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Groton Daily Independent
Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2018 ~ Vol. 25 - No. 190 ~ 15 of 40
The exploitation charge resulted from Bennett allegedly using $1,200 of her mother’s money without consent to rent hotel rooms, buy meals and pay legal fees while her mother was hospitalized.
Bennett had also been charged in Morton County with endangering a vulnerable adult, but the defense and prosecution agreed in November to dismiss that case with $2,050 in nes forfeited from Bennett’s bond. “The victim is deceased and the case became dif cult to prove once the Morton County companion case
was dismissed,” Burleigh County Assistant State’s Attorney Marina Spahr said in court documents.
It’s not clear when her mother, Mary Trujillo, died. She had been living with family in Nevada. Defense attorney William Kirschner said Trujillo’s death happened a few months ago, but he did not have an exact
date. ___
Information from: Bismarck Tribune, http://www.bismarcktribune.com
Pipeline protester’s elderly exploitation case dismissed
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — Authorities have dropped a second charge against a Bismarck woman accused of abusing and exploiting her elderly mother during protests against the Dakota Access oil pipeline in North Dakota.
Authorities last week dismissed a charge of felony exploitation of a vulnerable adult against Kathleen Bennett, saying the case had become too dif cult to prove, The Bismarck Tribune reported . A defense attorney said Bennett’s mother died a few months ago.
Bennett, 59, was accused of leaving her 82-year-old mother with dementia tied to a chair in a protest camp in North Dakota while she attended demonstrations in December 2016. Protesters were trying to block construction of the oil pipeline, which is operated by Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners.
Bennett’s mother was taken to a hospital during a blizzard. Hospital staff said she was frail and mal- nourished.
The exploitation charge resulted from Bennett allegedly using $1,200 of her mother’s money without consent to rent hotel rooms, buy meals and pay legal fees while her mother was hospitalized.
Bennett had also been charged in Morton County with endangering a vulnerable adult, but the defense and prosecution agreed in November to dismiss that case with $2,050 in nes forfeited from Bennett’s bond. “The victim is deceased and the case became dif cult to prove once the Morton County companion case
was dismissed,” Burleigh County Assistant State’s Attorney Marina Spahr said in court documents.
It’s not clear when her mother, Mary Trujillo, died. She had been living with family in Nevada. Defense attorney William Kirschner said Trujillo’s death happened a few months ago, but he did not have an exact
date. ___
Information from: Bismarck Tribune, http://www.bismarcktribune.com
DuVernay, ‘black-ish,’ ‘Power’ win at NAACP Image Awards By SANDY COHEN, AP Entertainment Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A jubilant Ava DuVernay was named entertainer of the year at an NAACP Image Awards ceremony that focused on the black community’s power to create change.
DuVernay lauded other black artists from the stage as she accepted her award Monday night, naming writers and directors such as Shonda Rhimes, Gina Prince-Bythewood, Kenya Barris and “Black Panther” Ryan Coogler.
“This is our time,” DuVernay said. “We can say we were here when all this gorgeous art was happening, and that we supported it — that we lifted each other up, that we did as Dr. King said we would do: Live the dream. We’re the dream.”
Anthony Anderson hosted the ceremony at the Civic Auditorium in Pasadena, California, on what would have been Martin Luther King Jr.’s 89th birthday. While his politically tinged monologue poked fun at the presidential administration and Omarosa Manigault, others used their time onstage to encourage more