A Montana man who fatally shot his wife and a bartender after suspecting they were lovers will never walk free again.
A Ravalli County judge sentenced Kraig Walter Benson to 140 years in prison for the shooting death of his wife, Jenny Benson, 49, and Logan Gardner, 43. After three hours of deliberation, Benson was found guilty and convicted by a jury of two counts of deliberate homicide and one count of using a weapon in a violent crime.
On Aug. 27, 2023, officers responded to the Four Aces Bar in Superior, Montana, after reports of a shooting. Prior to the fatal incident, Benson and his wife had been sitting at a table together before the defendant stepped outside the establishment to smoke a cigarette. According to People, a video footage evidence submitted by prosecutors showed Benson retrieved a handgun from Jenny’s truck after smoking, walked back into the bar, and shot his wife, who was now sitting at the bar where Gardner was bartending, in the head. Then, the defendant shot Gardner as he attempted to retreat, striking him three times and shooting Jenny two more times before he fled the scene in his wife’s truck.
Later officers arrested Benson on Missoula County highway after a witness at the bar followed him and called authorities to inform them of the defendant’s location.
Upon arrival, officers and first responders pronounced Gardner dead at the scene but rushed Jenny to a nearby hospital, where she succumbed to her injuries.
During the trial, Kraig testified that Jenny had told him she was not going home with him but going home with Gardner. The defendant also claimed he could not recollect what happened afterward. However, prosecutors submitted phone records from jail where Benson told his friends he wanted to take a paternity test for the couple’s children.
Though Benson apologized for his actions and claimed his lack of recollection was no excuse, he still maintained Jenny was also partly at fault.
“Shooting two people in a bar, with witnesses, are not actions with memory, having no memory is no excuse. At trial, the state made Jenny seem like an angel, a person with no flaws, they were wrong. Since my arrest, through the discovery process, it shows another side of my wife of 22 years,” said Benson during the sentencing hearing, reported NBC Montana.
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