Judge Rules State Can Pursue Death Penalty Against Drew Planten
tiny dancer
Drew Planten Charged With Bennett's Death
POSTED: 6:47 am EST November 17, 2005
UPDATED: 8:36 pm EST November 17, 2005
RALEIGH, N.C. -- A judge ruled Thursday that prosecutors could pursue the
death penalty in the trial of a man they believe is responsible for
Stephanie Bennett's death.
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Police said Bennett was raped and strangled at her North Raleigh apartment
in 2002. Drew Planten, a former chemist with the state Department of
Agriculture who once lived near Bennett, was arrested in October 2005 and
charged in connection with her death.
Prosecutor Susan Spurlin said Thursday that Bennett's death was an
atrocious, heinous and criminal crime and that aggravating factors include
that the homicide was committed during a rape and possibly a robbery and
that Bennett's death may not be Planten's only murder charge.
Spurlin also detailed how ballistics from a gun used to kill a young woman
in Lansing, Mich., in 1999 matched those of a gun found in Planten's
apartment. Lansing authorities are investigating Planten in that homicide
case and could make a decision to charge him within the next two weeks,
Spurlin said.
If Planten is charged in Michigan, which does not have the death penalty, it
is likely that he would be tried there first, allowing prosecutors to use a
prior conviction as an aggravating circumstance for the death penalty in
Bennett's case.
Spurlin also revealed that a laundry basket that was found in Planten's
apartment by police was Bennett's
Judge Donald Stephens agreed with Spurlin that the case would be a capital
case and also agreed to protect specific witness information, such as Social
Security numbers, license numbers and birth dates. Under North Carolina law
the state must turn over all of its evidence to the defense. Planten's
attorney, Kirk Osborn, objected to any abridgment of this process.
"We're entitled to that material and to make a judgment whether or not it's
relevant to the case and to investigate the matter," Osborn said.
http://www.wral.com/news/5345274/detail.html
tiny dancer
POSTED: 3:27 pm EST November 17, 2005
UPDATED: 5:10 pm EST November 17, 2005
RALEIGH, N.C. -- A judge told prosecutors Thursday they can seek the death
penalty against the man accused of killing Stephanie Bennett.
Drew Planten, 35, is accused of murdering and raping 23-year-old Bennett on
May 20, 2002. Her body was discovered when her co-workers at IBM, worried
that she hadn't come to work, called the apartment manager.
Prosecutors also presented new evidence in the murder investigation on
Thursday, confirming that a gun that was taken from Planten's apartment was
used in the 1999 murder of Rebecca Huismann, a topless dancer, in Lansing,
Mich.
Huismann was found shot in the head in the parking lot outside her Lansing
apartment. Planten lived in the area before moving to Raleigh in 2000.
Raleigh police contacted Lansing authorities after searching Planten's
apartment. Lansing investigators recently took the gun with them back to
Michigan.
Local prosecutors said Thursday it would be two weeks before Lansing
authorities decide whether or not to press charges.
Prosecutors also said that semen found in Bennett matched the DNA that was
taken from Planten, and that a laundry basket that was missing from
Bennett's apartment was found in Planten's home.
"The crime was especially heineous and cruel. It was done during the
commission of a rape and possibly a burglary, and if Michigan decides to
charge him, that would be another aggravating circumstance," Wake County
Assistant District Attorney Susan Spurlin said.
NBC-17 has also learned that Raleigh police conspired with Joanne Reilly,
Planten's boss at the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer
Services, for took two months so investigators could swab a smidgen of DNA
from a pair of gloves he used at work.
The e-mails thatpassed between Reilly and Raleigh Police Department
investigator Ken Copeland detail the police's interest in Planten and
Copeland's efforts to get Planten's co-workers help collect a DNA sample.
In one exchange, Reilly suggested she could bring in some ice cream to the
office. "I may be able to get a used spoon for you without being too
obvious," she wrote.
