Saturday, January 09, 1999
Defendant acquitted of raping teen
After verdict, he's arrested on new charge
BY RICHELLE THOMPSON
The Cincinnati Enquirer
LEBANON — A jury here found James H. Bennett not guilty of kidnapping and raping a teen-age girl after a dance party last summer at Paramount's Kings Island.
But moments after the verdict was announced Friday afternoon, Warren County jail officials served the 20-year-old with another warrant.
This one, from Lebanon Municipal Court, was for assault. Details were unavailable; the city court closed early because of the bad weather.
Mr. Bennett's joy from the acquittal — evident in whoops and hollers heard in the hallways of the commons pleas court building — was short-lived. He expected a release from Warren County Jail, where he'd been held since August. Instead, Mr. Bennett will spend his nights in jail until he can post the $2,500 bond.
Mr. Bennett's lawyer, Arica Underwood, argued in her first jury trial, that it was consensual sex gone awry. She said the girl, who was 15 at the time, got embarrassed when a cleaning lady interrupted the sexual act, so she contrived the story of rape.
The West Chester girl, now 16, sobbed Friday after the verdict was read. She had tearfully testified Thursday that Mr. Bennett raped her on the floor of a men's restroom at Kings Island.
“I think (the verdict) was wrong, and I know I was right,” said the girl, who is not being identified because of her age and the nature of the allegations. “I was there that night, and I know what happened.”
After deliberating for three hours, the five women and seven men on the jury voted for acquittal because they said there were too many inconsistencies in the testimony, Assistant Prosecutor Joanne Hash said.
“It wasn't that they didn't believe her,” Mrs. Hash said. “Just not beyond a reasonable doubt.”
Mrs. Underwood said the lack of evidence proved her client's innocence. She hinged the defense on the testimony of one witness, who took the stand for less than 10 minutes Friday. Daniel Lee Bibby, a forensic scientist with the Mi ami Valley Regional Crime Lab, testified he did not find any of Mr. Bennett's pubic hair in a sample taken from the girl after the Aug. 8 incident.
“The theme of my defense was: Things that make you go, "hmmm,'” Mrs. Underwood told the jury.
The girl testified she was waiting in line to leave the Mason amusement park about 1 a.m. after a dance party when Mr. Bennett, a park worker and casual acquaintance, approached her and said he would take her to a quicker way out, the employees' exit.
Instead, the girl said, Mr. Bennett forced her into the men's bathroom. He picked her up and put her on a sink, but she squirmed away, falling to the floor. The girl testified Mr. Bennett then raped her.
A custodian, Robin Duffey, heard a woman screaming, “Get your hands off me,” and pulled Mr. Bennett off the girl, according to testimony Thursday.
Mr. Bennett did not take the stand.
In his first statement to police, Mr. Bennett did not mention the sexual activity with the girl.
A few days after the incident, Mr. Bennett made a second statement, saying the sex was consensual and he was getting ready to stop when Ms. Duffey entered the restroom.
Mrs. Hash disputed that the girl, who did not know Mr. Bennett's name and only recognized him from a West Chester dance club, would agree to have sex after talking with Mr. Bennett for three to five minutes.
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