A Chicago man who killed his half-sister’s longtime boyfriend while on electronic monitoring for a separate shooting case has been sentenced to 58 years in prison.
During a bench trial in July, Judge Nicholas Kantas convicted Kevin Bennett, 35, of murder and unauthorized possession of a weapon by a felon. He issued the sentence last week at the Leighton Criminal Courthouse.
Bennett, according to prosecutors, was placed on electronic monitoring at his mother’s home in Woodlawn in August 2022 while awaiting trial for a 2020 shooting. Around that time, Bennett’s half-sister and her 29-year-old boyfriend, who had been together for seven years, moved into the same house.
Bennett, according to prosecutors, was openly hostile to his lover and constantly informed his mother and half-sister that he wanted to kill him. Bennett waited in the dark dining room for the couple to return home after a birthday party, according to prosecutors.
When they came, Bennett allegedly accosted the victim, calling him a “b**** a** n*****,” and telling him that he presumably assumed Bennett would not harm him. Bennett killed the guy by shooting him in the chest from about five feet away, according to authorities.
Bennett’s half-sister escaped to a bedroom with her mother and shut the door, but Bennett kicked it open, threatened to murder her, then racked his revolver as if it had jammed, prosecutors claimed. He then allegedly threw the gun through a window into the abandoned house next door and fled the scene.
Police eventually discovered the revolver inside the abandoned residence, along with Bennett’s mother’s cat. Investigators discovered a shell casing in the animal’s mouth, which they collected as evidence.
Bennett’s ankle monitor was discovered more than six miles from the shooting location. Officers apprehended him the next day beneath a viaduct in Hyde Park.
Bennett had been on electronic monitoring since November 2020, when he was suspected of shooting a 29-year-old woman in the 6900 block of South Clyde Avenue. Prosecutors withdrew the case and an escape charge.
Judge Kantas sentenced Bennett to 55 years in prison for murder, which must be served in full under Illinois law, plus three years for unlawful possession of a firearm. He has to serve half of the latter term consecutively.
Leave a Reply