{"id":277690,"date":"2026-05-20T05:33:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T05:33:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/277690\/"},"modified":"2026-05-20T05:33:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T05:33:08","slug":"penalty-phase-day-two-in-otto-lenke-murder-trial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/277690\/","title":{"rendered":"Penalty phase day two in Otto Lenke murder trial"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>FORT PIERCE, Fla. (CBS12) \u2014 The <a href=\"https:\/\/cbs12.com\/news\/local\/jury-penalty-phase-otto-lenke-murder-case-jurors-murder-trial-fort-pierce-police-officer-motorcycle-shop-st-lucie-county-prosecutors-fire-florida-news-testimony-evidence-death-penalty-life-in-prison-without-parole\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">penalty phase<\/a> continues in the Otto Lenke <a href=\"https:\/\/cbs12.com\/news\/local\/former-police-officer-on-trial-for-murder-in-ft-pierce-a-significant-murder-trial-is-underway-on-the-treasure-coast-the-case-dates-back-to-2021-when-a-former-police-officer-and-firefighter-allegedly-shot-another-man-and-set-him-on-fire-our-society-g\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">murder trial<\/a> in Fort Pierce.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/cbs12.com\/topic\/Otto%20Lenke\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Lenke<\/a> was found <a href=\"https:\/\/cbs12.com\/news\/local\/otto-lenke-murder-trial-expected-to-go-to-jury-friday-death-penalty-still-possible-florida-news-crime-victim-shot-set-on-fire-2021-killing-motorcycle-repair-shop-surveillance-video\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">guilty<\/a> of first-degree murder and arson on May 8.<\/p>\n<p>The same jurors who found Lenke guilty are now hearing more testimony and will determine if Lenke should get the death penalty or life in prison with no parole.<\/p>\n<p>Eight or more jurors must vote for the death penalty in order for that to be their recommendation.<\/p>\n<p>The judge makes the final decision, and he can go along with the jury&#8217;s recommendation or not.<\/p>\n<p>Lenke, 66, a Sebastian resident, did not testify in his own defense during the trial.<\/p>\n<p>Lenke is a former Melbourne Police officer and a former Indian River County firefighter.<\/p>\n<p>RELATED: <a href=\"https:\/\/cbs12.com\/news\/florida\/otto-lenke-sentencing-comes-florida-expands-capital-punishment-6-executions-2026-desantis-death-penalty-death-row-lethal-injection-inmates-killers\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Otto Lenke sentencing comes as Florida expands capital punishment with 6 executions in &#8217;26<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Prosecutors say in February 2021, Lenke wore a motorcycle helmet to conceal his identity and shot Richard Benson three times at Benson&#8217;s motorcycle repair shop in Fort Pierce and  then poured denatured alcohol on Benson and set  Benson on fire while he was still alive.  The crime was captured on<a href=\"https:\/\/cbs12.com\/news\/local\/otto-lenke-florida-crime-news-murder-trial-jury-sees-video-victim-being-shot-set-on-fire-richard-benson-2021-killing-motorcycle-repair-shop-fort-pierce-evidence-closing-arguments\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"> surveillance cameras<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>According to the arrest report, Lenke told detectives he had nothing to do with the murder and was not in Fort Pierce when it happened.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FORT PIERCE, Fla. (CBS12) \u2014 The penalty phase continues in the Otto Lenke murder trial in Fort Pierce.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":277691,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[171,173,172],"class_list":["post-277690","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-port-st-lucie","tag-port-st-lucie","tag-port-st-lucie-headlines","tag-port-st-lucie-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277690","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=277690"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277690\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/277691"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=277690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=277690"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=277690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}