Local businessman Benny Shelton has been found guilty of one count of sexual assault against a minor and will serve seven years in prison for the offense.

Shelton was sentenced Friday to 12 years in prison, with five years suspended.

Shelton, 51, of 924 Third Ave. North, was found guilty Thursday after the jury deliberated less than two hours.

During the three-day trial, the jury heard from Shelton’s then 17-year-old victim, the boy’s therapist, investigators and the pastor of Shelton and his victim. The Dispatch does not identify victims of sexual crimes.

Although Shelton was convicted on just one of the two charges he faced, Assistant District Attorney Mark Jackson was pleased with the outcome of the case.

“The jury did a good job,” Jackson said. “This was a tough case to deliberate with facts that nobody wants to talk about or deliberate. We’re happy with the verdict.”

The victim’s mother was pleased with the verdict, if not the sentence.

“I’m satisfied with the job the district attorney’s office did for us, but I wasn’t satisfied with the amount of time he got,” she said.

Shelton’s attorney, Rod Ray, was disappointed.

“I believe in the jury system,” Ray said. “They make a decision and you have to live with it.”

During closing arguments, Jackson referred to Shelton as a predator and called his actions “horrific.”

The assault took place in July 2008 while Shelton was chaperoning a church retreat.

The teen, who is diagnosed with cerebral palsy, testified that he awoke to find Shelton trying to force the youth to perform oral sex on him. The boy spoke with Eastview Baptist Church pastor Junior Eads about the incident. Eads said he confronted Shelton about the boy’s charges.

Shelton denied the allegation and was allowed to continue teaching youth Sunday school at the church. Eads never spoke with the boy’s parents or law enforcement.

Months after the incident took place, Shelton continued to have a relationship with the boy, taking he and his young friends to dinner and giving him rides to and from various places.

In addition to the charge of sexual assault against a minor, Shelton was also charged with one count of sexual assault after the teen claimed Shelton forced him to perform oral sex on him in a vehicle in January 2009, less than a month after the boy turned 18.

Shelton claimed they performed oral sex on each other and that both acts were consensual. Shelton was found not guilty on that particular sexual assault charge.

Jackson asked the jury to find Shelton guilty of the sexual assault against a minor saying that as a leader in the church and a Sunday school teacher, Shelton had the trust of the parents of the children he came in contact with.

“The problem is, when you give a predator that trust, they capitalize on it.” Jackson said. “He had the perfect opportunity to exploit that trust.”

Ray asked the jury to carefully consider the evidence presented during the trial.

“I’ve never wanted (a jury) to look at the evidence more closely than I do in this case,” he said. “There are certain accusations in life that when they’re made, you’re guilty. In church, in life, if a man is accused of messing with a boy, you’re guilty.”

In other trials being held during the current circuit court session, accused murderer Chuck Newell took the stand.

Newell is accused of shooting and killing then 31-year-old Adrian Boyette at the Slab House, a bar on the outskirts of Lowndes County.

Newell was initially found guilty of manslaughter in the 2008 slaying but the Mississippi Supreme Court ruled a retrial.

Newell testified that as a father of two, he lived in Lowndes County until moving back to Vernon, Ala., to help his mother and sister with his ailing father, who later died of cancer.

He then met his now former wife, Diane Madison, at a class reunion in 2007. The two had an off and on relationship where Diane would live with Newell and then move in with a man by the name of Tony Hayes. Newell and Madison would regularly break up and get back together until the two decided to marry in late April 2008.

Newell testified that two weeks after the pair had been married, he suspected his wife was cheating on him with Hayes. On May 14, 2008, Newell repeatedly called his wife’s cell phone but could not get in touch with her. He stated he left her a message on her voice mail telling her “I think it’s best you come get your stuff.”

A short time later, Newell stated that his wife showed up and they loaded two loads worth of her belongings and she left. Newell said he then called a lawyer about getting a divorce, watched a movie and took a nap. When he woke up around 5 p.m., he found his wife inside the home looking for her cell phone charger. They had a brief exchange of words and she left again.

Newell told Assistant District Attorney Rhonda Ellis that he was angry and hurt and went up to the Slab House as one last attempt to fix his marriage. When he arrived at the bar and saw two men standing beside his wife’s truck, the evening took a violent turn.

Newell testified that he pulled in the parking lot of The Slab House, got out of his vehicle and approached Boyette and his friend, Colby Hollis. He said that he asked the men, “Do you know the girl that drives this truck?”

Newell testified that Boyette “got an attitude” with him and when he attempted to leave, Boyette followed him back to his truck. He stated the two got into an exchange and Boyette slammed the truck door on Newell’s legs.

He continued saying that Boyette began beating on the truck’s window, windshield and top of the truck with the palm of his hands, yelling obscenities and threatening the defendant.

Newell demonstrated Boyette’s actions, loudly banging on the witness stand. He testified: “I thought ‘This guy is crazy, this guy is nuts'” and then grabbed his pistol out of the glove box and placed it beside him on the seat of the truck.

Newell stated Boyette then grabbed the door handle and in an attempt to push him back, Newell pushed the door open, knocking Boyette back.

Boyette then allegedly put his right hand in his pants pocket, pointed his left hand at Newell and stated, “I’m going to cut you up.” Newell stated that is when he pulled the gun and shot Boyette once in the chest.

Newell fled the scene and then drove to his home in Vernon, approximately five minutes away from the bar.

He then received a phone call from bartender Shelia Ray. Ray and Newell’s wife were at the bar’s parking lot moments after the shooting and Ray called Newell from Diane Newell’s phone. Ray asked Newell if he knew he had just killed a man to which Newell replied, “It’s Diane’s fault.”

Once at his home, he sat in his back yard with a gun to his head, intending to kill himself. He told the jury that he regrets the shooting every day but he had no choice in the matter, saying he believed Boyette was going to cut him. “I took his word for it. I had no reason not to.”

Sarah Fowler covered crime, education and community related events for The Dispatch.