A young Tarrant County man with a troubling history of mental illness was sentenced on Wednesday to 70 years in prison for the murder of a 76-year-old man in 2021.
Jonathan Benami, who was 21 at the time of the murder, was found guilty by a jury in the stabbing death of Tony Clark. His defense team did not dispute that Benami committed the crime but instead portrayed the murder as the end result of severe mental illness and a broken mind, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported.
Benami’s father had sought help for his son’s delusions since the young man was in high school, but to no avail. Benami reportedly showed signs of paranoia, often spoke nonsensically, and walked around in front of others in his underwear. At one point, he was jailed for assault after a confrontation at his father and stepmother’s home.
On the night before Clark’s murder, Benami broke into a house on Eagle Drive in Fort Worth that was under renovation. The owner of the home had previously employed Benami as a night watchman for the property, but Benami lost that gig after the owner said he had caused damage to the home.
Early the next morning, Clark arrived at the home, where he was helping with the renovation work. Benami, who had never met Clark previously, stabbed him 11 times in the chest, back, and arm with an unknown sharp object.
After the murder, Benami was diagnosed with schizophrenia, and his lawyers said that Benami believed he was protecting the house from demons.
The owner of the home, Adam Kodash, testified during the trial that Benami thought people in the walls of the house were trying to eat him, adding, “He was obviously psychotic.”
Defense attorney Scott Palmer argued that the case did not meet the criteria for a criminal murder conviction because Benami was unable to form the intent required due to his mental illness.
“The kid was out of his mind, ” Palmer asserted, per the Star-Telegram.
Prosecutors, on the other hand, portrayed Benami as a dangerous man who intentionally and knowingly murdered the victim.
Before the trial finally commenced in August, Benami had twice been found incompetent to stand trial.
Judge Julie Lugo did not allow a forensic psychologist who examined the defendant to testify in the case because the defense did not designate him as an expert at least 20 days in advance of the trial.
After two hours and 40 minutes of deliberation, the jury sentenced the now 24-year-old defendant to 70 years in prison.
In nearby Dallas, there have been 133 murders committed so far this year, according to the City of Dallas crime analytics dashboard.
Crime overall is especially rampant in Downtown Dallas, which regularly outpaces Fort Worth’s city center when it comes to a variety of criminal offenses.
While the Dallas Police Department has been laboring under a significant staffing shortage, a specialized police unit and private security teams patrol Fort Worth’s downtown area. Although a prior analysis recommended a force of around 4,000 officers in a report looking at Dallas’ public safety needs by population, DPD fields only around 3,000 officers.
DPD also lacks funding compared to other high-crime jurisdictions. New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago leaders have allocated far higher sums to police than the Dallas City Council, which approved a DPD budget of just $654 million this fiscal year.