Lansing man sentenced to life in prison for homicides

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Suzanne Goodenow’s voice wavered slightly, but she made her message clear at Benjamin French’s sentencing on Wednesday — she believed life in prison was something French deserved.

“You planned to kill my son, and then you did it,” Goodenow said in court. “I’ll never believe that you stood outside and did nothing, but even if that is true, you deserve life in prison for taking the lives of two good people.”

The sentence to life in prison without parole was handed down to French, a 23-year-old Lansing resident, in Lansing’s 30th Circuit Court following a Dec. 21, 2011 jury decision that found him guilty for the March 2010 murders of MSU student Darren Brown Jr., 18, and his roommate Owen Goodenow, 23.

Evidence provided during French’s trial suggested he and alleged co-conspirator David Marion Jr. planned to steal a safe from Goodenow’s room containing money and marijuana and to kill Goodenow in the process.

Under state law, it is mandatory to sentence criminals convicted of first degree murder to life in prison, said G. Michael Hocking, French’s attorney.

Although the sentence did not come as a surprise to Hocking, he said it was a “sad day” for all of the families involved.

“The co-defendant hasn’t been convicted, but if it goes the way it went in this case, we’ve got four families destroyed,” he said. “You can’t undo that.”

French intends to file an appeal on the verdict, but likely will not get an answer for several years, Hocking said.

Suzanne Goodenow testified before the court, and Chicago resident Netanya Woods-Ogunleye, Brown’s mother, provided a written statement read aloud by Ingham County Assistant Prosecutor Bill Crino.

Both testimonies stated approval of the sentence.

Addressing the families of the victims in a testimony, French offered his condolences and said he did not blame them for directing their anger toward him.

“You have said some mean things to me, but that’s okay,” French said in court. “You need somebody to be angry at.”

When Marion’s trial commences on March 5, French said he hoped evidence would show he was not directly at fault for the deaths of Brown and Goodenow.

“I did not kill your boys … in the meantime, if I can help you to vent your anger, feel free,” he said.

Hocking said he believed French’s testimony was genuine and said the remorse French felt for bringing his family and the families of Brown and Goodenow through the situation ran deep.

A life without her son nearly was too much for Suzanne Goodenow, but she said she pulled through to be there for her other two children. She said the pain she feels from her son’s death never will subside and the most that could be done was to bring justice to the perpetrators of the crime.

“When he died, I wanted to die too — I wanted to take his place so he could live, but of course that was impossible,” Suzanne Goodenow said to French during the sentencing. “Karma will pay you in this life and the next for what you have done.”

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