THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, July 7, 1995 TAG: 9507070347
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Short : 29 lines
A man convicted in May of the 1993 murder of his girlfriend was sentenced Thursday to 40 years in prison.
On May 15, a jury found Charles A. Arthur, 21, guilty of second-degree murder and recommended the maximum sentence. On Thursday, Judge Robert W. Stewart upheld that recommendation.
Arthur was convicted of killing his girlfriend, Catherine Sizemore Benson, 21, in August 1993. Testimony showed that Arthur started arguing with Benson, accusing her of seeing other men. He then beat her on the head and body with a barbell, fracturing her skull five times.
The body of Benson, a housekeeper, was found by her employer when he returned to his home on Coyote Avenue in August 1993.
Arthur, a resident of Asheville, N.C., was stationed aboard the amphibious-assault ship Guam at Norfolk Naval Station. He was arrested seven months after the killing.
KEYWORDS: MURDER BEATING ARREST TRIAL
SENTENCING by CNB