A Hall County Jail inmate is facing more charges after an intense fight with deputies last week, with the inmate accused of trying to take weapons, immobilize deputies, and push one over a railing.
The Hall County Sheriff’s Office said in a press statement Wednesday that DeMarvin Ladele Bennett, 25, originally of East Point, asked to come out of cell to get a drink of juice during lunch in his inmate pod. But, he refused to return to his cell after, instead throwing the juice on the ground and taking a fighting stance when deputies attempted to escort him, according to the Sheriff’s Office. Bennett allegedly lunged at one of the deputies, picking him up and attempted to push him towards a mezzanine railing.
An inmate worker assisting with lunch intervened, helping get Bennett to the ground, the statement detailed. On the floor, Bennett allegedly reached for the deputies TASER to disarm him. A second deputy arrived while the two were fighting on the floor, announcing “pepper spray!” She spray a three to five second burst of the spray to Bennett’s face. Both the pepper spray and the TASER were department-issued.
The sheriff’s office reports that Bennett stopped resisting momentarily, until the second deputy tried to put him in handcuffs. Bennett allegedly locked one of her legs between his, trying to immobilize her, and she promptly delivered a fist strike to Bennett’s head, the release said. She commanded he release her and he complied.
He was handcuffed and taken for decontamination of the pepper spray.
Bennett was initially taken into custody in February of 2019 in connection to the murder of Gainesville philanthropist Jack Hough at the CVS on Park Hill Drive. Since he has been incarcerated at the Hall County Jail, officials said he has racked up 10 charges for varying incidents.
This incident, on August 27, has resulted Bennett facing attempted removal of a weapon from a public official and two counts of obstruction of an officer.
Previously, on March 18, 2020 he was charged for threatening violence after a deputy instructed him to return to his cell; on October 27, 2019 he was charged twice when he refused lawful commands and resisted, as well grabbing a deputy’s vest and struck the deputy in the face; he was charged once on August 4, 2019 for trying to take a deputy to the ground and refused to let the deputy’s leg go; on June 21, 2019 he broke a sprinkler head on the sprinkler system and faced a charge when he spat in a officer’s face; he also faced a charge on March 18, 2019 when he spat on an officer. Those charges are according to the press release issued by the Hall County Sheriff’s Office Wednesday. Previous reports show Bennett had been recently released from prison at the time of the alleged murder.
Bennett pleaded not guilty to the murder in May of 2019.
