BROOKE BENNETT - Aged 12 years - Vermont (USA)

WCAX.com

August 25, 2009

Prosecutors to Seek Death Penalty for Jacques

Federal prosecutors will seek the death penalty against Michael Jacques, 43, of Randolph. Jacques is the man charged with the kidnapping, rape and murder of his niece, Brooke Bennett.

The decision came more than a week ago from United States Attorney General Eric Holder but was just announced Tuesday by Vermont's U.S. Attorney Tris Coffin.

In past interviews with WCAX News, Brooke Bennett's father said he wanted to see prosecutors seek the death penalty when Jacques goes to trial. Tuesday he got his wish.

(continues)

http://www.wcax.com/Global/story.asp?S=10988299

Breaking news 24/7

August 25th, 2009

Feds to seek death penalty for uncle accused of drugging, molesting, killing 12-year-old girl

http://blog.taragana.com/n/feds-to-seek-death-penalty-for-uncle-accused-of-drugging-molesting-killing-12-year-old-girl-149595/

ABC News

Aug. 25, 2009

By LINDSAY GOLDWERT and SCOTT MICHELS

Alleged Vt. Child Killer Faces Death Penalty

[/i]Michael Jacques Is Accused of Sex-Related Slaying of Brooke Bennett, His 12-Year-Old Niece[/i]

http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=8412539

POSTED FROM CACHED LINK – ORIGINAL ARTICLE LINK NO LONGER AVAILABLE

Burlington Free Press

27th August 2009

Feds Want Death Penalty

Federal prosecutors said Tuesday they will seek the death penalty in the case of Michael Jacques, the Randolph man charged with kidnapping, drugging, raping and killing his 12-year-old niece Brooke Bennett last summer.

The decision, disclosed in a “Notice of Intent to Seek a Sentence of Death” filed at federal court in Burlington, comes 13 months after Brooke’s disappearance and death gripped the attention of Vermonters and led to reform of the state’s sex offender laws.
Jacques is accused of plotting Brooke’s death for a month, persuading another girl who he had repeatedly molested to help him lure Brooke to his home and then concocting an elaborate scheme to make it look like Brooke had run away to meet someone.
Her disappearance June 25, 2008, triggered a massive search by police and federal agents. Her body was found a week later covered over with dirt in the woods a mile from Jacques’ home.

“Jacques committed the offense ... in an especially heinous, cruel and depraved manner, in that it involved torture or serious physical abuse to the victim,” federal prosecutors wrote in the notice filed with the court.

According to a statement released by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Burlington, the decision to seek the death penalty was made by Attorney General Eric Holder on Aug. 14.

Tristram Coffin was sworn in as the new U.S. attorney in Vermont one day earlier and said in an interview Aug. 14 he was undecided on whether to urge Holder to have his office pursue a death penalty sentence in the case.

Coffin declined Tuesday to say whether he had offered Holder any thoughts on the decision. Holder already had on hand a recommendation on the death penalty question from Coffin’s predecessor, Thomas Anderson.

Members of Brooke’s family said they were informed of Holder’s decision in a meeting at Coffin’s office Tuesday morning.
“I don’t feel free to comment,” said Cassandra Adams, Brooke’s mother. “It’s a lot to take in right now.” Efforts to reach Brooke’s father, James Bennett, were unsuccessful.

Lawyers for Jacques, who has been in federal custody since his arrest last year, said they were disappointed in the decision by prosecutors to seek the death penalty. Jacques is being held pending trial at a federal penitentiary in Ayer, Mass.

“We had hoped to resolve the case without a trial, but today’s announcement makes that impossible,” David Ruhnke, a Montclair, N.J., attorney who specializes in defending clients in death-penalty cases, said in a statement.

http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20090826/NEWS02/90826003 (LINK NO LONGER WORKING)

WCAX.com

September 11, 2009

Brooke's Stepfather Sentenced for Child Porn

Brooke Bennett's former stepfather was sentenced Friday to more than 16 years in prison.

