Lynchburg man sentenced for shooting wife, dog in separate incidents – Lynchburg News and Advance

Get the latest in local public safety news with this weekly email.
A Lynchburg man was sentenced Wednesday to six years in prison after previously pleading guilty to charges in connection with two separate shooting incidents.
Bennett
Dennis Lafayette Bennett, 31, entered guilty pleas Feb. 22 in Lynchburg Circuit Court to one count each of unlawful wounding, child abuse and cruelty to an animal causing injury, according to court records.
The unlawful wounding and child abuse charges stem from August 2021, when Bennett’s wife was shot in the abdomen, Senior Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Jessie Dumond said during a sentencing hearing Wednesday in Lynchburg Circuit Court.
She said Bennett’s wife suffered damaged organs from the shooting, and he claimed it was because a gun went off unintentionally while they were tussling over it.
For the animal cruelty charge, officers reported to Bennett’s apartment off Floyd Street on Aug. 4, 2020, to check on the welfare of his dog, according to testimony from Animal Warden Danny Marks at Bennett’s December 2020 preliminary hearing on the animal cruelty charge in Lynchburg General District Court.
Marks previously testified he was led into a back room, where he found a kennel full of dog waste and a dog nearby that was hardly moving. Dumond described the dog as emaciated and covered in filth.
Marks testified Bennett told him the dog was injured after slipping on rocks during a walk earlier that evening, but the story didn’t add up and an X-ray showed it had a bullet inside its affected leg.
Marks said Bennett eventually admitted to getting upset one day and shooting the dog. The incident led to the dog’s leg later being amputated, according to the officer’s testimony at the preliminary hearing.
Dumond said Bennett’s actions in the two incidents show a continued pattern of using firearms out of anger and covering it up without immediate remorse. She said sentencing guidelines called for a high end of two years and eight months and requested that Bennett serve three years on the charges.
“These are very serious charges that could have ended with the death of his wife,” Dumond said.
Lynchburg Public Defender Aaron Boone presented evidence of Bennett’s mental health issues from a professional evaluation and said a three-year prison sentence would have disastrous effects for Bennett and the community.
Bennett would not get the adequate mental health treatment he needs while in the prison system and he’s already been victimized in previous confinement at the Blue Ridge Regional Jail from August 2021 to February 2022 because of his small stature, Boone told Judge F. Patrick Yeatts.
The animal cruelty charge was reckless and unnecessary, Boone said while pointing to Bennett’s mental health issues.
“He can’t even take care of himself,” Boone said.
Boone said Bennett’s wife produced the firearm, he tried to put it away and the shooting was unintentional and not malicious.
Bennett has no criminal track record of being violent, has been punished enough in having his parental rights terminated and has taken many strides in the past year of doing what has been asked of him, including employment and a steady residence, Boone said.
The six months Bennett previously served had an effect on him, Boone said, and Boone asked that Bennett serve no additional jail time.
“I can say he’s been punished,” Boone said.
After Bennett apologized for his actions, Yeatts said he is sympathetic to the defendant’s mental health struggles but has to consider public safety of the community also.
The judge said, “God helps those who help themselves,” and Bennett could have helped himself by not owning a dog if it would anger him to the point of shooting it.
Yeatts said in choosing between jail and letting Bennett walk out of the courtroom Wednesday and promising to do what he needs to do under supervised probation, he doesn’t think the court order would be followed.
He said he feels the commonwealth’s recommendation of three years is generous for two “heinous and horrific acts” when the maximum for all Class 6 felonies is 15 years.
“I’m shocked by the guidelines,” Yeatts said. “Three years is not an appropriate sentence for shooting a dog and shooting your wife.”
He sentenced Bennett to three years of active prison time on the wounding charge, two years’ active time on the animal cruelty charge and a year active on the child neglect and suspended nine years of a combined 15-year sentence.
Bennett was credited for time already served toward the sentence and is ordered not to further own any companion animals, the judge ruled.
You’ve installed your home security system, but are you getting the most out of it? Here are four easy tips to keep your home extra safe.
Get the latest in local public safety news with this weekly email.
(434) 385-5551
{{description}}
Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.
A judge on Wednesday certified a felony charge of shooting at an occupied vehicle in connection with an October 2022 incident just outside Buf…
Three women charged in connection with a November home breaking-and-entering in Lynchburg will see their charges go before a grand jury, a Lyn…
A second-degree murder charge against a Lynchburg man accused in a city man’s fatal shooting at the Salvation Army’s property on Park Avenue w…
A jury trial set for this month in a Lynchburg murder case was continued after a judge granted a motion to appoint a new attorney for defendant.
APPOMATTOX — A jury on Thursday found an Appomattox County man guilty of first-degree murder in connection with a Lynchburg-area man’s October…
A Lynchburg man was hospitalized and faces multiple criminal charges in connection with a police chase Saturday that ended in a shootout, poli…
A Concord man who is among a group of defendants charged in connection with a Lynchburg-area man’s October 2020 death in Appomattox County ple…

A grand jury on Tuesday indicted Trenton David Mills Frye on a murder charge in connection with the October death of Katlyn Lyon Montgomery. Frye appeared in court Wednesday via video.
A former Lynchburg resident who federal prosecutors said conspired to distribute more than $4.5 million worth of cocaine through Central Virgi…

Bennett
Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device.

source