Crime briefs for July 5, 2001

Thursday, July 5, 2001 | 10:29 a.m.

Bail set for former jail guard

A Clark County District Court judge Tuesday set a $10,000 bail for a former detention center officer accused of impersonating a police officer.

District Judge Mark Gibbons set Mark Bennish's bail after learning that police arrested him in May on charges of impersonating a police officer while he was awaiting trial on other charges.

Bennish is scheduled to be tried in September on charges of using his position as a jailer to take liberties with female inmates. He had been out of jail on his own recognizance at the time of his arrest.

Gibbons also ordered Bennish be placed on house arrest should he post bail.

According to court documents, Bennish was working as an airport shuttle bus driver when he got into a dispute with a taxi driver over customers. In the middle of the dispute, the documents allege, Bennish pulled out a police badge to end the disagreement.

Jury being seated for West trial

Jury selection is still under way in the case of a woman charged with killing her mother, putting her in a 55-gallon trash can and placing her in storage.

Brookey West, 46, faces an open murder charge in the death of her mother, Christine Smith, 68.

Jury selection began Monday afternoon and was expected to conclude this afternoon.

Prosecutors maintain West killed her mother to gain access to the victim's monthly Social Security checks, but West says her mother died of natural causes before she placed her in the trash can.