Newspaper Page Text
‘Buddy’ Bentley Given
17-Year Sentence
from front page
he said, but the bullet missed.
Bentley, on the stand,
recalled approaching Smith
and talking with him briefly,
but remem%ered nothing until
that moment. ‘I remember
him on his knees crawling in
the back door," he told the
jury.
Prosecutor Slack's ques
tioning hammered at a
motive, askini Bentley
repeatedlK why he fired on
Smith, who was unarmed and
unthreatening, according to
all testimony.
Bentley, his left hand
fidgeting with the side of his
face as it had virtually
throughout his testimony,
mumbled, ‘‘l really don't
know." Pressed again, he
responded: *' ...it had to be
something on account of my
boy."
The State's case briefly
faltered on the first day of
testimony Monday afternoon
when the first officer to arrive
at the scene, John Hensley,
identified the weapon found
there as a .38-caliger Smith
and Wesson. But when asked
to inspect the nickle-plated
gun during the hearing by
efense attorney Cook,
Hensley admitted that the
gun in court was in fact not a
mith and Wesson but a
Taurus Brazil model. Hensley,
who no longer is a sheriff's
deputy and works in Rome as
a security guard, said firmly:
“This is the weapon, sir. .. I
was excited that day.’’ The er
ror, however, proved not to be
a critical one. The Mills
testified separately that the
gun appeared to have been the
one used at the scene; Bentley
himself identified the gun as
his own.
The defense tried unsuc
cessfully to keep a signed con
fession from being introduced
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on the ground that Bentley is
virtually illiterate and could
not have read and understood
the document. But Judge Log
gins overruled the objection
and allowed Investigator
Tony Gilleland of the sheriff's
department to read the state
ment into evidence.
Gilleland told the court
that he took the statement
beginning at 10:37 a.m. the
day of the shooting, or about
an hour after the shooting. He
explained that he wrote his
statement verbatim, stopping
Bentley only to slow him
down or as{ an occasional
question.
“‘You mean [ didn’t kill
that son of a (expletive
deleted)?’ " Gilleland read. the
first line of the statement. It
rambled on, mentioning his
first wife's death (4 years ago)
and his son as ‘‘the only one |
got."”" In the statement
Bentley mentioned that his
son was drawing $350 in
Social Security benefits and
that $2,000 was supposed to
be saved for the boy. The boy
was taken from Bentley after
he had beaten him, Bentley
said in the statement, but he
vowed it was the first and last
time.
“Damn right I shot him.
You know I did,” he said near
the end of the statement.
Although denied by
Bentley and the Mills on the
stand, the prosecution
throughout the trial hinted
that money — rather than the
threatened separation from
his son — is what upset
Bentley about the turn of
events. The Mills testified
that Bentley never saw any of
the monthly benefit money,
and Bentley said he didn't
ever get, want or need the
money.
The only expert testimony
during the trial came from Dr.
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Alan Bowman, who
reconstructed the social
worker's arm after the
shooting. The surgeon said
the blast damaged soft tissue,
shattered much of the bone in
his upper left arm and damag
ed one major nerve. Dr.
Bowman, a Rome orthopedics
surgeon, said that his pro
gnosis for his patient was that
he would experience ‘‘some
permanent loss of motion at
the shoulder and the elbow."
While he will continue to im
prove, said Dr. Bowman, it is
“extremely ‘doubtful he will
regain the full use of the arm
and almost assuredly not the
elbow.” In earlier testimony
Smith showed the jury the
severe motor limitations of
his arm and noted that while
he could close and open his
left hand, he has no grasp. His
doctor estimated that his pa
tient's ability to use the limb
is currently about 50 or 60
percent that of a normal limb.
Smith testified that he could
not perform many simple
chores with the arm and hand.
The Mills and Bentley
were the only defense
witnesses. Mrs. Mills said her
father didn't seem himself on
the day of the shooting, that
he was quiet, withdrawn and
disheveled. She recalled the
shooting: *‘He reached behind
him and got the gun...and
pointed it at him. I started
screaming.’’ Her father looked
at her momentarily as if to say
“I'm sorry, Deborah” she
said. She said she believed he
was insane at that moment."”
Her father didn't attempt to
run away after the shooting,
she said.
Her husband said Bentley
“looked like he felt bad’’ that
day and appeared ‘‘mad.”” He
testified tEaL Bentley tried to
walk away after the shooting,
but that he steered him to the
pickup, where he was when
then — deputy Hensley arriv
ed.
The defense attorney, in
questioning the Mills and
Bentley, attempted to show
that over the last 4 years
Bentley had been the victim of
bureaucratic insensitivity
from DFCS workers, that he
was a ‘‘powder keg' waiting
to go off. Bentley testified
that even though he had met
DFCS rules so that he could
regain custody of his son, his
pleas went ignored. But the
prosecution maintained that
the DFCS workers were simp
ly following routine pro
cedures and had not
mistreated Bentley.
