When the verdict was read, there were gasps and tears of joy. Randal William Benton sentenced to life in prison, no chance of parole. The sentencing read after the jury found Benton guilty of murder in the shooting death of his estranged wife, Treva Benton.
The shooting took place back in October of 2010. Benton shot his wife Treva eight times in the parking lot of Perkins, shooting her even as she tried to crawl away. At the sentencing, Treva's first husband, Scott Palmer, says the funeral had to be closed-casket because of the bullet wounds. "We had to have a closed casket funeral she was shot up so bad. My sons couldn’t even say good-bye to her."
The main question debated this week was not whether Randal had killed his wife but whether it was murder or voluntary manslaughter, the lesser charge. The defense arguing that Randal did not wake up that day wanting to kill his wife, and that he "blanked out" during the entire episode, because he was so angry. The prosecutors claiming there was malice aforethought, and Randal knew what he was doing, therefore it would be murder.
The two has been separated for six months leading up to the incident. Treva had even begun dating another man, and this was the cause of the argument between the two. Randal testifying in court that he had just found out about Treva's boyfriend, and was so angry he "felt like he was going to blow up."
The jury finding Randal guilty of the major offense, murder. Treva's son, Jesse Michael Palmer says, "I'm just happy the verdict was what it was, and just glad he is going to spend the rest of his life in prison, so he can't do this to anyone else."
Before being sentenced, Benton told the judge that he would do anything if he could just have his wife back. However, the judge was not moved by Benton's tears saying she had seen little remorse from Benton when he had been on the witness stand earlier that day.
Even though the verdict, and sentencing was the best Treva's family could hope for, she will always be missed. Michelle Wedge, Treva's sister, had this to say. "Randal still gets to to talk to his mom, and write letters, and everything. I don't get nothing from my sister."
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