Dear your Honor,
We are the parents and sisters of Isabella Hellman, whose husband, Lewis Bennett, is to be
sentenced by Your Honor on January 10, 2019,
‘As we sat in court on November 5", and listened to the recitation of facts about how Isabella
dled, we were struck by how bizarre this process of letting the government offer a plea bargain
really is. Afterall, Isabella is our daughter, our sister and we have and will continue to suffer her
loss for the rest of our lives. Additionally, her young daughter, Emelia, who was ripped from our
lives so quickly after Isabella's disappearance, will have to grow up without her mother and will,
ultimately, learn that this hole in her life was caused by her father.
That Lewis Bennett is being allowed to plead to involuntary manslaughter is outrageous to us.
After all, he did nothing to look for Isabella and actually took affirmative action to sink his own
boat. His only apparent efforts were to save himself and the stolen coins that he had in his
Possession. The photos of the ship showed that it was not damaged and sinking but actually
Intentionally scuttled. While our lawyer has explained to us that these facts are circumstantial
and may not result in a conviction to murder, we strongly believe that a plea to involuntary
manslaughter is not only insufficient but actually less consistent with the facts than an acquittal
oF a murder conviction would be. In essence, this plea is a compromise and while we can
understand the prosecutor's desire to move on from what is a difficult case, we are not so
willing to move on.
‘There are things we want you to know. In the over 18 months since Emelia was taken from us,
we have not seen her. That is not from lack of trying. We have tried, but Lewis Bennett's family
lives in the United Kingdom and he has not instructed his family to allow us to visit her. We
have had very limited Facetime access to her, less than even one handful of times and before
‘she was taken from us, she was the light of our lives. The reason we raise this issue is to
demonstrate to you that Lewis Bennett is not a repentant man. Someone who negligently or
carelessly caused the death of another person would be expected to take whatever actions he
could to mitigate the impact his actions had on the family. He has not done this. Sparingly,
Lewis Bennett has granted us minimal access to Emelia and only electronically. We do not know
where she lives. We do not have the ability to speak with her regularly. We are victims twice
over, all at the hands of Lewis Bennett. Based upon his admitted actions at the time of
Isabella's death and his behavior after being incarcerated, we do not think an involuntary
manslaughter plea is appropriate. The agreed sentence of seven to eight years is inappropriate
as well. Candidly, we would rather see this case go to trial, even if the result is a not guilty
verdict, rather than have to live with this result,
‘Your Honor, we are heartbroken. We know Isabella is gone and see little hope of getting Emelia
back anytime soon. Someday, she will learn the truth and may come back to us, but that may
take more than a decade. By then, her father will have made her into another vietim, having
taken not only her mother's life but also taken from her the opportunity to know and share the
lives of her mother’s family. Who knows where we will be in fifteen years? Will hergrandparents even still be alive? How much will Emeila lose? She too, is a victim here and her
rights have been ignored without even a say.
We do not want you to sentence Lewis Bennett as agreed to. We want a plea and a sentence
that is consistent with what he has done, what he has taken, and what all of the rest of us have
lost. Without that, will always feel that justice and the rights of the victims in this case, Emelia
included, have been pushed aside.
Respectfully,
Adriana Difeo