The attorney for a Cumming man charged in the deaths of two brothers on Lake Lanier last June argued Tuesday that officers lacked probable cause to arrest his client.
Prosecutors countered with a recording of Paul Bennett’s field sobriety test, conducted about two hours after his fishing boat crashed into a pontoon boat, knocking 13-year-old Griffin Prince and his 9-year-old brother, Jake, into the water.
The tape shows Bennett telling Georgia Department of Resources Ranger Mark Stephens that he had only one drink before the accident and a couple of shots following it. But Bennett failed the sobriety test and was charged with boating under the influence. Several weeks later, Hall County District Attorney Lee Darragh indicted the hair salon owner on 12 additional counts, including first-degree homicide by vessel and refusing to render aid.
Bennett’s lawyer, Barry Zimmerman, sought to have all the charges dismissed Tuesday, but the motion was denied by Hall County Superior Court Judge Kathlene Gosselin. His trial is scheduled to begin Nov. 4.
Bennett was visibly shaken during the interview with Stephens, breaking down in tears several times. He told the ranger the Prince family boat came out of nowhere and, after the collision, he dove into the water trying to rescue the boys. Jake, killed instantly, was found by his older brother, Ryan. It would take dive teams nine days to recover Griffin’s body.
Bennett told Stephens he left the scene because his female companion, a diabetic, needed sugar.
“How am I supposed to be OK?” Bennett said.
Bennett’s account was generally corroborated by witness Phil Johnson, who was fishing with a friend the night of the collision when they heard piercing screams in the darkness.
Johnson, of Gainesville, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution last June that he saw Bennett in the water some 400 yards from the crash site.
“[Bennett] told us we needed to go to the pontoon boat, ” he said. “That they needed help.”
As the Prince family searched for Griffin, Bennett returned to his boat, according to Johnson. He recalled the suspect making a “low, crying moan,” then silence.
Johnson said Bennett left the scene shortly after DNR rangers arrived. He was arrested early the next morning on his boat at Bald Ridge Marina in Cumming.
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