Anaheim, CA -- In 1981 Benjamin Brenneman was abducted by Robert Thompson, a convicted pedophile who had been paroled from prison for a prior conviction four months prior to murdering Benjamin.
Articles of clothing belonging to Benjamin were found in Thompson's apartment where he had taken him after the abduction for the sexual assault and where he then murdered him.
Benjamin was working as a newspaper carrier for the Orange County Register when he was molested and strangled. Thompson's home was on Benjamin's newspaper route in Anaheim.
Thompson has been sentenced to death.
Aug. 28, 1999 --
The mother of a murdered boy appealed Friday for an end to the case with a call for the death of the convicted killer.
Kay Brenneman said more than 18 years after the death of her 12-year-old son, Benjamin, the man convicted of the crime sits on death row with 30
separate appeals pending before a federal court.
"He took my child from the heart of my being," she said during a news conference.
Robert Jackson Thompson was convicted 2 years after the boy's death on Aug. 25, 1981. He confessed to the crime, but later recanted. He now says police pressured him to confess by arresting his girlfriend, who was pregnant at the time, said Thompson's attorney, Paul Gabbert.
Benjamin was kidnapped while delivering the Orange County Register along his Anaheim route by a man who said he was interested in subscribing to the paper. The child was sodomized and his body found stuffed in the trunk of a car.
Gabbert said when police arrested Thompson they forced to him to cooperate by telling him his girlfriend was having a miscarriage and saying they would let her go if he confessed.
"They manipulated him," he said. "They supplied him with what they wanted him to say. They used a variety of factors to increase his stress and distress."
Police have denied the charge.
Both Rep. Ed Royce, R-Fullerton, and Orange County District Attorney Anthony Rackauckas joined Ms. Brenneman's plea to finish the appeals.
"The continuances are just absolutely ridiculous. The law has not been enforced in this case. She's asking for enforcement," Royce said.
Rackauckas told reporters part of the problem was judges were overburdened.
Of the 35 to 40 people who appeal their death sentences every year, the state Supreme Court only hears about 15 cases, he said.
"We need to think of ways of opening up the bottleneck so death penalty cases can be heard," Rackauckas said.
Robert Jackson Thompson was sentenced to death in 1983, but died at age 60 of natural causes on death row In 2006.
Articles of clothing belonging to Benjamin were found in Thompson's apartment where he had taken him after the abduction for the sexual assault and where he then murdered him.
Benjamin was working as a newspaper carrier for the Orange County Register when he was molested and strangled. Thompson's home was on Benjamin's newspaper route in Anaheim.
Thompson has been sentenced to death.
Aug. 28, 1999 --
The mother of a murdered boy appealed Friday for an end to the case with a call for the death of the convicted killer.
Kay Brenneman said more than 18 years after the death of her 12-year-old son, Benjamin, the man convicted of the crime sits on death row with 30
separate appeals pending before a federal court.
"He took my child from the heart of my being," she said during a news conference.
Robert Jackson Thompson was convicted 2 years after the boy's death on Aug. 25, 1981. He confessed to the crime, but later recanted. He now says police pressured him to confess by arresting his girlfriend, who was pregnant at the time, said Thompson's attorney, Paul Gabbert.
Benjamin was kidnapped while delivering the Orange County Register along his Anaheim route by a man who said he was interested in subscribing to the paper. The child was sodomized and his body found stuffed in the trunk of a car.
Gabbert said when police arrested Thompson they forced to him to cooperate by telling him his girlfriend was having a miscarriage and saying they would let her go if he confessed.
"They manipulated him," he said. "They supplied him with what they wanted him to say. They used a variety of factors to increase his stress and distress."
Police have denied the charge.
Both Rep. Ed Royce, R-Fullerton, and Orange County District Attorney Anthony Rackauckas joined Ms. Brenneman's plea to finish the appeals.
"The continuances are just absolutely ridiculous. The law has not been enforced in this case. She's asking for enforcement," Royce said.
Rackauckas told reporters part of the problem was judges were overburdened.
Of the 35 to 40 people who appeal their death sentences every year, the state Supreme Court only hears about 15 cases, he said.
"We need to think of ways of opening up the bottleneck so death penalty cases can be heard," Rackauckas said.
Robert Jackson Thompson was sentenced to death in 1983, but died at age 60 of natural causes on death row In 2006.
