Crime & Safety
Prince Reaction to Boating Deaths Trial: 'God knows the truth.'
The parents of Griffin and Jake Prince open up about the verdict against boater Paul Bennett.
Updated 9:44 a.m.
Slightly more than a week after a Hall County jury rendered a verdict in the 2012 Lake Lanier boating-deaths trial, there's a reaction from the mother of Griffin and Jake Prince of Buford.
Posting on Facebook on Nov. 22, Tara Prince said in part:
"It was awful. It was very painful. I saw and heard things that I never wanted to. Things that will now be added to my nightmares and will never leave me. I had to listen to my son wail in agony on the 911 tape as the reality of both of his brothers being killed sunk in. Strangers got to view photographs of my dead children while I wept in the hallway."
And:
"The callousness, the cowardice, the deceptiveness, the arrogance, the selfishness and the utter lack of remorse or even any compassion on the part of Paul Bennett and his girlfriend, Amy Lynn Harris was nothing short of shocking."
The jury on Nov. 14 cleared Paul Bennett, a Cumming resident and Johns Creek salon owner, of homicide by vessel in connection with the June 2012 boating collision on Lake Lanier that killed the Prince boys. Bennett was found guilty of charges that included boating under the influence, and received a 30-month prison sentence.
Tara Prince's reaction had "with Michael Prince" tagged on the end. Michael Prince is the dead boys' father, and Michael Prince also was piloting the boat that collided with Bennett's vessel.
The Prince reaction continued:
"When the verdict was announced, these were Judge Gosselin's words to Paul Bennett,
“The jury did find you not guilty of the counts of homicide by vessel, and so you escaped those charges and the possibility of 15 years in jail on each of those. I do have to look at what I’m sentencing on, the charges that I’m sentencing on, but I can’t ignore what I’ve heard for the past two weeks, either.”
Bennett's business Facebook page contains no reaction or mention of the verdict or the incident.
The Prince Facebook reaction concludes with a paragraph that begins: "God knows the truth."
-- How do you feel about this reaction, and the boating deaths' trial verdict? Tell us in the comments below.
Slightly more than a week after a Hall County jury rendered a verdict in the 2012 Lake Lanier boating-deaths trial, there's a reaction from the mother of Griffin and Jake Prince of Buford.
Posting on Facebook on Nov. 22, Tara Prince said in part:
"It was awful. It was very painful. I saw and heard things that I never wanted to. Things that will now be added to my nightmares and will never leave me. I had to listen to my son wail in agony on the 911 tape as the reality of both of his brothers being killed sunk in. Strangers got to view photographs of my dead children while I wept in the hallway."
And:
"The callousness, the cowardice, the deceptiveness, the arrogance, the selfishness and the utter lack of remorse or even any compassion on the part of Paul Bennett and his girlfriend, Amy Lynn Harris was nothing short of shocking."
The jury on Nov. 14 cleared Paul Bennett, a Cumming resident and Johns Creek salon owner, of homicide by vessel in connection with the June 2012 boating collision on Lake Lanier that killed the Prince boys. Bennett was found guilty of charges that included boating under the influence, and received a 30-month prison sentence.
Tara Prince's reaction had "with Michael Prince" tagged on the end. Michael Prince is the dead boys' father, and Michael Prince also was piloting the boat that collided with Bennett's vessel.
The Prince reaction continued:
"When the verdict was announced, these were Judge Gosselin's words to Paul Bennett,
“The jury did find you not guilty of the counts of homicide by vessel, and so you escaped those charges and the possibility of 15 years in jail on each of those. I do have to look at what I’m sentencing on, the charges that I’m sentencing on, but I can’t ignore what I’ve heard for the past two weeks, either.”
Bennett's business Facebook page contains no reaction or mention of the verdict or the incident.
The Prince Facebook reaction concludes with a paragraph that begins: "God knows the truth."
-- How do you feel about this reaction, and the boating deaths' trial verdict? Tell us in the comments below.
You might also be interested in reading:
- Bennett Verdict Reaction: 'My Heart Is Broken'
- Bennett Not Guilty of Homicide, Guilty on Other Charges
- Crime or Accident? Jury to Decide in Lanier Boating Deaths
- Lanier Boating Deaths Trial: Bennett Asked, 'What Can I Do?'
- Bennett Video: 'I Didn't Hit And Run'
- Lake Lanier Ranger: Boating Death Defendant Was 'Classic
- Tara Prince Testifies: 'You Killed My Family'
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