A man awaiting trial for kidnapping and strangling a 16-year-old Michigan girl to prevent her from testifying against her accused rapist has died of cancer, officials said.
Gerald Bennett, 63, of Detroit, was admitted to Sparrow Hospital in Lansing on Nov. 7 for oncology treatment, U.S. Attorney Mark Totten said Tuesday.
Bennett, who was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia, was placed on a ventilator the next day after “his health deteriorated significantly.”
He died of medical complications Monday, the US Attorney’s Office announced.
Bennett’s death came just 3 months before jury selection was set to begin in his federal trial stemming from the 2018 kidnapping and murder of 16-year-old Mujey Dumbuya.
In 2017, Dumbuya had accused Quinn James – a maintenance worker at his high school – of sexually assaulting him when he was 15.
He was scheduled to testify at the trial in April 2018.
Gerald Bennett, 63, has died of cancer while awaiting trial in the kidnapping and murder of a 16-year-old Michigan girl. Kent County Correctional Facility Mujey Dumbuya was strangled to death in 2018, just months before testifying at trial. Kalamazoo Public Safety
But in January 2018 — four months before he was scheduled to testify — Dumbaya was kidnapped from a bus stop, and his half-naked body was found days later dumped in the woods in Kalamazoo, about 50 miles southeast of his hometown of Grand Rapids. house.
The girl had been strangled.
Totten said James hired Bennett to help him kidnap and kill Dumbuya, and both men were charged in state court with murder.
James, 48, was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced in April 2019 to life in prison without the possibility of parole — but Bennett was ruled incompetent to stand trial, and the charges against him were dropped in March 2022.
Dumbuya had accused Quinn James — a maintenance worker at his school — of sexually assaulting him when he was 15. Dumbuya’s half-naked body was found in the woods in Kalamazoo, Michigan, days after he was abducted from a bus station. GoFundMe
The case was later referred to the FBI and federal prosecutors, and a federal grand jury indicted Bennett in August of last year on charges of conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire resulting in death; kidnapping resulting in death; kidnapping a minor victim, and solicitation to commit a crime of violence.
A forensic psychologist concluded that Bennett had faked incompetence.
“While Bennett was in custody awaiting his competency hearing, he allegedly solicited another murder-for-hire in an effort to silence a key witness,” the US attorney’s office said. “Bennett also allegedly admitted to inmates at the jail that he was faking his incompetence.”
James, 48, was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison in 2019. AP
A judge ruled last April that Bennett was competent to stand trial on February 26.
After his death, the federal case against Bennett was dismissed.
“The allegations in this case are heinous and I deeply regret that we will never present the evidence against Mr. Bennett in open court,” Totten said. “At best, our efforts can only guarantee justice. We can’t bring Mujey back. But the role of justifying a conviction is important.”
With Postal wire
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
