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December 3, 2009

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Fails in effort to postpone court-martial

Tuesday, June 29, 1999 | 4:04 a.m.

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. Bennett is also scheduled to face a murder trial here Feb. 7 in a case in which he allegedly faked his own death in a trailer fire.

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

If he is convicted of first-degree murder in the state court murder case, prosecutors will be asking that Bennett be sentenced to death.

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.

When that request was rejected, Daly asked for a delay until September to give the defense time to prepare. That too 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 generated in Las Vegas.

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