Judge dismisses perjury charge against Jesse Wendelsdorf

A judge has dismissed perjury charges against a man at the center of a controversial child abuse case. A district court judge today dismissed the charge that resulted from Jesse Wendelsdorf’s testimony in a December 6th court hearing. Wendelsdorf was found not guilty last summer in the death of two-year-old Shelby Duis of Spirit Lake, the daughter of his former live-in girlfriend Heidi Watkins. Both Watkins and Wendelsdorf were found not guilty of murder in the case, but Watkins was found guilty of child endangerment. Wendelsdorf was charged with perjury after admitting he made a false statement during the December hearing on re-opening Watkin’s case to look at new evidence. The judge says Wendelsdorf retracted his statements during the hearing, and Wendelsdorf could not be found guilty of perjury.