Judge OKs shock belt in kidnapping trial

A federal judge on Tuesday ruled a violent ex-con facing more than 300 years behind bars in a series of armed kidnappings in a four-state crime spree is dangerous and desperate enough to merit a rare use of a shock belt.

Chief U.S. District Judge Tom Varlan approved a request by the U.S. Marshals Service to outfit Michael Benanti with either a shock belt – which can be remotely activated – or shackles around his ankles during what is expected to be a weekslong trial beginning next week in U.S. District Court.

Benanti faces a slew of violent crime and gun charges in connection with a crime spree that spanned four states, including Tennessee, and included three armed kidnappings in East Tennessee of the families, including young children, of bank executives in a bid to force those executives to rob their own banks. If convicted of all counts, Benanti will die in prison well before he ever serves the entirety of a sentence that would be more than 300 years long.

The marshals service is tasked with courtroom security. The agency never comments, though, on security measures. But when the marshals made a rare request to use either a shock belt or leg irons as additional security for Benanti, Assistant U.S. Attorney David Lewen publicly sought Varlan's approval. Visible restraints on a defendant during a jury trial is generally prohibited as it could prejudice jurors against the suspect.

Deputy U.S. Marshal John Sanchez testified Tuesday Benanti has a violent crime record dating back the early 1990s that included an attempted escape from a federal prison, used a jail razor to slash his throat and wrists after his arrest in the federal case in November 2015 and expressed what Sanchez termed an unusual level of hatred toward Lewen in recorded jail calls.

"His voice does concern me, the level of hatred in his voice," Sanchez said of the tone of Benanti's recorded conversations with family while behind bars in which Benanti railed against Lewen, whom he said should be "killed."

Sanchez said he had listened to many other calls Benanti has made since he and co-defendant Brian Witham were nabbed in North Carolina in November 2015. In none of those, Sanchez said, did Benanti express the kind of anger he directed at Lewen, who will be seated mere feet away from Benanti during the trial.

"To me, it shows an individual (who) switches ... to somebody who can't control himself," Sanchez testified. "I am concerned in this situation he will let his desperation get the better of him."

Sanchez also said Benanti has been trying to find out where Witham, who has taken a deal to testify against him, is being housed.

"Mr. Witham is going to be in the same courtroom as Mr. Benanti," he said. "This is the closest he's going to be to Mr. Witham."

Defense attorneys Robert Kurtz and Richard Gaines argued the marshals could simply beef up the number of its agents for the trial. Marshals typically wear suits and no visible weaponry or badges.

"I don't think any restraints are necessary at this point," Kurtz said.

Varlan disagreed.

"The court finds merely having additional security in the courtroom does not adequately protect the courtroom or deter the defendant," he said.

Varlan is ordering the marshals to take measures so that jurors cannot see either the shock belt or leg irons, and he said he is largely leaving it up to the marshals to decide which device is best. But he ordered the marshals to specifically use the shock belt, which will be covered by Benanti's clothing, during jury selection Monday because that process will make it tougher to hide leg shackles from view.

Benanti and Witham met while both were serving federal prison terms in the 1990s and together hatched an escape attempt that was foiled by a snitch. Authorities allege Benanti later recruited Witham on what turned out to be a violent crime spree in which masked suspects secretly watched the families of bank executives and then confronted them at gunpoint in their homes. The families, including children, were often bound and sometimes blindfolded and threatened with death if the bank executives did not do the suspects' bidding. Two such cases occurred in Knoxville and one in Elizabethton, Tenn., in 2015.