receipt dated April 22.
The trial continues today and is expected by the judge to run through the remainder of the week.
Contact Dawn Thompson at (515) 573-2141 or dthompson@messengernews.net
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