Bennett trial won’t be moved

Tuesday, June 29, 1999 | 11:13 a.m.

Attempts by attorneys for Arthur Bennett to postpone his court-martial or move it to a military base have fallen short.

Bennett is charged with faking his own death and deserting the Marine Corps to avoid a 1994 court-martial on sexual misconduct charges involving an ex-wife, his daughters and other young girls in Okinawa, Japan, and Yuma, Ariz.

The court-martial will go forward July 12 in the Clark County Courthouse, where Bennett will also face a murder trial on Feb. 7 over the death of the still unidentified man whose charred remains were believed for more than three years to have been Bennett's.

A pre-court-martial hearing continued today to set the ground rules for the military proceeding that could result in a life prison sentence for the 45-year-old Marine.

Bennett's military attorney, Maj. Tracy Daly, sought a delay in the court-martial until after the February murder trial, stating that if the military action were conducted before, Bennett couldn't take the witness stand and answer allegations without risking his Fifth Amendment rights. The motion was denied.

Daly also was unsuccessful in his bid to have the court-martial moved to Nellis Air Force Base or a Marine base in California because of the publicity the Bennett case has garnered in Las Vegas.