Anaheim, CA -- In 1981 Benjamin Brenneman was abducted by Robert Thompson, a convicted pedophile who had been paroled from prison for a prior conviction four months prior to murdering Benjamin.
Articles of clothing belonging to Benjamin were found in Thompson's apartment where he had taken him after the abduction for the sexual assault and where he then murdered him.
Benjamin was working as a newspaper carrier for the Orange County Register when he was molested and strangled. Thompson's home was on Benjamin's newspaper route in Anaheim.
Thompson has been sentenced to death.
Aug. 28, 1999 --
The mother of a murdered boy appealed Friday for an end to the case with a call for the death of the convicted killer.
Kay Brenneman said more than 18 years after the death of her 12-year-old son, Benjamin, the man convicted of the crime sits on death row with 30
separate appeals pending before a federal court.
"He took my child from the heart of my being," she said during a news conference.
Robert Jackson Thompson was convicted 2 years after the boy's death on Aug. 25, 1981. He confessed to the crime, but later recanted. He now says police pressured him to confess by arresting his girlfriend, who was pregnant at the time, said Thompson's attorney, Paul Gabbert.
Benjamin was kidnapped while delivering the Orange County Register along his Anaheim route by a man who said he was interested in subscribing to the paper. The child was sodomized and his body found stuffed in the trunk of a car.
Gabbert said when police arrested Thompson they forced to him to cooperate by telling him his girlfriend was having a miscarriage and saying they would let her go if he confessed.
"They manipulated him," he said. "They supplied him with what they wanted him to say. They used a variety of factors to increase his stress and distress."
Police have denied the charge.
Both Rep. Ed Royce, R-Fullerton, and Orange County District Attorney Anthony Rackauckas joined Ms. Brenneman's plea to finish the appeals.
"The continuances are just absolutely ridiculous. The law has not been enforced in this case. She's asking for enforcement," Royce said.
Rackauckas told reporters part of the problem was judges were overburdened.
Of the 35 to 40 people who appeal their death sentences every year, the state Supreme Court only hears about 15 cases, he said.
"We need to think of ways of opening up the bottleneck so death penalty cases can be heard," Rackauckas said.
Robert Jackson Thompson was sentenced to death in 1983, but died at age 60 of natural causes on death row In 2006.
Articles of clothing belonging to Benjamin were found in Thompson's apartment where he had taken him after the abduction for the sexual assault and where he then murdered him.
Benjamin was working as a newspaper carrier for the Orange County Register when he was molested and strangled. Thompson's home was on Benjamin's newspaper route in Anaheim.
Thompson has been sentenced to death.
Aug. 28, 1999 --
The mother of a murdered boy appealed Friday for an end to the case with a call for the death of the convicted killer.
Kay Brenneman said more than 18 years after the death of her 12-year-old son, Benjamin, the man convicted of the crime sits on death row with 30
separate appeals pending before a federal court.
"He took my child from the heart of my being," she said during a news conference.
Robert Jackson Thompson was convicted 2 years after the boy's death on Aug. 25, 1981. He confessed to the crime, but later recanted. He now says police pressured him to confess by arresting his girlfriend, who was pregnant at the time, said Thompson's attorney, Paul Gabbert.
Benjamin was kidnapped while delivering the Orange County Register along his Anaheim route by a man who said he was interested in subscribing to the paper. The child was sodomized and his body found stuffed in the trunk of a car.
Gabbert said when police arrested Thompson they forced to him to cooperate by telling him his girlfriend was having a miscarriage and saying they would let her go if he confessed.
"They manipulated him," he said. "They supplied him with what they wanted him to say. They used a variety of factors to increase his stress and distress."
Police have denied the charge.
Both Rep. Ed Royce, R-Fullerton, and Orange County District Attorney Anthony Rackauckas joined Ms. Brenneman's plea to finish the appeals.
"The continuances are just absolutely ridiculous. The law has not been enforced in this case. She's asking for enforcement," Royce said.
Rackauckas told reporters part of the problem was judges were overburdened.
Of the 35 to 40 people who appeal their death sentences every year, the state Supreme Court only hears about 15 cases, he said.
"We need to think of ways of opening up the bottleneck so death penalty cases can be heard," Rackauckas said.
Robert Jackson Thompson was sentenced to death in 1983, but died at age 60 of natural causes on death row In 2006.
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