YOURcommunity
Bennett believes the time he spent being prosecuted and incarcerated in prison was a wake up call from God that he had become too prideful and needed to refocus his energy and passion.
16
our town
ways, and I didn’t listen. He allowed me to go to prison so I could put my attention on Him.” Now, after regaining his license to practice law this spring after a three-year suspension, Bennett approaches life from a more spiritual perspective, he says. “I think my life exemplifies pride before destruction. I was an extremely proud person. I was too prideful. I tried to gratify myself. I serve God now. I serve the Lord’s will. You find out his will by reading the Bible and going to church.” Still, Bennett has lost none of his flashy courtroom style. Jaws dropped among observers in May when they saw Bennett show up as the lawyer hired to defend Marcus Anthony Isreal, the suspect accused of running a vehicle into Sgt. Brian Dulle – Warren County’s first sheriff’s deputy to die in the line of duty. It’s his first high-profile case since the Ohio Supreme Court restored his law license April 29. Bennett says his own legal troubles changed his perspective on how he practices law. “Before, I was passionate, I was successful…I had empathy for my clients. But my understanding of what my clients were going through was with limitations, because I never experienced what they experienced,” Bennett said. “Now I understand what it’s like to be investigated, prosecuted and incarcerated. I know what it’s like, and I don’t want that to happen to anyone.” He makes no apologies for vigorously defending people who are accused of the most heinous crimes. He admits many of them, in fact, are guilty. But he says they’re still entitled to the best defense he can deliver – and an acquittal if he can secure one. “I don’t care if you killed your mother – you’re entitled to a strong, passionate defense and a victory,” he said. “It offends some people, but that’s how I truly feel.” Bennett’s passion for his profession took hold during his childhood. Growing up poor in Cincinnati-area housing projects, the young Bennett saw his father going in and out of courtrooms, jails and prisons for burglary and drug offenses. “I remember those days as a child, taking