VERO MAN SENTENCED TO 30 YEARS IN PRISON FOR MARIJUANA CHARGES

INDIAN RIVER COUNTY - A Vero Beach man who testified he fled from
police because he discovered a large amount of marijuana in his lap
and thought it was a bomb someone tossed into his car was sentenced
to 30 years in prison.

Circuit Judge Dan L. Vaughn ordered David L. Bennett, 38, to serve 30
years for his conviction by a jury Aug. 15 on charges of possession
of marijuana with intent to sell, fleeing and eluding police, and
driving with a revoked driver's license.

At Bennett's trial, Indian River County Sheriff's Deputy Scott Sposato testified he saw Bennett sitting in a car outside a business in the 3000 block of 45th Street about 2 a.m. on May 8, 2005.

Sposato testified he shined his flashlight into the car and saw two
clear bags filled with marijuana in Bennett's lap. Sposato testified
he entered the car to arrest Bennett, but Bennett sped off, sending
Sposato to the pavement.

On Thursday, Sposato asked Vaughn to consider Bennett's aggressive
fleeing from several deputies.

"I was looking at him eye-to-eye, and I got my Taser out to Taser
him," Sposato told the judge. "But I could not Taser him once he
began driving the vehicle."

Testimony showed Bennett fled at a high rate of speed before losing
control of his car in a residential yard. When deputies caught up to
him, he was seen tossing the bags of marijuana into the woods.

At the scene, deputies recovered 40 bags of marijuana weighing more
than 86 grams.

Bennett, of the 900 block of Eighth Court Southwest, said he fled
after an unidentified man approached his car, raised his shirt to
reveal a concealed handgun, and hurled an unknown object into his car.

"I thought it was a bomb," Bennett testified. "I didn't know if it
was a bomb or a gun, I just wanted to get away from it. I didn't know
it was marijuana until they brought me to jail and booked me."

Bennett testified he never saw Sposato enter his car, and on Thursday
he repeated to the judge he did not see the pursuing deputies'
emergency lights.

"It was a mistake of my eyesight, I guess, and I'm paying for it,"
Bennett said.

Assistant State Attorney Lauren McBride asked Vaughn to take into
account Bennett's 14 felony convictions since the mid-1980s, about
half of them for drug sales or possession.

Defense attorney Rusty Akins asked Vaughn to impose a sentence of 16
years -one year over the minimum.

"None of his felony convictions indicate Mr. Bennett is a violent
person," Akins said. "They do indicate he has a serious drug problem
that he has not addressed."