CONWAY, S.C. (AP) - A South Carolina man who spent more than 17 years in prison for the murder of a Taco Bell worker has been found not guilty after an appeals court overturned his conviction.
Gary Bennett walked out of the Horry County jail a free man Thursday after the jury deliberated over two days and found him not guilty of murder, armed robbery and other charges in the death of Marie Martin in 2000.
Prosecutors said Bennett slashed Martin’s throat as he tried to get her to give him the combination to the restaurant’s safe. They had testimony from a man who said he was with Bennett that night and someone who said Bennett confessed to the killing while in jail.
But defense attorneys pointed out that Bennett’s DNA and fingerprints were not found at the home where Martin was killed.
The cellmate’s letter including Bennett’s confession was postmarked before the two were in a cell together, defense lawyers said, according to media outlets.
Andrew Lindsey, who testified he was in the home with Bennett at the time of the killing, spent about 10 years in prison after being convicted as an accessory after the fact.
Defense lawyers reminded jurors that Lindsey didn’t tell police about Martin’s killing until he was in trouble for other crimes, and what he testified to at Bennett’s 2020 trial was different than what he told investigators 20 years earlier.
Bennett was serving life without parole when his conviction was overturned because a judge ruled his original trial lawyers did not provide him an adequate defense.
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