Montana Man Sentenced to 140 Years for Four Aces Double Murder

Posted on: January 5, 2025, 03:01h. 

Last updated on: January 5, 2025, 03:01h.

Philip Conneller @casinoorgphilc Read More
Expertise: Gaming Business, Regulation, Tribal Gaming.

A Montana man was sentenced to 140 years in prison Friday for brazenly shooting his wife and a bartender to death in 2023 at the Four Aces Bar, a cardroom and slots tavern in the small town of Superior, Mont.

Kraig Walter Benson, Four Aces, Superior, Montana, Jenny Benson, Logan Gardner
Kraig Benson, pictured during his sentencing hearing on Friday. The 49-year-old claimed to have no memory of shooting dead his wife and a bartender at the Four Aces bar in 2023. (Image: NBC Montana)

Kraig Walter Benson, 49, was convicted in October of murdering Jenny Benson, 49, and Logan Gardner, 43. The defendant believed the victims had been having an affair.

In August 2023, Benson pleaded not guilty to two counts of deliberate homicide and use of a weapon in a violent crime, despite the killings being captured by the bar’s security video and observed by multiple witnesses.

Shocking Attack

The footage shows the Bensons sitting together at a table inside the Four Aces. At one point, the defendant leaves the bar, ostensibly to smoke a cigarette. At the same time, he retrieves a gun from his car, a Chevrolet Tahoe, before returning to his seat in the bar.

At 9:19 p.m., he reaches into his waistband, pulls out the gun, and shoots his wife in the head as patrons scatter.

He then points the gun at Gardner, who is making a break for the front door, and fires once. He turns to his wife and shoots her again as she lies on the floor.

He then fires three more shots at Gardner, sets off the fire alarm, and drives away in the Chevrolet. Benson was later arrested driving along a highway with a flat tire.

In court, Benson testified as a witness. He claimed that he had no memory of the incident and attempted to put the blame on his wife. His testimony at times drew gasps from those assembled in the courtroom, local news outlets reported.

Jaw Dropping Testimony  

“At trial, the state made Jenny seem like an angel, a person with no flaws. They were wrong,” Benson said, as reported by NBC Montana. “Since my arrest, through the discovery process, it shows another side of my wife of 22 years.”

The prosecution objected several times to Benson’s description of his wife as a “liar and a cheater.”

“I, too, lost my best friend that night, my best friend and the love of my life,” he claimed.

To my friends and family, thank you for your support,” he continued. “To my children, I love you more than life itself.”

Benson’s daughter, Paige Benson, called her father a “narcissistic person,” adding that she didn’t “feel safe with him in the world.”

His former father-in-law told the defendant he hopes he leads a miserable life in prison.