Sterling man sentenced to 60 years for 2021 murder

MORRISON – A Sterling man with a long felony history was sentenced Thursday to 60 years in prison for shooting and killing a man on May 1, 2021.

After a five-day trial in August, a Whiteside County jury found Michael W.T. Bennett, 37, guilty of two counts of first-degree murder in the death of Joshua N. Hamrick, 39, who was shot in his backyard in the 900 block of West 19th Street in Sterling.

The sentence breaks down to 35 years for first-degree murder, with a 25-year enhancement for using a gun. Bennett was given credit for 866 days served.

After five hours of deliberations, Bennett was found guilty of both counts with which he was charged: one for the homicide and the other because the jury found that he “personally discharged a firearm that caused death to another person,” which adds a minimum of 25 years to a sentence.

He was facing 60 years to life for first-degree murder, and 25 to life for use of a gun.

Before the sentencing, Judge Stanley B. Steines denied a motion filed by defense attorney Michael Jarrard of Chicago seeking an acquittal or a new trial.

In the motion, Jarrard said, among other things, that Bennett did not get a fair trial because some of the jurors lied during voir dire when they said they did not know some of the key witnesses, and that some of them discussed the case with members of the public during deliberations, which is strictly forbidden.

Jarrard also said that Whiteside County State’s Attorney Terry Costello “failed to prove every material allegation of the offense beyond a reasonable doubt,” that the verdict was “based upon evidentiary facts which do not exclude every reasonable hypothesis consistent with the innocence of the defendant” and that Steines was wrong to overrule the defendant’s motion for a directed verdict at the close of Costello’s case.

A directed verdict is a ruling that there is no legally sufficient evidentiary basis for a jury to reach its conclusion. In this case, Jarrard asked the judge to acquit Bennett because he said Costello did not prove his case.

After the sentencing, Jarrard filed a motion asking the judge to reconsider his sentence.

That, too, was denied.

Jarrard told Steines that he plans to file an appeal.

Bennett and Hamrick, who knew each other, got into an argument before the shooting. Bennett fled the state and was arrested shortly afterward, on June 7, 2021, near Centennial, Colorado.

He has been held in Whiteside County jail on $2 million bond since his arrest.

Bennett has a felony history in Whiteside County involving violence, guns and drugs that dates to 2004, and was on probation at the time of the murder.

He was sentenced March 9, 2020, to 2½ years of probation for aggravated battery in a public place. Charges of aggravated discharge of a firearm and being a felon in possession of a weapon were dropped as part of a plea agreement.

On June 27, 2018, he was sentenced to a term of conditional discharge for aggravated battery that ended after he served 180 days in jail. Home invasion, being a felon in possession of a weapon and aggravated assault charges were dismissed as part of a plea agreement.

In July 2014, he was sentenced to three years in prison for possession of a controlled substance. A charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm and a misdemeanor charge of possession of marijuana were dismissed as part of a plea agreement.

He was given 2½ years in prison in October 2006 for aggravated battery causing great bodily harm. A felony charge of failure to report an injury accident was dismissed.

In August 2005, he was sentenced to two years in prison in a 2004 case for having an invalid firearm owner’s identification card, and a year for possession of marijuana, sentences that ran concurrently.

Felony charges of armed robbery with a firearm and aggravated robbery, and misdemeanor charges of growing marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia, were dismissed.

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Michael Bennett gives his allocution prior to sentencing Thursday, Oct. 19, 2023 in Whiteside County court. Bennett was convicted of two counts of first degree murder and sentenced to 60 years in prison. (Alex T. Paschal)