New Developments in Planten Case

Friday, November 18, 2005

Eyewitness News

(11/17/05 - RALEIGH) (WTVD) -- Prosecutors said Thursday they will seek the death penalty for Drew Planten, the man accused of killing Stephanie Bennett.

Police say Planten, 35, raped and strangled the 23-year-old woman in 2002. The former chemist for the N.C. Department of Agriculture was arrested October 19 as he left work.

A judge ruled Thursday that prosecutors could seek the death penalty for Planten.

"The crime is heinous, atrocious and cruel," said Wake County Assistant District Attorney Susan Spurlin.

She also told the judge Thursday that semen recovered from Bennett's body matched perfectly with Drew Planten's DNA.

Spurlin also confirmed that ballistic testing on a gun taken from Planten's apartment is a perfect match with the bullet that killed Rebecca Huismann in Lansing, Michigan, in 1999. Planten used to live in Lansing.

Prosecutors expect Michigan police to file murder charges in the next two weeks. They say a trial likely would be held there first, delaying Planten's trial in Raleigh.

"If he is convicted in Michigan, that would be another circumstance for the jury in making a decision in what the appropriate penalty is," Spurlin said.

Kirk Osborn is Planten's attorney. He says the once-unresponsive Planten is now fully communicating with attorneys as they build a defense case. Following Thursday's hearing, Osborn went to the N.C. Department of Agriculture to investigate whether co-workers illegally helped investigators obtain Planten's DNA.

"He's got a presumption of innocence," Osborn said. "You've got to understand Drew. He is now interacting with us. The way he shut down upon being arrested, it's just something in his character. In his personality structure. It was not a ruse."

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