Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, April 11, 1995 TAG: 9504110127
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: ROBERT FREIS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Short
Circuit Court Judge Ray Grubbs suspended five years of the sentence against Christopher D. Bennett.
The incident occurred in 1992 when Bennett, now 24, was baby-sitting the victim and his younger brother.
Three other sodomy charges against Bennett involving the two youths were dropped by Commonwealth's Attorney Phillip Keith during the sentencing hearing. Keith said those allegations could not be proved in court.
Bennett had pleaded guilty last December under a special plea in which the defendant maintains his innocence while conceding the state has sufficient evidence to convict him.
Dr. Issac Van Patten of the Roanoke Area Sex Offender Program testified that Bennett has a borderline developmental disability. The defendant also has the maturity level of an early adolescent and has not fully accepted responsibility for his actions, he said.
Keith said that Bennett's victim, now 13, has shown his own tendencies toward becoming a child molester since the 1992 incident.
Grubbs ordered Bennett to participate in a sex offender treatment program upon his release from prison. The judge also directed that under terms of probation Bennett have no unsupervised contact with juveniles.
by CNB