Former officer sentenced in sex assault on inmate

Thursday, July 18, 2002 | 9:34 a.m.

A former corrections officer sentenced Wednesday for one count of voluntary sexual conduct with an inmate plans to ask the court to "have the whole thing reversed and dismissed," his defense attorney said.

Mark Bennish, 39, was sentenced to 12 to 30 months in prison and ordered to pay $1,500 restitution for using his position of authority to force a female prisoner into a sexually compromising position in 2000. He was acquitted of two other counts of voluntary sexual conduct, one that included a second female inmate.

Bennish's family members gasped at the sentence that will keep him in prison for at least a year.

Chief District Court Judge Mark Gibbons allowed Bennish to remain free on bail pending his appeal. Bennish's attorney, Herb Sachs, filed a videotape with the court that he said would show it was too dark for the 22-year-old inmate to positively identify Bennish as her assailant.

Sachs reaffirmed his stance that the incidents were "figments of her imagination" and that it was all a ruse to get money out of his client and the county.

The former inmate, who was in the courtroom for the sentencing but did not speak, filed a civil harassment suit against Bennish, the county, Metro Police and Sheriff Jerry Keller.

"I don't think anyone in jail is sitting there thinking of ways to file a civil lawsuit," Gibbons said.

The judge followed Deputy District Attorney James Sweetin's request that Bennish serve jail time. The Parole and Probation Board had recommended Bennish receive four years' probation.

Sweetin argued probation was not a suitable punishment, because Bennish was arrested twice, once for impersonating a police officer and once for violating his house arrest, while on bail awaiting trial for the sex-related charges.

"He's a deceitful, lying, manipulative person who craves power, particularly the power of the badge," the prosecutor said, adding that Bennish should not be "above the inmates he violated."

Sachs has 30 days to file an appeal.