Brooke Bennett, 12 years old Randolph VT #22

[ZooKeeper]

Guilty people doing unspeakable things and it's looking as if at least a couple of them are walking away with a tap on the hand.....I'm very afraid that Jacques with not get the punishment he deserves either. Oh well IMHO.....even Death is far to easy for him. Angry.......I'm way past that...

 

[LaLaw2000]

It just makes me sick that Gagnon got a deal! He is a child pornographer dealer. This is what is wrong with the justice system - giving breaks to scum like this!

And when he gets out of prison he will be right back at it! :furious:

 

[ZooKeeper]

I agree LaLaw, this case gives me nightmares, it stays on my mind a lot. So many players in this case, so much wrong doing and so little being done about it. I won't restate my stand on the family here, but it just seems no one is paying for all the horrible things that took place. Like Brooke never mattered, she's gone, and life goes on in this evil filled ........oh, I better not say that here. But, I'm sure you get my meaning there. I want justice for Brooke. And I don't want this situation repeated later on down the road with another child. All JMO

 

[bdmama]

Yes, and just the other day while picking my son up from the high school, I see AR and a friend running to the Parked car(looked new I might add) that was driven by Denise, fighting over who was going to get "shotgun" (front seat). Makes me sick to think that Brooke will never run across that parking lot with her friends ever again but the very person who helped that is free to do so every damn day. Where is the justice in this case?????

 

[lonetraveler]

Guilty people doing unspeakable things and it's looking as if at least a couple of them are walking away with a tap on the hand.....I'm very afraid that Jacques with not get the punishment he deserves either. Oh well IMHO.....even Death is far to easy for him. Angry.......I'm way past that...

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I personally believe that this should be shipped to Texas. Texas knows how to administer the death penalty. Vermont will never give this bast*** what he deserves. Look at Vermont's record on how they treat child predators and you will get a preview on how they will deal with the Murderer who did this horrific crime to this little girl. IMO, he should be hooked up to the sex machine that he ordered and used on Brooke and the machine should be used until he dies. And I'm being very conservative tonight, don't ask me what I really think or I will be banned for life.

 

[lonetraveler]

Yes, and just the other day while picking my son up from the high school, I see AR and a friend running to the Parked car(looked new I might add) that was driven by Denise, fighting over who was going to get "shotgun" (front seat). Makes me sick to think that Brooke will never run across that parking lot with her friends ever again but the very person who helped that is free to do so every damn day. Where is the justice in this case?????

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I totally agree with you. AR is as guilty as he is and should be treated accordingly. She set Brooke up to be raped and killed, why is she scott free and going on about her life. And, yes, I know how old she is and I also know that evil comes in all ages. I would never trust her to be in society with other children, ever. For those of you who think she is an innocent child, let her babysit for your children? I didn't think so.

 

[lightinthedark]

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I totally agree with you. AR is as guilty as he is and should be treated accordingly. She set Brooke up to be raped and killed, why is she scott free and going on about her life. And, yes, I know how old she is and I also know that evil comes in all ages. I would never trust her to be in society with other children, ever. For those of you who think she is an innocent child, let her babysit for your children? I didn't think so.

ITA, But whom exactly made AR this way? Would she be this way had her mother not knowingly hook up with that ? Something should be done about AR, but I also believe that Denise should be locked up for neglect. And why in the world does she still have those children in her custody? Where is DCF in all of this? And why is it taking so long to make a decision to go for the DP? How upsetting this case is. :furious:

 

[Chezhire]

Post from SoYesterday
snip
i really hope this is ok to write, but i just have so many mixed up emotions about what i feel about AR.
To me, i feel like she should be held responsible in some way for her part in this...i mean i know she was a victim of MJ too...
but to me...she was old enough to know better....to keep Brooke from getting hurt...to warn her...to tell someone...to speak up somehow...i just don't get it....she could have been the way to help save her cousin's life...i mean how do you hate someone that much???...and even more so that she is living her life as "normal" as can be...and why would anyone at this point want to have anything to do her?...why would anyone want to be her friend?...how can anyone trust her?...look how she betrayed her own family?...it bothers me so much....she should not be allowed to be going on like this...it's scary to me actually that she is allowed to be living her life free and normal...i wouldn't want my kids around her at all if it was my choice....
am i way out there???

