As he awaits a murder trial stemming from the death of his ex-girlfriend's one year old daughter, a Kingsbury men was sentenced to state prison after pleading guilty to selling drugs last month. Time Warner Cable News reporter Matt Hunter has more from Washington County Court.
FORT EDWARD, N.Y. – Ten months after her niece, Kayleigh Cassell, was found dead, June Terpening and her sister watched Thursday as Joshua Bennett was sentenced to six years in state prison.
"He's a monster and God is going to see to it that he pays for it," Terpening said. “All we need to be concerned with is to see to it that this man rots in prison for the rest of his life."
Last month, the 35-year-old Bennett pleaded guilty to criminal sale of a controlled substance for selling heroin out of his Route 4 home in Kingsbury, which he shared with Cassell's mother, Rachel Ball. It's the same house where investigators say the 13-month old child died with heroin and cocaine in her system on February 22.
"We found significant evidence of his involvement in the drug trade," Washington County District Attorney Tony Jordan said.
"I think he was giving her drugs to make her go to sleep, make him look like he was a good guy," Terpening said.
Bennett, who's set to stand trial on numerous separate charges, including second degree murder, asked to revoke his guilty plea Thursday, but Judge Kelly McKeighan said no.
"I understand you have a difference of opinion with me," McKeighan told Bennett in court. "I deny the request."
"It's not surprising that once it's done, the reality of what's happening sets in," Jordan said after the proceeding.
Ball also accepted a plea bargain last month, pleading guilty to charges including criminally negligent homicide, endangering the welfare of a child and criminal possession of a controlled substance with intent to sell. Her sentencing has yet to be scheduled, and Jordan acknowledged the amount of time she spends in prison depends on how much she cooperates at Bennett's February murder trial.
"Her sentence will be, if she cooperates, 8 1/3 to 11 years in state prison," Jordan said.
Standing with Ball's mother, Teresa DeGraff, Terpening said she expects her niece will testify when the trial is set to begin -- one year to the day after Kayleigh's death.
"God has her; she's an angel," Terpending said of the child. "She's a hero, that's what she is, she's a hero. She died so that other women and children wouldn't have to suffer at Josh Bennett's hand."
Through the completion of Thursday’s sentencing, Bennett was represented by Washington County Public Defender Michael Mercure. Moving forward, Queensbury lawyer Garfield Raymond will serve as Bennett's attorney.