Paul Benson, 85; Former U.S. Judge Presided Over Notable Murder Trials
Former U.S. District Judge Paul Benson, 85, who presided over high-profile trials for murders of federal agents during 27 years on the federal bench, died Thursday of natural causes in Verona, Wis.
In 1977, in Fargo, N.D., Benson oversaw the closely watched trial of American Indian activist Leonard Peltier, charged in the deaths of two FBI agents. Peltier was convicted and is serving two back-to-back life sentences.
Benson also handled the 1983 trial of four people after a shootout near Medina, in central North Dakota, in which two federal marshals were killed.
A nephew of the late U.S. Sen. Milton Young, R-N.D., Benson was appointed to the federal bench in 1971 by President Nixon. The jurist retired in 1998. Benson served in the Navy during World War II, rising to the rank of lieutenant.
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