In April, Raymond Gagnon pleaded guilty to child porn charges in federal court in Texas. He expressed grief and remorse in accepting the sentence.

Last summer, authorities searched Gagnon's San Antonio home and a nearby landfill for evidence in Brooke's disappearance. Gagnon is not charged in connection with her death.

http://www.wcax.com/Global/story.asp?S=11112379

Times Argus

September 12, 2009

By PAUL J. WEBER

Bennett's ex-stepfather sentenced

SAN ANTONIO— The former stepfather of slain 12-year-old Brooke Bennett was sentenced Friday to nearly 17 years in prison on child pornography charges that
surfaced while authorities investigated her disappearance last summer.

Raymond Gagnon, 41, expressed regret, while his attorney asked a federal judge to consider how Gagnon had sought to help Vermont authorities in the death of Bennett, a Braintree girl who police say was molested and strangled by her uncle last summer.

(continues)

http://www.timesargus.com/article/20090912/NEWS01/909120341/-1/BENNETT01

WCAX

December 9, 2009

Michael Jacques' Effort to Avoid the Death Penalty

Five months ago the U.S. Attorney General announced that federal prosecutors in Vermont will seek the death penalty for Michael Jacques, 39, for the kidnap, rape and murder of his 12-year-old niece, Brooke Bennett.

But Jacques' lawyers filed papers this week hoping to get the federal charges dismissed and have the case moved to state court where there is no death penalty. His lawyers claim the feds illegally exceeded their authority.

"The basis of the claim is that nothing that Michael Jacques did involved crossing state lines," Vermont Law School professor Cheryl Hanna explained.

Hanna said kidnapping had traditionally been a death penalty crime under federal law if the victim was transported across state lines. But she said that changed when Congress enacted the Adam Walsh Act to expand federal power to prosecute sexual predators. Now federal prosecutors can charge kidnappers and seek the death penalty even in cases like Brooke Bennett's. She was not taken out of Vermont. But Jacques allegedly used the internet to help commit the crime.

"So the theory is that even though Jacques didn't take Brooke Bennett across state lines, he used the internet to lure her to his home, by contacting somebody else via the internet and that's what gives this case federal jurisdiction.

(continues)

http://www.wcax.com/Global/story.asp?S=11646107

Burlington Free Press

January 8, 2010

By Sam Hemingway

Michael Jacques' attorney seeks dismissal of kidnapping charges

http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20100108/NEWS02/100108026/1007/RSS02

Burlington Free Press

February 24, 2010

By Sam Hemingway

Murder suspect Jacques wants trial moved out of Vermont

http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20100224/NEWS02/100224018/1007/RSS02

Times Argus

Published: March 2, 2010

By Thatcher Moats Times Argus Staff

Feds defend jurisdiction in Jacques case

Memo reveals new aspects of alleged rape, killing of Bennett

http://www.timesargus.com/article/20100302/NEWS02/3020325/1003/NEWS02

Newsday

29 March 2010

Jacques wants death penalty prosecution tossed

http://www.newsday.com/news/nation/jacques-wants-death-penalty-prosecution-tossed-1.1837524

News 10

18 May 2010

US says death penalty right in Brooke Bennett case

http://www.wten.com/Global/story.asp?S=12500893

Boston Herald

20 May 2010

Feds: Vermont man plotted from jail, threatened girl

MONTPELIER, Vt. - Federal prosecutors say a Vermont man awaiting trial for the rape and killing of his 12-year-old niece plotted from his jail cell after being arrested, at one point soliciting a friend to send an e-mail message threatening to have a 9-year-old girl killed.

