ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, January 22, 1997 TAG: 9701220045
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-5 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: MANASSAS
SOURCE: Associated Press
A PSYCHIATRIST HIRED by defense attorneys says Eugene Bennett apparently has multiple personalities.
Eugene Bennett, whose trial begins Monday, will ask that proceedings be moved out of Prince William County because of extensive publicity.
A former FBI agent accused of trying to kill his estranged wife and taking a Methodist minister hostage suffers from multiple personalities, a defense psychiatrist found.
Eugene Bennett will stand trial Monday for attempted murder, abduction and a long list of other charges. He will claim he was temporarily insane on June 23, when he is accused of carrying out a complicated plot against his then-wife, Marguerite Bennett.
Marguerite Bennett, also a former FBI agent, is expected to testify against her husband next week.
Eugene Bennett wants the trial moved out of Prince William County, claiming extensive publicity about the case ruin his chances for a fair trial.
If the trial is held in Manassas, the jury should be sequestered, his attorneys claimed in documents filed Friday.
``Since Mr. Bennett has already been prejudiced by massive pretrial media publicity and improper comments made by the common- wealth's attorney, it is unlikely that the jury, unless sequestered, will be able to decide this case free from outside influ- ence,'' Bennett's lawyers wrote.
Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney James Willett said Prince William has successfully picked juries in high-profile cases before, notably the 1993 Bobbitt malicious wounding trial.
``There's a presumption that a jury can be impartial. We've never had any difficulty,'' Willett said Tuesday.
The involvement of crime novelist and Richmond resident Patricia Cornwell makes the case especially notorious, Bennett's lawyers wrote. Bennett claims that his wife carried on a lesbian love affair with Cornwell several years ago when the writer was gathering notes for her best-selling series about a sleuthing Virginia coroner. News stories about the case locally and nationally have focused on the celebrity writer and included unflattering details about Eugene Bennett that would not be allowed in trial testimony, his lawyers wrote.
``A media barrage at trial is a virtual certainty,'' the court filings said.
Bennett is expected to claim that anxiety over his wife's alleged lesbian lifestyle helped push him over the edge, but defense attorney Jeffrey Gans said Tuesday he does not plan to call Cornwell as a witness.
A judge will hear Bennett's request for a change of venue and 10 other motions at the start of the scheduled two-week trial.
Bennett has said he remembers little about the wild encounter at a suburban church, when his wife claims he waved a gun at her. In a jailhouse interview a few days after his arrest, Bennett said he suffered periodic blackouts.
A psychiatrist hired by Eugene Bennett's attorneys found he suffers from a ``disassociative disorder.'' The psychiatrist said Bennett may have separate personalities that operate independently of one another, and he may not be aware of all his actions.
Bennett also suffered repeated head injuries that could affect his thinking and had difficulty coping with the simultaneous collapse of his FBI career and his marriage, the evaluation by psychiatrist Robert Bishop said.
A psychologist hired by prosecutors found no evidence that Bennett has multiple personalities but acknowledged Bennett may not remember some of his actions.
Bishop did not return a telephone call requesting comment on the case Tuesday. Gans also refused to discuss the mental evaluation Tuesday.
Bennett was arrested at his home hours after the standoff at the Prince of Peace United Methodist Church. He told officers he could not surrender before quelling his evil alter ego, Ed. When Bennett emerged, he told police he had locked Ed in the garage.
In ensuing days police found bombs and bomb components they say Bennett scattered around Northern Virginia, including a pipe bomb in a storage locker at his wife's office. Prosecutors claim Eugene Bennett conned another woman into taking out life insurance that named Marguerite Bennett, and may have planned to stage the deaths of both women to look like a lesbian murder-suicide.
Bennett faces up to two life terms in prison if convicted.
LENGTH: Medium: 83 linesby CNB