A surprisingly quick decision by a federal appeals court might have strengthened the prosecution’s argument for having Michael Jacques of Randolph sentenced to death if he’s convicted of the 2008 kidnapping and killing of his 12-year-old niece, Brooke Bennett.
A three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 17-page decision issued Monday, unanimously ruled that prosecutors may use evidence that authorities say proves Jacques, while in jail, tried to shift blame for the kidnapping and slaying of Bennett from himself to a make-believe international sex ring Jacques called “Breckenridge.”