I so agree with you on this and do not understand why she has not been held accountable in some way. I realize that she may have been a victim, but she also had the chance to talk as she got older. She was old enough to tell someone about the abuse, I know schools have programs and I just feel if she had wanted out, she must have had a chance to tell someone. I also remember from the text messages she had written that she had been watching some "male farm workers" and seemed to be interested in them, plus she had also written that she wanted Brooke to suffer. I am in no way saying that this girl didn't suffer at the hands of Jacques but I do believe she was/is old enough to understand right from wrong and I believe she knew or had a feeling that Brooke was going to be killed. I believe she should be held accountable for that if only in a facility where she can get help to understand right from wrong. Of course I also believe the state of VT needs that same lesson.

I've been rereading these threads lately, and I hate the only answer I can come up with, which is that instead of helping her cousin, AR took her anger at her own situation and experiences in life out on Brooke, since she couldn't escape it herself. Awful, awful...
AR was old enough to know better. I do not excuse her one bit. Not one bit.

 

[SailorMoon]

Yes, and just the other day while picking my son up from the high school, I see AR and a friend running to the Parked car(looked new I might add) that was driven by Denise, fighting over who was going to get "shotgun" (front seat). Makes me sick to think that Brooke will never run across that parking lot with her friends ever again but the very person who helped that is free to do so every damn day. Where is the justice in this case?????

You are a better person than I am because I'm afraid I'd be in some peoples faces there. This was such a horrible unspeakable crime and its just status quo for these people??? Denise makes me want to puke, she had to know and AR??? Never got any therapy or anything. And nothing against AR, although I still think she knew and was involved, would you let your kid hang out with these people??? WTH???

 

[Lanie]

I disagree with every single one of you blaming AR.
You are talking about a 9-year-old girl who was not only horribly abused but threatened with death, indoctrinated and brainwashed by her own father for years and years. The next time any of you are out and about and see a little 9-year-old girl, really, really look at her, and ask yourselves, is she really supposed to know better? Where the hell was this girl's mother when all this was taking place right under her effing nose?
There are grown women all over this country who have been raped, once, who years and years later still can't stand to let a man touch them. There are grown adults all over this country who have served in wars who come back all messed up in the head. Grown women who are victims of domestic abuse who will not leave, who believe they do not deserve any better. What chance does a 9-year-old girl have to come out of this okay and making the right decisions?
This girl should be getting treatment, and if she is not, again, I ask, where the hell is her MOTHER?
What happened to Brooke is inexcusable, and the men responsible, IMO, should be tortured until they beg for death, then torture them some more. Then they should be healed up, tortured some more for what they did to AR. Just because she survived it doesn't make her any less a victim. No, she should not have helped with what happened to Brooke, but HOW was she supposed to know better? Her father damn sure had no motive to teach her what he was doing to her was wrong, and apparently her mother didn't, either.
Lanie

 

[lightinthedark]

No, she should not have helped with what happened to Brooke, but HOW was she supposed to know better? Her father damn sure had no motive to teach her what he was doing to her was wrong, and apparently her mother didn't, either.
Lanie

How was she supposed to know better? Well, she's now 15 years old and a freshman or a sophomore in high school. School starts teaching children at a young age the difference between right and wrong, and consequences for ones actions. Yes, she is a victim, but does that excuse what she has done? Should it? I don't believe she should be put in prison, and let me add that I don't put nearly as much blame on her as I do Jacques and his wife. I feel AR should be in a treatment facility receiving intensive therapy for years, no jail time. But did she know right from wrong at age 14 when it came down to drawing up a plan to kill her own cousin, and help lure her to her death? Yes, unless of course, she was isolated from society and the rest of the world.

 

[bdmama]

Somebody who does NOT know right from wrong does NOT go to the lengths she did to help cover up this crime! She knew what she was taking part in was wrong and did nothing to stop it. She was a good student, had many friends and was very active in school activities, you cannot tel me that she thought this behavior was normal. She wasn't living under a rock being kept from society. She knew if she told somebody what was happening and what was about to happen, it would have been stopped. Yes, I think Denise should rot in hell, but I am disgusted with the fact that AR will always be free and not serve one minute of punishment for her involvment in the horrific rape/murder of this precious child. I still stand by my belief that AR never left that day like she told police she did and perhaps even took part in the act itself and told police where the body was as opposed to "finding eveidence in the house that led them right to it". I think LE maybe made her a deal...if she talks, she walks!

