Mark Benson: Sentenced

There's a good chance that Mark Benson will die in prison.

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

Former surgeon Mark M. Benson was handed a sentence Monday that will keep him in prison until he is just shy of his 87th birthday.

It appears to be one of the stiffest sentences handed down in the state for a conviction of homicide by intoxicated use of a vehicle.

Waukesha Circuit Court Judge J. Mac Davis sentenced Benson to 30 years in prison for the 2008 crash that killed popular teacher and associate principal Jennifer Bukosky of Oconomowoc High School, her unborn child and her 10-year-old daughter, Courtney Bella, and injured two children.

Benson, 56, could have faced as many as 53 years in prison for the deaths and injuries, and relatives of the victims had urged Davis to impose the maximum. During a nearly four-hour sentencing hearing, many of the relatives who spoke told Davis that Benson should die in prison.

"Our family is forever locked in a prison that we cannot escape from. Ours is a sentence of a lifetime without them and constant grief as our companion," Michael Bukosky, Jennifer's husband, told the judge about losing his wife, unborn child Sophia and stepdaughter Courtney in the crash. "Since we will die with this sentence that Mark Benson has forced on us, he should forever be locked up till his last days on earth. He should not be able to kiss his wife or embrace his daughters until I am able to do so."

"When you sentence this man, please look at what one man with an SUV had done that Friday evening in April 2008. There is an ancient Rabbinic teaching: To destroy a single life is to destroy the world. That man has not just killed my family, he has destroyed my world," Michael Bukosky said.

Here's the statement read in court by Michael Bukosky.

It's heart-wrenching. Benson destroyed Bukosky when he killed his wife, his unborn daughter, and his stepdaughter.

Benson took so much away from so many people.

Even though he didn't get the maximum sentence, 30 years will do. It is likely to be a life sentence. Most importantly, the families were satisfied with Judge Davis' decision.

What makes the deaths of Jennifer Bukosky, Courtney Bella, and Sophia so tragic is that repeat offender Benson should never have been behind the wheel.

...Benson spoke briefly, expressing remorse for the tragedy he caused.

"Your honor, I am solely responsible for this tragedy. . . . I am horribly, ashamedly sorry for all the pain that I have caused. I fully realize anything I say wouldn't alleviate any of their sorrow. I will feel sorrow and guilt for the rest of my life for this, and I'll never forgive myself," Benson told Davis.

Benson's attorney, Dean A. Strang, said Benson deserved to go to prison, but that a term of 10 to 20 years would allow Benson to return to his family as an elderly man. Strang said a prison sentence should be crafted to give Benson "a chance at redemption."

Benson had already been given a couple of chances at redemption.

He didn't take advantage of those opportunities.

No, he had to be sent to prison for virtually, if not literally, what will be the rest of his life.

Three times he was convicted of drunken driving, proving what an extreme danger he posed to the public.

It should not have taken the deaths of Bukosky and her two daughters, and the terrible, life-changing injuries of Deborah Gibbs to finally get him off the streets.

Benson forfeited his chance for redemption long ago.