Plea Deal For Accused In Florence, Montana Beauty Parlor Triple Murders
Slow Motion Apocalypse
drug debt.
http://missoulian.com/news/local/article_b2a3d5f8-c28d-11de-b1cb-001cc4c03286.html
Man accused of plotting Florence murders gets deal clearing him of
murder charges
A man accused of plotting the grisly slayings of three women at a
Florence hair salon in 2001 has accepted a plea deal that clears him
of federal murder charges.
Lincoln C. Benavides, 35, is scheduled to plead guilty to two felony
drug counts next week in U.S. District Court in Missoula, according to
a plea agreement in the case. In exchange for his guilty pleas,
federal prosecutors will drop the remaining charges, including
allegations that he ordered the killings of Brenda Patch, Dorothy
Harris and Cynthia Paulus.
Under the agreement, Benavides, a convicted drug dealer, will admit to
federal charges of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and
distributing methamphetamine. Prosecutors will then propose a 30-year
prison sentence.
The 15-count indictment alleges that Benavides and co-defendant Brian
W. Weber, 33, were part of a drug ring that supplied large amounts of
methamphetamine to drug dealers throughout the region, and that the
murders were carried out in an effort to collect a drug debt.
Weber, who is also a convicted drug dealer, has not signed a plea
agreement. An attorney representing Weber would not discuss whether or
not plea negotiations have taken place in his client's case, and said
only that the defense team is actively preparing for trial. Weber is
scheduled to stand trial in March for the murders.
The three victims were found dead in November 2001 at the Hair Gallery
in Florence. Their throats had been slit.
Benavides' plea deal comes on the heels of defense motions alleging
prosecutorial misconduct and "outrageous government misconduct." Those
motions were filed under seal earlier this month and are not open to
the public. They ask U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy to dismiss the
charges against Weber and Benavides. Molloy has not yet ruled on
either motion.
Weber's attorney, Jackie Walsh of Seattle, said the government's
filing of a revised indictment alleging a broader conspiracy was
"improper," and vowed to challenge the strategy in court. It's not
clear whether the misconduct charges are related to the revised
indictment.
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Benavides and Weber were first indicted in April 2008, with
prosecutors alleging the murders related to a drug ring run by
Benavides between 1999 and 2001; the revised indictment expands the
scope of the conspiracy to 2004, and is the second revision
prosecutors have made.
"We think what has happened is improper so we plan to file motions
challenging it legally," Walsh said in a phone interview in June.
The U.S. Attorney's Office in Montana had to present evidence of the
conspiracy before a grand jury before filing the revised indictment.
It lists charges of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine,
distribution of methamphetamine, murder while engaged in drug
trafficking and violent crimes in aid of racketeering.
Court records describe Benavides as the leader of the drug ring that
sold methamphetamine in Idaho and western Montana. Weber was a lower-
level distributor, records indicate, but also an enforcer for
Benavides, beating up and threatening other dealers who fell behind on
payments.
"In the event customers could not or would not repay their debts,
Lincoln Benavides or one of his surrogates would utilize violence or
the threat of violence to directly procure the owed money, to
encourage later payment, or to send a disciplinary message to that
person and others," according to the indictment.
The grand jury indictment does not accuse Benavides of personally or
directly killing the victims. Instead, it alleges that Benavides
"counseled, commanded, induced or procured the killings of the
victims."
In the charges against Weber, however, the indictment explicitly lists
intentional acts leading to the triple homicide, which shook
communities up and down the Bitterroot Valley.
U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy has set a March 1, 2010, trial date
in the case.
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In preparation for trial, defense attorneys for Weber have been
sorting through 60,000 pages of investigative material, 120
videotapes, 400 audiotapes and hundreds of photographs generated by
Ravalli County authorities during the long-running homicide
investigation, according to their legal motions.
At least 150 government witnesses have already been identified to
testify at trial, and the defense has identified hundreds of other
people who may need to be interviewed. According to status reports in
the case, the bulk of the government's case is built on the testimony
of jailhouse informants and criminal accessories, such as drug
dealers. Those informants purportedly overheard statements made by
either defendant while incarcerated.
Weber's attorney, Al Avignone of Bozeman, said he expects the trial
will last between one and four months. However, Judge Molloy will
ultimately determine the length of the proceedings.
Tim Foley, a California federal defender representing Benavides, said
his client is currently serving a 40-year prison sentence at the
Montana State Prison, with 25 years of the sentence suspended. Foley
said he will ask that the federal sentence run concurrent to the state
sentence.
"Mr. Benavides has always denied any involvement in, or culpability
for, the Florence homicides, and of course, pled not guilty to the
charges in the indictment relating to that event," Foley said.
According to the plea agreement, the government "may object" to a
concurrent running of the sentences, and ask that they run
consecutively.
Assuming that Molloy accepts the plea agreement on Nov. 5, sentencing
will be scheduled after the Weber trial is finished, the plea bargain
states.
In addition to Molloy's scheduling order setting a change of plea
hearing in the Benavides case, the judge set a motions hearing and
status conference in both cases for Dec. 10. Numerous motions to
dismiss charges are pending, including motions to dismiss due to
double jeopardy, duplicity, lack of jurisdiction and because of
expired statutes of limitations.