Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, December 7, 1994 TAG: 9412070101
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Christopher D. Bennett, 24, pleaded guilty Monday under a special plea in which the defendant maintains his innocence while conceding the state has sufficient evidence to convict him.
Three other sodomy charges - two involving the same boy and the other his younger brother - are pending. Bennett was to have been tried by a jury on all four charges Tuesday until he decided to enter a plea Monday. An indictment charging Bennett with raping the boys' 14-year-old sister was dropped in August.
Bennett will be sentenced after the preparation of a comprehensive mental evaluation, a victim-impact statement and a background report.
The charge against Bennett involved an incident when he was baby-sitting the 11-year-old and his younger brother more than two years ago, said Peggy Frank, assistant commonwealth's attorney.
"The defendant had rented some dirty movies for them to watch," and had put the boy's younger brother in a bedroom, jamming the door by placing a chair under the doorknob, Frank told Circuit Judge Ray Grubbs. Bennett forced the 11-year-old to perform oral sex and then struck him when he pulled away, Frank said.
The boy told authorities Bennett had threatened him if he told anyone what happened, Frank also told the judge.
When interviewed by Christiansburg police, Bennett admitted his actions were mistake, according to his statement read in court.
Bennett's attorney, Joe Painter, said after court that the "dirty movie" Frank referred to was "Porky's Revenge," not a movie classified as pornographic.
He characterized Bennett as "socially naive" and asked for an evaluation "so the court can see a total picture of the defendant's psychological and emotional profile."
by CNB