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Bentler stands to inherit $2.8 million
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| Assistant Iowa Attorney General Scott Brown claims Shawn Bentler (center) murdered his parents and three sisters to inherit his parents’ $2.8 million estate. At far right is Bentler’s attorney, David Sallen. |
By Robin Delaney/MVM News Network
KEOSAUQUA - About $2.8 million is what Shawn Bentler will inherit as the sole survivor of his family, unless he is convicted for murdering that family.
Bentler, 23, of Quincy, Ill., is on trial this week in Van Buren County District Court for the first-degree murder of his father, Mike Bentler, 53; his mother, Sandra Bentler, 47; and his three sisters, Sheena, 17, Shelby, 15, and Shayne, 14. The family was murdered in their rural Bonaparte home during the early hours of Oct. 14, 2006.
Keokuk attorney Curtis Dial testified Thursday the estate of Mike Bentler was worth $2.1 million, before paying off a mortgage and business loan, and the estate of Sandra Bentler was worth $925,467.
“After the liens against the property, the combined estate should be worth $2.8, maybe more depending on the sale of the real estate,” Dial said.
Dial said under Iowa law, a person convicted of a criminal act causing the death of a person cannot inherit any financial benefit from that person's estate.
Prosecutors claim Bentler was unemployed, had financial problems and murdered his family Oct. 14 so as to inherit the family fortune.
Dial said both wills were signed and filed in August 2003. Mike and Sandra Bentler named each other as the beneficiary of each other's wills. In the event that both of them died, the estate was to be divided among their four children, Shawn, Sheena, Shelby and Shayne, with Shawn, and Bob and Lisa Fitzsimmons as co-executors of the estate.
Dial says that if Shawn Bentler is convicted and unable to inherit his parents' estate, his daughters, Cloe, 5, and Avaley, 19 months, would be the next in line as beneficiaries.
Under cross examination, Dial said neither Mike or Sandra Bentler had contacted him to change their wills.
The prosecution completed its case Thursday morning, with defense attorneys David Sallen and D.J. Arbabha calling Bentler's grandmother and Sandra Bentler's mother, Julia Mendez, as a character witness. In a thick Spanish accent, Mendez said Shawn was never a mean child and that he didn't fight with his sisters, and often took them to school and picked them up.
“Always polite,” she said of her grandson. “What I see, he did get along with everybody because I never see him fighting with anybody.”
The defense will call more witnesses this morning, likely followed by closing arguments.
Prosecutors and defense attorneys also read testimony and evidence into the record that was mutually accepted by both sides. The defense presented the records from Fort Madison optometrist Dr. Carolyn Smith.
Sandra Bentler had been Smith's patient since 1981 and the defense claims her poor eyesight may have caused her to misidentify Shawn Bentler as the person in the house on Oct. 14 on a 9-1-1 tape.
The tape, also submitted by prosecutors, was made at 3:38 a.m. Oct. 14 by Shayne Bentler said she was instructed by her mother to call, but was not sure of the nature of the emergency. A few seconds later, Shayne said, “My brother is going to do something, but I don't know what.”
In the background Sandra Bentler is heard yelling, “Shawn don't!” which is followed by a gunshot. Shayne Bentler is then heard yelling, “Shawn, no!” before the line went dead.
A second call made to 9-1-1 by Shelby Bentler at 3:39 a.m. Oct. 14 on her mother's cell phone did not reach a dispatcher. The call just registered a series of clicking sounds. When a dispatcher attempted to return the call, it went unanswered.
Court was dismissed for the day at 11:30 a.m. Thursday, but at 1 p.m. Van Buren County District Court Judge Michael Mullins, who is presiding over the trial, traveled to the Bentler residence, a secluded and sprawling home resembling a hunting lodge in rural Bonaparte. It sits atop a bluff next to the Des Moines River in Southeast Iowa.
Mullins said the attorneys accompanying him wouldn't be allowed to point out anything specific during the trip, although he planned to stop and look at a road where investigators had gathered tire track evidence. The media was not allowed on the outing, which came on the fourth day of what is expected to be a five-day trial.
Bentler has waived the right to a jury trial, and the case will be decided by the judge, who said he will issue a verdict at a later date.
Prosecutors had suggested that Mullins tour the home to see its unique design and have argued that only a person familiar with layout of the home could have entered the house and the upper level of the home to commit the murders.
The defense also submitted uncontested findings of a time trial testing the time it would take for a person, driving the speed limit and obeying traffic laws, to drive from Shawn Bentler's apartment in Quincy, Ill. to the Bentler home in rural Bonaparte. An investigator for the defense reported the 78.4-mile route took him one hour and 34 minutes. An agent with the Iowa Department of Criminal Investigation testified earlier this week that his time test showed the most direct route between the two locations took one hour and 19 minutes.
