CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A Kanawha County woman talked about her “baby boy” through tears in Kanawha County Circuit Court where the North Carolina man who killed her son was sentenced Thursday to 20 years in prison for his murder.
“There’s a heaviness, a sadness that constantly lives in my chest. I have literally physical pain,” Teresa Sanders said of her life since her son, Micah Burdette, 21, was shot in the head at St. Albans City Park in September 2014. A hiker found his body.
Michael Benbow, 25, plead guilty to voluntary manslaughter along with a 2nd offense recidivist charge and received the maximum recommended sentences for a total of 20 years. He could be eligible for parole in less than a decade.
“What happened was, unfortunately, he had a gun,” Benbow said when Kanawha County Circuit Judge Duke Bloom asked to explain how Burdette was killed.
“There was a struggle and he was shot. I am accepting responsibility for his death. I also don’t want to tarnish a mother’s memory of her beloved and deceased son. There is no one to blame but myself.”
Sanders admitted her son was not perfect, “but he was one of the best kids,” she said. “He was so kind and so compassionate and I just don’t understand why someone would have a loaded gun and put it to my son’s head.”
Don Morris, a Kanawha County assistant prosecuting attorney, told Judge Bloom the shooting happened during a pre-arranged drug deal.
“I know Micah begged for his life. I know Micah told him, ‘Here, take the $2,000,’” Sanders said before addressing Benbow directly. “I hope that you find peace with God. I hope that he doesn’t give you one night’s rest until you’ve had a heart change,” she said.
“Mrs. Sanders is correct. This is something that I do have to live with for the rest of my life by a choice that I made by being involved in something I should have never been involved in,” Benbow later responded. “I just hope she can find it in her heart one day to forgive me.”
Bloom had seen Benbow in his courtroom prior to this murder case. The Huntersville, N.C. man received the maximum sentence for a wanton endangerment charge involving a firearm in 2009.
As he sent Benbow to prison for a second time, Bloom offered him some advice. “Unless you find a way to support yourself and to deal with the issues that you have, you’re going to end up spending the rest of your life there (in prison),” he said.
“I hope you won’t do that and I hope you will not ever put another family through the trauma that this family’s been through.”