DAVENPORT --- The family of 10-year-old Jetseta Gage hopes Iowans will petition legislators for a change in state law: They want people who murder a child to be eligible for the death penalty.
The request came Tuesday afternoon in Davenport minutes after Roger Bentley was convicted of killing the Cedar Rapids girl. Jurors in Scott County spent only about two hours finding Bentley guilty of first-degree murder and first-degree kidnapping.
The trial was moved from Johnson County to Scott County District Court because of pretrial publicity.
"I strongly believe in the death penalty for people who kill children," Gage's great aunt, Jenny Slight, said during a news conference.
Iowa abolished the death penalty in 1965 and the state hasn't held an execution since 1962.
Gage's cousin, Tina Trimble, asked Iowans to write state lawmakers and urge them to make the change.
Bentley, 38, of Brandon, will be sentenced Feb. 17 in Johnson County. He will receive two mandatory life sentences.
The defendant showed no reaction when the verdict was read. During closing arguments Tuesday morning, he rested his elbows on a table with his left hand on top of his head and his eyes down, much as he did throughout the proceedings. The trial started with jury selection Thursday.
The victim's mother, Trena Gage, and grandmother, Teresa Gage, were silent as the verdict was announced. When the defense asked the court to poll the jurors individually to confirm their verdict, Teresa Gage's chin quivered. She later wiped tears from her eyes.
Slight said what Bentley did to her niece was worse "than any animal." Trimble cried when she described the girl as a "lovely, beautiful child."
The quick verdict was "wonderful" for Gage's family, Slight said.
Johnson County Attorney J. Patrick White said the murder conviction was the fastest he has seen in 24 years as a prosecutor.
"It's a small, small measure of justice," he said.
White said the case was a tough one to prosecute because it involved the violent death of a child. He admitted having some trouble getting through his opening statement.
"I've looked at the (crime scene and autopsy) pictures really since last April, so for me it's really had a big impact," he said.
Jury selection took three days. Presentation of evidence lasted only two. The defense rested Friday without presenting any evidence or testimony.
"The presumption of innocence started to be eroded Thursday when we started presenting evidence," White said during closing arguments. "As we sit here today, there has been an avalanche of evidence that has buried Roger Bentley in guilt."
White reviewed his case, which included testimony from police officers who arrested Bentley. He was taken into custody at a mobile home where the girl's bloody body was found March 25 --- the day after her disappearance.
White also questioned Teresa Gage, who said Bentley was at their home, working on a van, the day her granddaughter disappeared. Teresa Gage testified she couldn't find the child after Bentley left that day.
White also showed jurors photos of the autopsy and of the girl's body hidden in a cabinet under a sink. He later reviewed DNA evidence that showed the girl's blood on Bentley's clothing and under his fingernails and his semen on and inside the girl's body.
In his closing statement, defense attorney Peter Persaud recalled one piece of evidence mentioned briefly during a police investigator's testimony. The officer talked about a book titled "Necromantic Rituals," which was found at Bentley's residence.
Persaud suggested Bentley did not kill the girl but may have performed an act after her death that would explain the DNA.
"Is it any more unbelievable than what you've already seen?" Persaud said of the theory, adding the idea should represent reasonable doubt regarding Bentley's guilt.
Persaud added no evidence shows Bentley took the girl from her home and no fingerprints were recovered on the plastic bag police found on the girl's head.
Persaud and Bentley's other defense attorney, Quint Meyerdirk, could not be reached for comment after the verdict was announced.
Roger Bentley's brother, James Bentley, 34, of Vinton, is awaiting trial on charges alleging he sexually abused Jetseta Gage. Authorities maintain James Bentley abused the girl several times between 2002 and 2004. He is charged with a felony count of sexual abuse in November 2004.
White said the charges against James Bentley and Roger Bentley's status as a convicted sex offender were not mentioned during Roger Bentley's trial because the case was based solely on what happened in March 2005.
Contact Dustin Lemmon at (563) 383-2493 or
dlemmon@qctimes.com.
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