The defense contends Shawn Bentler did not have the opportunity to commit the murders since his roommate Travis Holder testified he saw Bentler at the apartment before going to bed between 1:30 and 2 a.m. on Oct. 13. Holder also testified he woke up at 6:45 a.m. that same day and saw Bentler at the apartment.
Bentler, 23, of Quincy, Ill., is on trial this week in Van Buren County District Court for the first-degree murder of his father, Mike Bentler, 53; his mother, Sandra Bentler, 47; and his three sisters, Sheena, 17, Shelby, 15, and Shayne, 14. The family was murdered in their rural Bonaparte home during the early hours of Oct. 14, 2006.
Keokuk attorney Curtis Dial testified Thursday the estate of Mike Bentler was worth $2.1 million, before paying off a mortgage and business loan, and the estate of Sandra Bentler was worth $925,467.
“After the liens against the property, the combined estate should be worth $2.8, maybe more depending on the sale of the real estate,” Dial said.
Dial said under Iowa law, a person convicted of a criminal act causing the death of a person cannot inherit any financial benefit from that person's estate.
Prosecutors claim Bentler was unemployed, had financial problems and murdered his family Oct. 14 so as to inherit the family fortune.
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Dial says that if Shawn Bentler is convicted and unable to inherit his parents' estate, his daughters, Cloe, 5, and Avaley, 19 months, would be the next in line as beneficiaries.
Under cross examination, Dial said neither Mike or Sandra Bentler had contacted him to change their wills.
The prosecution completed its case Thursday morning, with defense attorneys David Sallen and D.J. Arbabha calling Bentler's grandmother and Sandra Bentler's mother, Julia Mendez, as a character witness. In a thick Spanish accent, Mendez said Shawn was never a mean child and that he didn't fight with his sisters, and often took them to school and picked them up.
“Always polite,” she said of her grandson. “What I see, he did get along with everybody because I never see him fighting with anybody.”
The defense will call more witnesses this morning, likely followed by closing arguments.
Prosecutors and defense attorneys also read testimony and evidence into the record that was mutually accepted by both sides. The defense presented the records from Fort Madison optometrist Dr. Carolyn Smith.
Sandra Bentler had been Smith's patient since 1981 and the defense claims her poor eyesight may have caused her to misidentify Shawn Bentler as the person in the house on Oct. 14 on a 9-1-1 tape.
The tape, also submitted by prosecutors, was made at 3:38 a.m. Oct. 14 by Shayne Bentler said she was instructed by her mother to call, but was not sure of the nature of the emergency. A few seconds later, Shayne said, “My brother is going to do something, but I don't know what.”
In the background Sandra Bentler is heard yelling, “Shawn don't!” which is followed by a gunshot. Shayne Bentler is then heard yelling, “Shawn, no!” before the line went dead.
A second call made to 9-1-1 by Shelby Bentler at 3:39 a.m. Oct. 14 on her mother's cell phone did not reach a dispatcher. The call just registered a series of clicking sounds. When a dispatcher attempted to return the call, it went unanswered.
Court was dismissed for the day at 11:30 a.m. Thursday, but at 1 p.m. Van Buren County District Court Judge Michael Mullins, who is presiding over the trial, traveled to the Bentler residence, a secluded and sprawling home resembling a hunting lodge in rural Bonaparte. It sits atop a bluff next to the Des Moines River in Southeast Iowa.
Mullins said the attorneys accompanying him wouldn't be allowed to point out anything specific during the trip, although he planned to stop and look at a road where investigators had gathered tire track evidence. The media was not allowed on the outing, which came on the fourth day of what is expected to be a five-day trial.
Bentler has waived the right to a jury trial, and the case will be decided by the judge, who said he will issue a verdict at a later date.
Prosecutors had suggested that Mullins tour the home to see its unique design and have argued that only a person familiar with layout of the home could have entered the house and the upper level of the home to commit the murders.
The defense also submitted uncontested findings of a time trial testing the time it would take for a person, driving the speed limit and obeying traffic laws, to drive from Shawn Bentler's apartment in Quincy, Ill. to the Bentler home in rural Bonaparte. An investigator for the defense reported the 78.4-mile route took him one hour and 34 minutes. An agent with the Iowa Department of Criminal Investigation testified earlier this week that his time test showed the most direct route between the two locations took one hour and 19 minutes.
The defense contends Shawn Bentler did not have the opportunity to commit the murders since his roommate Travis Holder testified he saw Bentler at the apartment before going to bed between 1:30 and 2 a.m. on Oct. 13. Holder also testified he woke up at 6:45 a.m. that same day and saw Bentler at the apartment.
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