'Jetseta got her day in court'

OSCEOLA -- Trena Gage-Bakeoven almost came out of her seat Friday when a Clarke County jury found James Bentley guilty of sexually abusing her daughter, Jetseta Gage of Cedar Rapids.

"I am very happy we got the verdict we did," Gage-Bakeoven said. "Jetseta got her day in court."

Bentley, 36, of Vinton, had no reaction as the verdict was read. He was found guilty of second-degree sexual abuse, a conviction that carries a sentence of up to 25 years in prison.

He is already serving a 100-year federal sentence for sexual exploitation and child pornography convictions for taking sexually explicit photos of Jetseta and a 1-year-old girl.

Jetseta, 10, was kidnapped and murdered in March 2005 by Bentley's brother, Roger Paul Bentley. He is serving a life sentence.

During James Bentley's Benton County second-degree sexual abuse trial, which began Monday in Osceola on a change of venue, two former Linn County Jail inmates testified that Bentley had talked about sexually abusing Jetseta.

One inmate said he overheard Bentley tell another man he penetrated Jetseta with his finger. The other inmate testified that Bentley told him that, because Jetseta was dead, he was "going to get away with it."

The jury began deliberating at 2:55 p.m. Thursday after closing arguments and reached a verdict about 11:20 a.m. Friday after nearly 3 1/2 hours of deliberations.

The case veered toward a possible mistrial Friday morning when the jury, reviewing a video of a police interview with Bentley, came upon a three-minute section that hadn't previously been seen in open court.

Jury members stopped the video when it became apparent that the final portion hadn't previously been viewed, and sent a question to 6th Judicial District Judge Denver Dillard asking if they could watch those three minutes.

Benton County Attorney David Thompson said it was his fault the three-minute portion hadn't been played in court. He said he intended to play the entire video during the state's case, but he was preparing for his next witness and stopped it too soon.

Mark Brown, Bentley's attorney, said if Dillard allowed the final three minutes to be viewed by the jurors, he would ask for a mistrial.

Dillard told the jury members they couldn't watch the three minutes in question, and to disregard any portion they had already viewed. He also said the television and the video wouldn't be allowed in the jury room unless supervised by a court clerk.

Along with Jetseta's family, Thompson was pleased with the verdict. He felt it was an important case to take to court and the prosecution needed to go on even though Jetseta could not testify.

He also was thankful to the Clarke County jurors. The trial was moved there from Benton County because of pretrial publicity.

All jurors in the case declined to comment.

"I am thankful he finally got convicted," said Jenny Slight, Gage-Bakeoven's aunt. "He is finally convicted of being a child molester. It feels wonderful."