JUDGE RIPS MEN AT SENTENCING IN DRUG-RELATED MURDER CASE

A Dane County judge had harsh words about blacks who deal drugs to other
blacks Monday as he sentenced two men for a drug-related murder last year
on Madison's South Side.

LeShaun Benson, 29, of Waterloo, Iowa, and Ivan Mitchell, 22, of Madison
each will spend decades in prison before they are eligible to seek release,
Circuit Judge Paul Higginbotham ruled Monday.

The two were convicted in August of shooting Kevin Mills, 24, on Dec. 14,
2001, while parked outside Kohl's Food Store, 1312 S. Park St. They had met
Mills to settle Mitchell's $9,000 drug debt.

Benson also shot Mills' girlfriend, Tammy Roberts, as she waited for Mills
in a nearby vehicle. She survived by playing dead after a bullet grazed her
skull.

Before sentencing Mitchell and Benson, Circuit Judge Paul Higginbotham tore
into them - Benson for lying on the witness stand and Mitchell for dealing
cocaine, which Higginbotham called poison.

"I get particularly upset when I see black men coming into my court dealing
cocaine to their own people," said Higginbotham, who is black. "Whole black
communities are destroyed because of folks like you, Mr. Mitchell, who
think this is a good way to make a living. You are doing nothing but the
devil's duty."

Mitchell and Benson are both black. Each will serve life sentences for
Mills' death. Combining parole eligibility on the murder charge and
sentences for related crimes, Benson will first be eligible for release in
60 years, Mitchell in 45 years.

Relatives of Benson and Mitchell, along with attorneys for the men, asked
Higginbotham to allow the two some hope by setting earlier parole eligibility.

"Yes, my son has not always made the right decisions, but he's been a good
son," said Tanya Williams, Mitchell's mother.

The long sentences were applauded by Mills' family and friends, who
described how they and Mills' two children have suffered without him.

"They're pond scum," said Kevin Mills' uncle, Mark Mills. "They need to be
away a long time."

Amy Clazmer, who is the mother of Mills' two children, said that while
Mills was himself a drug dealer, he was also an attentive father who was
engaged in the lives of his children. On the day he died, she said, he had
been to a parent-teacher conference for his daughter.

Mills' mother, Gerri Crawford, said she hoped Mitchell and Benson would
stay in prison for the rest of their lives, to think about the misery they
caused her family.

"I'll never understand how they can equate drugs and money with the life of
another human being," Crawford said.

At his trial, Benson maintained he was at a Sun Prairie bar when the
shooting occurred and claimed that Madison police fabricated an
incriminating 10-page interview with him. Higginbotham called the alibi
"absolutely incredible."

Benson remained defiant at Monday's hearing, refusing to look at
Higginbotham as he was sentenced.

"At least Mr. Mitchell was man enough to look me in the eye," Higginbotham said.