Murder suspect and dead man's spouse heard on tape at trial

Jurors in the Steven Brown murder trial listened Thursday to scratchy recordings in which Brown's wife grills a man arrested after her husband's death about his role in the killing.

"I just want to make sure we're not implicated in this," Katherine Brown tells Jerry Benge.

"Implicated? We didn't do nothing. ... All we did was care about each other ... and that's not against the law," he says.

Prosecutors said Brown agreed to carry a wire during two meetings in February 2005 with Benge, now 49.

Steven Glenn Brown was shot in his home outside Ceres in January 2005. Detectives arrested Benge, who was Brown's cousin, and Benge's now 30-year-old nephew, Sean Benge, both of Turlock.

In testimony Tuesday, Brown insisted she and Benge were, for the most part, just close friends.

The recordings tell a different story.

Benge mentions having sex "a few times" and repeatedly expresses his love for Brown.

Asking Benge to reassure her that the murder wouldn't be tied to them, she says, "I don't want us to get together and then something else comes up."

Benge tells Brown how important she is to him.

"I told you I'd take care of you," he says. "I love you very much forever and ever. I hope you know that."

Benge tells Brown not to worry: They know nothing about the killing, so they have no cause for concern. He says his nephew also has nothing to do with it.

But some of his statements seemed to conflict with his story.

Brown tells Benge she's concerned for her and her children's safety. He tells her to relax: "The two guys who were involved in this, they're not breathing no more."

Jerry Benge's attorney, Bob Wildman, objected to the tapes.

"Everybody knows it didn't happen that way," he said, about his client's comments about the two men.

In the recordings, Brown keeps returning to the same question: How does Benge know the murder won't be connected to him or her?

"The only way something ever'd be dug up would be if someone heard you and me talking," he says. "That's the only way."

Bee staff writer Emilie Raguso can be reached at eraguso@modbee.com or 578-2235.

This story was originally published October 31, 2008 at 12:44 AM with the headline "Murder suspect and dead man's spouse heard on tape at trial."