Posted on 07/12/2005 4:16:42 PM PDT by newgeezer
IOWA CITY(AP) --- A judge ruled Tuesday that the trial for a man charged in the death of Jetseta Gage would be moved from Johnson County to Scott County.
District Court Judge Patrick Grady set Scott County as the site for Roger Bentley's trial after agreeing to a defense motion last month that the trial should not be in Johnson County.
Attorneys for Bentley, charged with first-degree murder and first-degree kidnapping, had argued that their client could not get a fair trial in Johnson County because of the intense media coverage the case generated.
Bentley, 38, of Brandon, is accused of taking 10-year-old Jetseta Gage from her Cedar Rapids home on March 24. Authorities said Bentley took the girl to an unoccupied mobile home west of Iowa City, sexually abused her and suffocated her.
Grady last month suggested Des Moines as a location for the trial. Bentley's attorneys wanted the trial to be held in Council Bluffs along the state's western border, while Johnson County Attorney J. Patrick White proposed going no farther west than Des Moines.
Davenport is 60 miles east of Iowa City.
Jetseta Gage's death prompted the Iowa Legislature to pass tougher new laws for convicted sex offenders.
Iowa still doesn't have the death penalty; the Dems in the state senate blocked all debate. Thus, since these monsters already get life without parole for the kidnap and rape of their child victims, they have nothing to lose by killing the only eyewitness.
Oh, and for anyone who didn't already know, Roger Bentley's brother was already awaiting trial for molesting the same girl. Therefore, by killing her, this POS eliminated the only eyewitness for two Bentley trials. Such a deal.
Once again Iowa proves itself as just as liberal as Mass or NY!
What monsters! Also, pretty t-yer-old Evelyn Miller was murdered, the case still unsolved. Perhaps these cases will help push for the death penalty.
Anybody in Davenport that doesn't know about that crime is too news impaired to serve on a jury.
Wrong-o!!! Iowa city is filled with pedophiles, homosexuals, and the like. Iowa City and Coralville are the Sodom and Gomorrah of Iowa. The farther away from Iowa City the trial moves, the better.
I COMPLETELY agree with you about Iowa City. I am from Ogden(about 16 mi away fron Ames(ISU)) and Ames is turning into a SH!THOL&!
I knew Iowa City was a haven for radical-freaks/kooks/slackers/losers like many other university towns....but have Coralville and Ames become as bad? In what way, I'm curious.
Veisha (The ISU "Celebration") is nothing more than a riot. Ames Has just opened up their first "Gay" and Lesbian "Frathouse". Coralville is a suburb of Iowa City.
Even if the good people of Davenport convict this scum, Iowa taxpayers will be paying for his incarceration for a long time. Repeat baby rapers like this guy should be quickly tried and if found guilty also quickly executed. There should be no second chance if you have already been convicted of molesting children.
The major problem is that Ames wants the University but it does not want the students.
Well, not quite. Iowa is (this time around) a red state. Historically, Iowa is a true battleground (purple?) state. In contrast, NY and MA are undeniably blue. ;)
The real problems right now are the outgoing Dem governor -- the first Dem in 30 years -- and the 50/50 Dem/Rep split in the state senate. With any luck, both of those problems will be remedied come November, despite the governor's crafty executive order giving voting rights to some 50,000 felons (hundreds of whom he had personally denied their voting rights when they previously applied through the former process).
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