A 46-year-old man lost a bid to withdraw guilty pleas made almost a year ago to the second-degree murder of his wife and 18-year-old son in Tsay Keh Dene.
Justice Simon Coval rejected Orlan Marcel Dennis’s application on March 9 in BC Supreme Court in Prince George.
Dennis had claimed he did not understand the pleas meant a minimum 10 years before parole eligibility, maintaining that a verbal disability made it difficult to process communications.
Coval said Dennis acknowledged that his prior lawyer, Gloria Ng, repeatedly advised him of the minimum eligibility.
But, Coval said, Dennis claimed that had he understood, “he would not have pled guilty, but instead relied on the defensive intoxication to try to avoid the specific intent required for murder.”
Coval said Ng’s affidavit indicated Dennis understood that 10 years was the mandatory minimum waiting period and she advised him the benefit of certainty. She also advised him that, without the plea deal, he could be jailed for 15 years before he could apply.
Dennis was formally charged on April 12, 2024 with two counts of second degree murder, for the homicides of Darlene and Dorian Dennis, three days after RCMP officers were called to a home after a report of shots fired and injuries.
When officers arrived, gun-toting Orlan Dennis ran to another house. The North District Emergency Response Team arrived and negotiations failed. At 5:40 a.m. on April 10, 2024, Orlan Dennis was forced out by a chemical irritant and shot. He was treated in Prince George for non-life-threatening injuries.
Orlan Dennis pleaded guilty on April 15, 2025, admitting the facts of the case. He also told the court that no one had pressured or forced him to make the plea, because it was voluntary.
“When Mr. Dennis made his guilty pleas, he understood that the effect of his plea would be a minimum of 10 years before he could be eligible for parole,” Coval said. “This guilty plea was, therefore, not uninformed.”
Thumbnail photo courtesy of Prince George Citizen/Local Journalism Initiative.
