ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, August 14, 1996 TAG: 9608140064
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: MANASSAS
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
THOUGHTS OF HIS WIFE having an affair and of losing custody of his daughters drove the ex-FBI agent over the edge, his defense lawyer claims.
The estranged wife of a former FBI agent pleaded with her husband not to kill her and her minister after the husband ambushed them inside a church, the minister said Tuesday.
``She was shouting, `No, Gene, no. Don't do this,''' the Rev. Edwin Clever testified at a preliminary hearing for Eugene Bennett.
Bennett slumped in his chair while Clever detailed how a mysterious caller lured him to the Prince of Peace United Methodist Church on June 23.
``Someone jumped up out of the stairwell pointing a gun at me, asking me if I wanted to live,'' Clever testified.
Bennett, 41, is charged with abducting Clever and with four related felonies.
A Prince William County judge sent the case to a grand jury that meets Sept. 3.
The hearing adds detail to the bizarre case of Bennett and his wife, Marguerite, also a former FBI agent. In petitions Eugene Bennett filed in his divorce and custody fight, he accused Marguerite Bennett of having an affair with best-selling crime novelist Patricia Cornwell. Neither woman has commented on the allegation.
Eugene Bennett's lawyer, Reid Weingarten, has indicated he will use an insanity defense. Weingarten said Tuesday that Eugene Bennett could not stand the idea that a lesbian would raise his two young daughters.
Military service and his FBI career ``did not prepare him for his wife's alternative lifestyle, a lifestyle he abhorred, and a lifestyle he thought presented a danger to his little girls,'' Weingarten said after the two-hour hearing.
Marguerite Bennett did not appear in court.
Clever said a gunman in a ski mask forced him to the floor of the church, put a gun behind his head and shackled him to a chair. The assailant also strapped what he said were plastic explosives around Clever's waist. The explosive turned out to be Play-Doh.
Later, the gunman threatened to harm the minister's children unless he summoned Marguerite Bennett to the church, Clever said.
Clever said he had met Eugene Bennett before but did not recognize him. The minister had been scheduled to testify on Marguerite Bennett's behalf at a custody hearing.
Clever said he was ordered to call Marguerite Bennett and ask her to meet him at the church. Marguerite Bennett was suspicious and brought her gun. Eugene Bennett jumped out at her and the two began arguing, Clever said.
``I heard lots of commotion and then I saw her dive through my office and take cover behind my desk,'' Clever said.
From behind the desk, Marguerite Bennett aimed pepper spray at her husband, and called out to Clever, he said.
``She said, `Edwin, you know we're going to die,''' Clever said. ``I said `I kind of figured that,''' he said.
Marguerite Bennett, 42, fired one shot at her husband, but missed. Eugene Bennett fled, and Clever was not harmed.
Police said they found live bomb components outside the church, in one of Eugene Bennett's cars and inside a storage locker at the community college where Marguerite Bennett works.
Eugene Bennett was arrested at his house June 24 after he held off police for several hours. He surrendered after he told police that he had been able to lock his evil alter ego, Ed, in the garage.
He could face 50 years in prison if convicted.
LENGTH: Medium: 71 linesby CNB