The following article was posted on www.jsonline.com
Bail reduced for ex-physician charged in Oconomowoc fatalities
Posted: Feb. 19, 2009
Waukesha - A judge on Thursday lowered Mark M. Benson's bail to $500,000 from the $1 million that had been set when Benson was charged in the April 25 crash that killed a popular Oconomowoc educator, her unborn child and her 10-year-old daughter.
Waukesha Circuit Judge J. Mac Davis reduced the bail after Benson's attorney filed a motion seeking to modify it. Davis said $500,000 remained a substantial sum to ensure Benson would show up for court proceedings if he were released.
Benson's attorney, Dean A. Strang, said he did not know whether Benson would be able to post $500,000. Benson remained in the Waukesha County Jail late Thursday.
Assistant District Attorney Kevin M. Osborne argued against reducing Benson's bail. While Benson does not have a record of missing court dates in previous cases, he also wasn't facing what amounts to a possible life sentence in them, Osborne said.
Benson, 56, is charged with two counts of homicide by intoxicated use of a vehicle, homicide by intoxicated use of a vehicle involving an unborn child and injury by intoxicated use of a vehicle, all of which are felonies, and misdemeanors operating while intoxicated and causing injury and operating after revocation of his license. Osborne said Benson faces more than 75 years in prison, if convicted.
Benson, a former physician, is accused in the crash that killed 39-year-old Jennifer Bukosky, who was pregnant, and her daughter Courtney Bella. Two other children were injured.
Benson had what prosecutors say was a significant level of the sleep aid Ambien in his system, as well as Xanax, which is used to treat anxiety, and oxycodone, a painkiller, when the crash occurred at a traffic signal in the northbound lane of Highway 67 at Pabst Road in Oconomowoc.
Two days before the crash, Circuit Judge Lee Dreyfus revoked Benson's driver's license in connection with a drunken driving conviction and Benson wasn't supposed to be driving.
Judy and Paul Jenkins, Bukosky's parents, said they were disappointed by the decision to reduce bail.
"The issue is this man has never complied with anything he's been ordered to do," Paul Jenkins, Bukosky's stepfather, said outside the courtroom.
