“MIAMI — The family of
Isabella Hellmann heard Lewis Bennett say on Monday what they'd been both hoping for, and dreading, for nearly a year and a half:
He killed her. Or, at least, his negligence led to her death.
[SBM]
The lanky Brit, now 41, stood with his hands cuffed in front of him and heard U.S. District Judge Federico A. Moreno, reading from the charges, ask if he ‘did unlawfully kill’ the suburban Delray Beach real estate broker ‘without malice in the commission of a lawful act, without due caution and circumspection, which might produce death, that is, gross negligence amounting to wanton and reckless disregard for human life.’
He replied, ‘Yes your honor.’
Family members, sitting in a front row — some listening to a Spanish-English interpreter — watched intently.
In the hearing, which lasted about one-half hour, Moreno set sentencing for Jan 10. Bennett, who had been set for trial December on the murder charge and could have gone to prison for life, now faces up to eight years on the lesser conviction. That's what prosecutors asked for on Monday.
Defense lawyers will ask for at least seven years. He also would pay a $250,000 fine.
[The BBM above is interesting, IMO. Don’t defense lawyers usually want the shortest sentence possible for their client? Perhaps it’s part of the plea agreement.]
Also, the dual citizen of the United Kingdom and Australia then would be deported ‘and could never gain come back to the United States,’ Moreno said.”
More at the link:
Husband pleads guilty, admits he caused Delray woman's death at sea - News - The Palm Beach Post - West Palm Beach, FL
