Brian Benedict, a UCI graduate student is convicted in shooting of ex-wife over child support

Posted By CotoBlogzz

Rancho Santa Margarita, CA  - Brian Hughes Benedict, a graduate student at the University of California, Irvine (UCI) was convicted today of shooting and murdering his ex-wife outside of his campus apartment related to a dispute over child support payments.

Benedict faces a minimum sentence of life in state prison without the possibility of parole at his sentencing on Sept. 12, 2014.

According to the Orange County District Attorney's ( OCDA) office, at approximately 7:00 p.m. on Sept. 13, 2009, 30-year-old Rebecca Benedict went to pick up her 4-year-old son from Brian Benedict at his apartment on the campus of UCI on Verano Place. The couple recently attended a court hearing where the defendant had been ordered to pay child support. After the victim entered Brian Benedict's apartment, the defendant attacked Rebecca Benedict by swinging a hammer at her head.

Rebecca Benedict ran from the apartment down an adjacent path to escape. Brian Benedict chased her with a firearm and shot the victim several times. Brian Benedict then went back into his apartment, grabbed his son, and put the boy in the car. Witnesses and neighbors, who feared the defendant was going to flee the scene with his son, physically restrained Brian Benedict until police arrived.

The Irvine Police Department and the UCI Police Department investigated this case.

Senior Deputy District Attorney Matt Murphy of the Homicide Unit is prosecuting this case.