happy2bme
10-01-2008, 05:04 PM
http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081001/NEWS02/81001058 (http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081001/NEWS02/81001058)
Michael Jacques, the man suspected of abducting and killing his 12-year-old niece, Brooke Bennett, in June, was indicted today by a federal grand jury on charges that could bring the death penalty.
News of the indictment was first reported exclusively by The Burlington Free Press.
The five-count indictment accuses Jacques, 42, of Randolph of kidnapping with death resulting, production of child pornography and possession of child pornography. The indictment says Jacques planned to murder Brooke, of Braintree, because she was causing problems for him. Authorities allege Jacques masqueraded as a member of a fictitious Internet sex ring called “Breckenridge” that he used as a tool to manipulate and repeatedly sexually assault another local girl.
Jacques dropped off Brooke on June 25 at a Randolph convenience store to make it appear they had parted ways, but then he picked her up nearby minutes later and drove her to his house, according to the indictment.
“Jacques then drugged, sexually assaulted and murdered Brooke Bennett,” the indictment reads.
The government alleges Jacques, a previously convicted sex offender, intentionally killed Brooke “in an especially heinous, cruel, or depraved manner, in that it involved serious physical abuse to the victim. ... Jacques committed the offense after substantial planning and premeditation.”
An initial court appearance and arraignment for Jacques is not yet scheduled, according to records from U.S. District Court in Burlington. He is jailed without bail with other federal inmates at the Northwest State Correctional Facility in St. Albans Town.
The indictment comes after three months of investigating and legal wrangling.
Government lawyers in late July obtained a 60-day extension to rules requiring a speedy trial, which normally require a grand jury to hand up an indictment within 30 days of a suspect’s arrest.
Jacques was scheduled make an initial appearance Aug. 13 in federal court, but his newly appointed attorneys — experts in defending clients in death-penalty cases — waived the proceeding, during which an FBI agent was to have testified about the allegations against Jacques.
Michael Jacques, the man suspected of abducting and killing his 12-year-old niece, Brooke Bennett, in June, was indicted today by a federal grand jury on charges that could bring the death penalty.
News of the indictment was first reported exclusively by The Burlington Free Press.
The five-count indictment accuses Jacques, 42, of Randolph of kidnapping with death resulting, production of child pornography and possession of child pornography. The indictment says Jacques planned to murder Brooke, of Braintree, because she was causing problems for him. Authorities allege Jacques masqueraded as a member of a fictitious Internet sex ring called “Breckenridge” that he used as a tool to manipulate and repeatedly sexually assault another local girl.
Jacques dropped off Brooke on June 25 at a Randolph convenience store to make it appear they had parted ways, but then he picked her up nearby minutes later and drove her to his house, according to the indictment.
“Jacques then drugged, sexually assaulted and murdered Brooke Bennett,” the indictment reads.
The government alleges Jacques, a previously convicted sex offender, intentionally killed Brooke “in an especially heinous, cruel, or depraved manner, in that it involved serious physical abuse to the victim. ... Jacques committed the offense after substantial planning and premeditation.”
An initial court appearance and arraignment for Jacques is not yet scheduled, according to records from U.S. District Court in Burlington. He is jailed without bail with other federal inmates at the Northwest State Correctional Facility in St. Albans Town.
The indictment comes after three months of investigating and legal wrangling.
Government lawyers in late July obtained a 60-day extension to rules requiring a speedy trial, which normally require a grand jury to hand up an indictment within 30 days of a suspect’s arrest.
Jacques was scheduled make an initial appearance Aug. 13 in federal court, but his newly appointed attorneys — experts in defending clients in death-penalty cases — waived the proceeding, during which an FBI agent was to have testified about the allegations against Jacques.