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/national/northeast/view/20100520feds_vermont_man_plotted_from_jail_threatened_girl/srvc=home&position=recent

Barre Montpelier Times Argus

21 May 2010

Feds say Jacques tried to manipulate investigation

http://www.timesargus.com/article/20100521/NEWS01/5210348

Burlington Free Press

22 May 2010

Ex-stepfather pleads guilty in child pornography case


The ex-stepfather of Brooke Bennett, the 12-year-old Braintree girl allegedly kidnapped, raped and killed by her uncle in 2008, has pleaded guilty in federal court in Alabama to possession of child pornography.

Raymond A. Gagnon, 42, of San Antonio, Texas, entered his plea Thursday before federal Judge C. Lynwood Smith Jr. He was sentenced to 17 years in prison last year to a similar child possession charge in San Antonio.

http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20100522/NEWS02/5220309/Ex-stepfather-pleads-guilty-in-child-pornography-case

Fox News

25 May 2019

Attorneys argue spot for trial in death of VT girl‎

http://www.fox23news.com/news/local/story/Attorneys-argue-spot-for-trial-in-death-of-VT-girl/U0NePs4YhEyLqRu1hxjQAQ.cspx

Albany Times Union

26 May 2010

Lawyers seek venue shift‎
Defense in death penalty case want the trial moved to Albany

http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=934611&category=REGION

Twiglet wrote:Boston Herald

20 May 2010

Feds: Vermont man plotted from jail, threatened girl

MONTPELIER, Vt. - Federal prosecutors say a Vermont man awaiting trial for the rape and killing of his 12-year-old niece plotted from his jail cell after being arrested, at one point soliciting a friend to send an e-mail message threatening to have a 9-year-old girl killed.

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/national/northeast/view/20100520feds_vermont_man_plotted_from_jail_threatened_girl/srvc=home&position=recent

WCAX

25 June 2010

Law: Vt. schools must teach sex abuse prevention‎

DCF Commissioner Steve Dale tells the Brattleboro Reformer schools have been working to prevent sexual abuse for years, but the new law makes it mandatory.

The new law was written partially in response to the 2008 rape and murder of 12-year-old Brooke Bennett in Randolph.

http://www.wcax.com/Global/story.asp?S=12709395

Burlington Free Press

1 July 2010

195 mistakes found in Vermont's sex offender registry

The audit was done at the request of the state Legislature. The Legislature required the audit to see whether the registry was reliable and current before the registry is expanded as part of a law passed following the 2008 rape and slaying of 12-year-old Brooke Bennett in Randolph. But the unfavorable audit will delay the addition of addresses.

http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20100701/NEWS02/100630031/195-mistakes-found-in-Vermont-s-sex-offender-registry

Burlington Free Press

8 July 2010

Editorial: Sex offender registry must be accurate

Vermont's online sex offender registry can be a powerful tool in helping keep our community safer, but only if the registry is reliable. The problems reported by State Auditor Tom Salmon underscore the importance of getting the information absolutely right.

Too often, people accused of sex-related crime will turn out to have records of similar acts, yet their names can by missing from the registry. Worse than the missing names, however, are the presence of names that should not be on the list.
The audit was mandated by Act 58, the law passed in the wake of the 2008 rape and killing of Braintree 12-year-old Brooke Bennett. Her uncle, Michael Jacques, a convicted sex offender, is charged in her killing.

http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20100708/OPINION01/7080302/Editorial-Sex-offender-registry-must-be-accurate

ABC 40

19 July 2010

Vt suspect's lawyers renew anti-death penalty push‎

http://www.wggb.com/Global/story.asp?S=12831837

WCAX

19 July 2010

Jacques lawyers renew death penalty fight‎

http://www.wcax.com/Global/story.asp?S=12833140

Boston Globe

20 July 2010

Defense tries to block death penalty in Vt. case‎

http://www.boston.com/news/local/vermont/articles/2010/07/20/defense_tries_to_block_death_penalty_in_vt_case/

Barre Montpelier Times Argus

20 July 2010

Vt. suspect's lawyers argue against death penalty‎

http://www.timesargus.com/article/20100720/NEWS02/707209919/1003/NEWS02