“The evidence will show
you that over the period of 4
years a train of events was set
in motion to change ‘Buddy’
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Wire Assemblies Inc., a manufacturer
based in Bucyrus, Ohio, is expected this
month to begin moving machinery into a
vacant Chattooga %ounty building
(shown here) and should have a plant
operating here in October, according to
local rea%tor Hugh Henderson. Hender
son, owner of the building that was
As Jury Is Selected,
Defendant Pleads Guilty
To Stabbing At Riegel
Waiting until after a jury
had been selected, a local man
plead guilty to an aggravated
assault charge Fri(fay morn
ing and received a three-year
prison sentence from Superior
Court Judge Joseph ‘“‘Bo”
Loggins.
Marvin Timmons, age 26,
of Route 1, Trion, plead gui]tly
to the aggravated assault
charge stemming from a stab
bing incident at Riegel Textile
Corp. in Trion on June 23. Roy
Bowers, manager of the win
ding department at Riegel,
was cut once in the lower
stomach area during the inci
dent.
After the four-woman/
eight-man jury was selected,
defense attorney Bobby Lee
“Buzz’’ Cook “\r. a({vised
Judge Logiins he had a mo
tion to make before opening
remarks were made. The jury
was dismissed to the jury
room until after the motion
was made.
Cook told Judge Loggins
that his client wanted to
change his plea from that of
not guilty to guilty. Judge
Loggins then t,afi(ed with Tim
mons, Cook, Bowers and
assistant -district attorney
Roland Enloe Jr.
Enloe told Judge Loggins
that after talking with the
defendant’s attorney, -the
state recommended a 3-year
prison sentence if Timmons’
guilty plea was accepted.
Judge Loggins explained
to Timmons that an ag-
Bentley into a time bomb,”
Cook told the jury in his clos
ing remarks. He charged that
the social workers had been
“‘grossly insensitive to him
(Bentley) . . . they jerked him
about.” And while that was
not justification for the crime,
he said, it provides the
backdrop for a man to go tem
porarily insane. He asked that
the jury not free Bentley, but
to have him committe(f to a
mental institution for treat
ment.
“The truth of the matter is
that ‘Buddy’ Bentley is a cold,
calculating, vicious man,”
prosecutor Slack told the jury
in his final remarks. That's
why, he said, Bentley was
unable to give a reason to ex
plain his act: ‘‘Because there
1S no reason,
Bentley knew full well
what he was doing, he said.
““He knew what he was Lryinfi
to do: He was trying to ki
him,” Slack said, noting that
Bentley had expresseg sur-
Erise to Gilleland that he
adn't killed his victim.
He scoffed at Cook’s
opening-statement request
that the jury “walk in ‘Buddy’
Bent]((?/'s shoes’’ in an effort
to understand the gunman’s
frame of mind.
“l want you to put
yourself in Jim Smith's
shoes,”” the prosecutor in
structed. “‘You are doing your
job, following orders, and
what happens? You're gunned
down for no reason.” Smith
came to the court seeking
justice, not pity, Slack said.
“A not guilty verdict by
reason of insanity is not
justice,”” Slack said.
He noted that Georgia law
provides that an individual
comes to the court with the
presumption of sanity, unless
there was enough proof to
rebut it. The only correct ver
dict in the case was a guilty
verdict, he told the jury.
Because of a funeral of an
out-of-town attorney who
g;‘acticed in the Lookout
ountain Judicial Circuit, the
trial was suspended before
noon on Tuesday. The J’ury
received instructions and its
charge from Judge Loggins
the next morning; hours later
the guilty ver(fict on both
counts, aggravated assault
and aggravated battery, were
returned.
Site Of New Plant
Breviously occupied by J. E. Messenger
0., said that the Ohio firm has signed a
1-year lease with him. A 5-year option
lease is also included in the agreement,
said Henderson, who credited the
Chamber of Commerce with helping to
secure the new firm.
gravated assault charge car
ries a sentence of from 1 to 10
years. Judge Loggins added
that he di(‘fnot, have to take
the state's recommendation
and could give Timmons the
maximum sentence. However,
Judge Loggins said, he would
accept the state's recommen
dation and sentenced Tim
mons to serve 3 years in a
state prison.
The charge alleged that
Timmons entered fiw Grey
Mill at Riegel without permis
sion “‘wielding and waving' a
knife at several people in the
mill. Timmons tEon, the
charge said, entered the office
of yarn mill manager Gary
Harris, threatening to stab
Harris. Harris was on vaca
tion, the charge said, and
Bowers was in his office using
the telephone. Timmons, the
charge added, became upset
and cut Bowers.
The incident, according to
Riegel Personnel Manager
Plyman Chappell, stemmed
from Timmons' denial of re
employment with Riegel. Tim
mons, who had worked for
Riegel on numerous occasions
the last being in February of
1980, could not be rehired by
Riegel due to its rehiring
policy. _
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