 

[Lola]

bdmama, I hear you, but we don't know what kind of twisted bs Jacques had filled AR's mind with over the years. I am inclined to agree with you in the case of AR, but am willing to listen to what she has to say. I doubt if we'll ever hear of it, but she's got to be one messed up kid and it may years before she really understands what she did and how the adults around her let her down. I keep remembering that this brainwashing started when she was 9. Six years of who knows what....well, it could probably make a little kid believe anything.

What I do have a problem with is the adults in this family who let Jacques...knowing what he had done, operate within the family.

 

[Tonia]

Jacques' Trial Delayed Again

The potential death-penalty trial of Michael Jacques for the murder of his niece, Brooke Bennett, has been delayed again at Jacques' request.

Jacques' request for a four-month delay to file additional pre-trial motions has been granted by Vermont federal judge William Sessions. Prosecutors did not oppose the request. It is the third delay okayed since Jacques was charged with the kidnap, rape and murder of Brooke Bennett ten months ago.
The delay means the trial will be on hold until late 2010.

http://www.zimbio.com/search?q=jacques+trial+delayed+again&type=all

 

[lightinthedark]

Jacques' Trial Delayed Again

The potential death-penalty trial of Michael Jacques for the murder of his niece, Brooke Bennett, has been delayed again at Jacques' request.

Jacques' request for a four-month delay to file additional pre-trial motions has been granted by Vermont federal judge William Sessions. Prosecutors did not oppose the request. It is the third delay okayed since Jacques was charged with the kidnap, rape and murder of Brooke Bennett ten months ago.
The delay means the trial will be on hold until late 2010.

http://www.zimbio.com/search?q=jacques+trial+delayed+again&type=all

More from the link above: "U.S. District Judge William Sessions granted the defense team 120 days to file pretrial motions from the date prosecutors declare whether they will seek the death penalty."

That "late 2010", I believe is incorrect, but with all of the sweet time they are taking to decide on the DP, maybe it will be 2010.

Thanks for the post Tonia.

 

[TallCoolOne]

More from the link above: "U.S. District Judge William Sessions granted the defense team 120 days to file pretrial motions from the date prosecutors declare whether they will seek the death penalty."

That "late 2010", I believe is incorrect, but with all of the sweet time they are taking to decide on the DP, maybe it will be 2010.

Thanks for the post Tonia.

That's okay. If we have learned anything here from following so many cases, we can be patient. We are not going to forget the horror of what he did to Brooke, and no matter how long he waits to face justice, we will still be here to see she gets nothing less.

 

[LaLaw2000]

So right, TallCoolOne! I will never forget what this did to Brooke. I had been reading WS for a very long time when Brooke's vicious murder came up. I begged the WS moderators to please let me join because I had an AOL account and not one that is allowed here. Thank goodness I was allowed to join. I now have DSL and another account.

I joined before Brookes' body was found. I then followed this case every day and was so outraged that this young girl was taken the way she was. I am sick to death of sick sexual deviants (sp?) I look forward to Jacques' trial and justice for Brooke.

 

[January.]

I agree LaLaw. This was the very second case I followed here at WS, and although I don't post in this forum anymore, I still pop in here to get updated on the latest. I wish they could just put this pig out of everyone's misery already, but I will continue to follow up to the very day he (hopefully) gets the needle. What he did deserves nothing less.

 

[TallCoolOne]

I agree LaLaw. This was the very second case I followed here at WS, and although I don't post in this forum anymore, I still pop in here to get updated on the latest. I wish they could just put this pig out of everyone's misery already, but I will continue to follow up to the very day he (hopefully) gets the needle. What he did deserves nothing less.

Yup, it's too bad that the punishment doesn't even come close to paying for the crime. Whatever he gets will be too easy on him IMO. I could make some suggestions, but I love my home here at Websleuths and it would end up earning me 3 consecutive lifetime bannings........... so I'll just sit on my hands for now..........

 

[angelmom]

It continues to astonish me how quiet this story is and how little the trickle of information is, especially compared to the minute-by-minute accounts of Casey's month before Caylee was reported missing.

Is that just a difference between the LE agencies, the families' approaches the media, state law (I know the Sunshine Laws play a big factor for Caylee) or a combination of all of the above.

Or is it just TOO much for even the "if it bleeds it leads" publicity machines?