In another e-mail, Reilly asked, "Are you still looking at his bike for DNA?
He did ride his bike today."
Reilly finally had Planten, a chemist in the Department of Agriculture's
fertilizer lab, conduct tests on limestone samples. He used gloves while
running the tests, and police were later able to obtain a DNA sample from
the gloves.
http://www.nbc17.com/news/5348588/detail.html
tiny dancer
Eyewitness News
(11/17/05 - RALEIGH) - Prosecutors said Thursday they will seek the death
penalty for Drew Planten, the man accused of killing Stephanie Bennett.
Police say Planten, 35, raped and strangled the 23-year-old woman in 2002.
The former chemist for the N.C. Department of Agriculture was arrested
October 19 as he left work.
A judge ruled Thursday that prosecutors could seek the death penalty for
Planten.
"The crime is heinous, atrocious and cruel," said Wake County Assistant
District Attorney Susan Spurlin.
She also told the judge Thursday that semen recovered from Bennett's body
matched perfectly with Drew Planten's DNA.
Spurlin also confirmed that ballistic testing on a gun taken from Planten's
apartment is a perfect match with the bullet that killed Rebecca Huismann in
Lansing, Michigan, in 1999. Planten used to live in Lansing.
Prosecutors expect Michigan police to file murder charges in the next two
weeks. They say a trial likely would be held there first, delaying Planten's
trial in Raleigh.
"If he is convicted in Michigan, that would be another circumstance for the
jury in making a decision in what the appropriate penalty is," Spurlin said.
Kirk Osborn is Planten's attorney. He says the once-unresponsive Planten is
now fully communicating with attorneys as they build a defense case.
Following Thursday's hearing, Osborn went to the N.C. Department of
Agriculture to investigate whether co-workers illegally helped investigators
obtain Planten's DNA.
"He's got a presumption of innocence," Osborn said. "You've got to
understand Drew. He is now interacting with us. The way he shut down upon
being arrested, it's just something in his character. In his personality
structure. It was not a ruse."
http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=triangle&id=3640964
scooter34
Here it is from our side...
Published November 18, 2005
[ From the Lansing State Journal ]
Gun in N.C. case linked to Lansing homicide
N.C. prosecutor: Weapon used in 1999 slaying
By Kelly Hassett
Lansing State Journal
RALEIGH - A gun seized during a search of accused killer Drew Planten's
North Carolina apartment last month fired the bullet that killed
Lansing woman Rebecca Huismann in 1999, North Carolina officials said
Thursday.
Susan Spurlin, Wake County's assistant district attorney, made that
statement during a hearing in which she said she'll seek the death
penalty for former Michigan resident Planten, 35, in the 2002 rape and
murder of Stephanie Bennett in Raleigh.
During that hearing, Spurlin said ballistics tests showed a gun that
police found in Planten's North Carolina apartment was used to fire the
bullet that killed Huismann. Her body was found Oct. 19, 1999, in her
car in her driveway.
Planten, a 1995 Michigan State University graduate who later moved to
North Carolina, was charged in October with murder in Bennett's death.
A search of his Raleigh home yielded several documents referring to
Huismann, according to search warrants - a discovery that prompted
Ingham County authorities to reactivate the investigation into
Huismann's unsolved homicide.
Ingham County Prosecutor Stuart Dunnings III declined to comment about
the gun, where it was tested or if any other materials in Planten's
apartment were related to Huismann.
Lansing police Lt. Bruce Ferguson also declined comment.
"We can't talk about any forensics tests that we do," he said
tiny dancer
"scooter34" <momofpe...@netscape.net> wrote in message
news:1132321067....@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
Thanks for the *other side*. I've been wondering about the Michigan side of
this. Have you seen any more about this creeps siblings? All we've heard
is about the brother who was arrested last year in Asheville I believe, for
setting up secret video recording equipment in the ladies room at his job.
td
>