Man Could Face Death Penalty After Murder Conviction

A jury convicted a Costa Mesa carpet installer Monday of murdering and raping a Laguna Hills woman and must now decide if he should die for his crimes.

Eric Wayne Bennett, 25, also was found guilty of raping and robbing another woman who lived in his neighborhood.

Family members of the slain woman, 50-year-old Marie Evans Powell, sobbed as the verdict was announced. The verdict also brought sobs from relatives of the defendant, who held a Bible as he walked into court Monday and maintained his innocence throughout the trial.

The same Orange County Superior Court jury returns Thursday for the trial’s penalty phase to determine whether Bennett should receive a death sentence or spend his life in prison without parole.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Carolyn Kirkwood contended during the trial that genetic evidence linked Bennett to both attacks.

The prosecutor said Bennett raped and robbed a 40-year-old neighbor at knifepoint on Sept. 27, 1994, five days after he moved to a Costa Mesa home with his wife and two sons. He had moved to the neighborhood after installing carpet at a home next door to the victim, Kirkwood said.

The same day of that rape, Bennett installed vinyl flooring at Powell’s Laguna Hills home, Kirkwood said.

About two weeks later, the prosecutor alleged, Bennett returned to Powell’s condominium in the 22400 block of Caminito Tecate, where he bludgeoned, raped and robbed her.

The victim, who worked as a secretary in Newport Beach, was watching television in her bedroom when she was attacked. She struggled to fight off the intruder, who slammed her in the head with a glass decanter, tried to suffocate her with a wet towel and dropped a television on her head, the prosecutor told jurors.

Bennett’s attorney, Deputy Public Defender Bernadette Cemore, contended the evidence was sparse and questioned the reliability of the genetic testing linking Bennett to the crimes.

Jurors deliberated about a day before returning guilty verdicts on Monday.

Attorneys said the trial’s penalty phase could last about three weeks before Superior Court Judge Kathleen E. O’Leary.