Scott Bennett, a keyboardist who’s been collaborating with founding Beach Boy Brian Wilson since 1998 and has been a touring member of his band, was convicted of rape by instrumentation and sexual battery, according to Tulsaworld, via Rolling Stone.
The conviction stems from a 2014 incident at Tulsa’s Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, where Bennett, 51, played a show with Wilson’s band and can later be seen on surveillance footage sexually assaulting an obviously intoxicated 21-year-old woman. According to Tulsaworld, the video was shown in court, which led a jury to recommend three years in prison for rape and two additional years for sexual battery.
In the video, a woman can be seen in an elevator about 1 a.m. Dec. 5, 2014, before a man gets in. The man prevents the woman from getting off the elevator before taking her up to the 12th floor, according to the affidavit.
The man takes the woman down the hallway, trying to carry her at one point. They lie down on the hallway floor, at which point the man pulls down the woman’s pants and appears to sexually assault her, the affidavit states.
“It is clear from watching the video that the victim is extreamly (sic) intoxicated and is unaware of her surroundings,” a Catoosa police officer wrote in the affidavit. “The subject however appears to be in complete control of his faculties.”
The woman told police the next day she did not remember any contact with Bennett. A later investigation turned up her underwear in his hotel room and his DNA on her person. She was at Hard Rock for a birthday party, reports Tulsaworld; when her friends noticed she was missing,they alerted security, which found her slumped over on the seventh floor.
Edith Singer, the prosecutor in the case, said the woman was so incapacitated she remembered nothing:
“When (the police) described for this young lady what they observed happening, all of the color drained from her face,” Singer said. “(The officer) compared it to a death notification.”
Bennett is scheduled for sentencing June 14.
Image via AP
GET JEZEBEL RIGHT IN YOUR INBOX
Still here. Still without airbrushing. Still with teeth.
