A jury Thursday morning decided a 20-year-old man should spend 60 years in state prison and pay a $10,000 fine for breaking into the home of lawyer Jim Sharon Bearden Jr. and kidnapping him.
German Borjas-Benitez, hung his head down as Judge Courtney Arkeen read the jury’s decision. He had pleaded guilty to felony burglary with intent to kidnap and asked for probation or a short term in prison. He faced a maximum of 99 years to life in prison for the crime.
After the verdict was read, Bearden and his wife passed by Benitez’s parents, who were sitting on a bench. The Beardens hugged each of the Benitezes.
Two 17-year-olds are still in the Orange County Jail under indictments for the same charge in connection with the kidnapping. They have pleaded “not guilty.”
Bearden was kidnapped on the morning of May 8 last year. He had slept late after his wife and two children left. The family lived in Dishon Plantation, a Bridge City subdivision off East Roundbunch Road.
Two masked burglars woke him and his dog up in the upstairs bathroom. The men threatened him as one pointed a gun at him and the other a baseball bat.
Bearden identified Benitez as the one with the pistol who told him “we kill people for fun.”
The two forced him to go with them as a third man drove to a Port Arthur bank. Bearden withdrew $10,000.
The jury heard two days of testimony and lawyer arguments to determine the punishment after Benitez pleaded guilty. The jury deliberated less than a total of three hours for the punishment. Benitez had no felony convictions and had asked for probation or a short prison term.
Testimony showed that Benitez had worked for a contractor at the Bearden house a few weeks earlier and had thought he could get money for the guns in the gun case. After he was arrested on May 7 for an unpaid speeding ticket, he decided to break in to steal the guns to repay a friend who paid his bond.
-Margaret Toal, KOGT-
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