News - Local

Thursday, Nov. 05, 2009

Mistrial declared in murder case

PASCAGOULA — Senior Circuit Court Judge Kathy King Jackson late Thursday night declared a mistrial in the murder trial of Jennifer Benton after a jury was unable to make a unanimous decision about whether Benton shot and killed her husband on May 12, 2005.

The judge rendered the ruling after the jury deliberated for more than eight hours and said it was hopelessly deadlocked.

“Of course, we are disappointed,” Jackson County Assistant District Attorney Tanya Hasbrouck said. “We felt the evidence supported a guilty verdict. At this time, we expect to get a new trial date within the next week. We expect it to be tried in the next court term. The (victim’s) family ... was very disappointed.”

Benton, 43, is accused of shooting her husband, James Benton, 47, while the two were riding in their car along Mcphelia Street in Moss Point. Authorities didn’t learn of the murder until James Benton’s body was found in the couple’s car at Lucedale City Park. Benton died of a gunshot wound to the head at close range.

Defense Attorney Calvin Taylor said he felt the jury was unable to reach a decision because “the evidence was conflicting, and the jury saw it as conflicting.”

In closing arguments Thursday morning, prosecutors told jurors to consider a letter Jennifer Benton wrote that told of her alleged plans to kill her husband and herself. In the letter, they said, she also said how she wanted her property divided and where she wanted to be buried.

Defense attorneys pointed to Benton’s claims to police that she had been the victim of abuse at the hands of her husband for the length of their 21-year marriage. She said he beat her, put a pillow over her face and poured hot grease on her shoes.

The couple’s daughter recounted one incident, where she said her father beat her “like a man” after he learned that she was hanging out with a guy he believed to be a drug dealer. In another incident, she said she saw her father beat a man with a baseball bat after he pulled a knife on them at a Lucedale store.

The defense argued that Benton was acting in self-defense. Benton said her husband pulled out the murder weapon, a 9 mm handgun, from a glove compartment in their car before it fired for the first time. She said she thought she’d been hit, and she and her husband were tussling over the gun when it went off again, fatally wounding James Benton.

Benton claims the fatal shot occurred near the Wal-Mart entrance in Lucedale, something other witnesses disputed.

Several witnesses said they saw the couple’s white car swerving on Mcphelia Street, and then saw a woman in the passenger seat, later identified by other witnesses as Jennifer Benton, taking control of the steering wheel to keep it from running into a nearby yard. The defense questioned why none of the witnesses in Moss Point reported the incident.

In the couple’s vehicle, however, Lucedale police found in Jennifer Benton’s purse the murder weapon and 50 rounds of ammunition that she’d picked up the same day from a pawn shop.

Jennifer Benton throughout the trial and while the jury was out deliberating appeared unshaken.

The Rev. Robert Reeves, a friend of the victim’s family, said he was disappointed the trial ended as it did.

“First of all, it took a long time to get the case going,” he said. “The family of Mr. Benton need some kind of justice. This thing has been going on for four years, and that’s too long. It’s bad for both families.”

James Benton’s family disputed claims that he abused his wife, saying they never witnessed such abuse or saw any signs of injuries on his wife over the years.