Accused murderer acquitted of burglary charge

With the family of the 18-year-old man he’s charged with killing sitting in the courtroom and hoping for a conviction, Sheddrick Bentley was acquitted Tuesday of a burglary charge unrelated to his murder case.

Instead of facing up to 40 years in state prison, Bentley, 28, could get 10 years imprisonment. A six-woman Collier County Circuit Court jury deliberated less than an hour before convicting him of giving false verification of ownership to a pawn shop regarding a Sony PlayStation 2 he pawned.

But Bentley was acquitted of breaking into the home of a friend, Robert Perry, and stealing $200 and the video game system. The break-in of Perry’s condo happened June 17, 2004, a week before the stabbing death of Cory Brightman, a then recent Naples High School graduate.

The family of Bentley, Perry and Brightman attended the two-day trial, with the two latter groups rooting for a conviction. Because Bentley has prior convictions of battery on a law enforcement officer, robbery and felony battery, he could have been sentenced as a violent career criminal. As such, he could have received up to 40 years in prison if he was found guilty of the burglary, grand theft and the false verification of ownership charges.

But prosecutor Rob Crown had only circumstantial evidence tying Bentley to the burglary and the grand theft. And the jury felt the evidence wasn’t strong enough.

Crown showed jurors Checker Cab records showing a fare around noon the day of the burglary. The driver picked up the passenger at 1363 Chesapeake Ave., which was Bentley’s address. The driver dropped the fare off at 5297 Treetops Drive, which was Perry’s address. Bentley and Perry knew each other from work at Wendy’s on U.S. 41 East.

Crown also showed jurors a sales slip from Capital Pawn, 2277 U.S. 41 E., with Bentley’s name and thumbprint on it. He had pawned a Sony PlayStation 2 with a broken face plate. Perry later identified it as the stolen gaming system. It was pawned less than an hour after the cab driver dropped off his fare at Perry’s condo.

What Crown couldn’t tell the jurors was the cab driver positively identified Bentley as his fare. The driver died before Bentley was brought to trial. And the cab company lost records showing the driver later took the fare from Perry’s condo to Capital Pawn and then back to Bentley’s home.

No fingerprints were found in Perry’s condo, and there was no eyewitness to the break-in, which happened when the burglar broke a window and entered. Without more direct evidence, the prosecution had nothing more than proof Bentley had pawned the video game system, Assistant Public Defender Dave Whiting, who represented Bentley, said in his closing arguments.

“We don’t know how Sheddrick Bentley came in possession of that PlayStation,” Whiting said. “It could have been a transaction. It could have been given to him. That stuff is reasonable doubt.”

Bentley didn’t testify in his own defense. When the clerk read the verdict, he looked toward the ceiling of the courtroom and exhaled loudly. Then as the clerk polled the jurors, Bentley sat down, put his head on the counsel table and cried.

But he’s not out of legal trouble. He has another burglary of a dwelling case pending that could net 30 years in prison. He’s charged with entering 107 Pier H, the property of Robert Hupman, and stealing his bicycle.

According to court records, the bicycle theft occurred after Bentley killed Brightman on June 25, 2004, outside the Comfort Inn, 1221 Fifth Ave. S., Naples.

Bentley could face a life sentence if he’s convicted of second-degree murder in that case. He’s accused of fatally stabbing Brightman during a feud, then stealing his truck.

After the stabbing, Bentley attracted attention to himself by walking into Wal-Mart in East Naples around 3 a.m. wearing bloody clothes. He picked out a new clothes, Band-Aids and trash bags before paying with a bloody $100 bill, according to court records.

Store employees wrote down the license tag of the pickup he drove. It was registered to Brightman’s father. Around 5 a.m., deputies found Bentley walking over the Gordon River bridge. As the deputy waited for backup, Bentley ran away.

Deputies later saw Bentley riding the stolen bicycle at Naples Land Yacht Harbor, a mobile home park, the arrest report says. After deputies read his rights to him, he told deputies he fought with Brightman, killed him and dumped his body in a garbage bin behind Gulf Gate Plaza at U.S. 41 East and Bayshore Drive.

Investigators found Brightman’s body there, wrapped in garbage bags. He had been stabbed multiple times, according to the arrest report.

Bentley faces a March 2 sentencing on the false verification charge and a Feb. 28 hearing on the other two cases to set trial dates.

He remains held in the Collier County Jail on no bond.