By Kevin McKenzie
The Commercial Appeal
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Just released from jail with an attempted second-degree murder charge dismissed, Martha D. Mote said Thursday that a Memphis police officer shot himself as she sat beside him in a police car.
“The truth was he shot himself; he was sitting right next to me,” Mote, 54, said of the wounding Saturday of Memphis police Sgt. Norman Benjamin.
The dismissal of all charges against Mote, 54, was announced Thursday by the Shelby County district attorney and Memphis police director.
“We just didn’t feel that we could continue to hold Ms. Mote in custody on these felony charges, nor continue to have her facing the felony charges given what we have learned since Sgt. Benjamin was shot on Saturday,” said Shelby County Dist. Atty. Gen. Amy Weirich.
Benjamin, 47, initially said a Hispanic man shot him at about 12:45 p.m. Saturday in the 4700 block of Summer. He was critically injured.
On Labor Day, Police Director Toney Armstrong announced that Benjamin had lied and that Mote had been charged, accused of shooting him in a case of domestic violence.
Investigators charged Mote with attempted second-degree murder and employment of a firearm during the commission of a violent felony. She was held in jail on $200,000 bond.
“The investigation revealed that Benjamin was involved in a domestic violence argument with (Mote), when Mote pulled a semiautomatic handgun from her purse and shot Benjamin,” police reported in an affidavit charging the mother and grandmother.
After jubilant family members picked up Mote on Thursday at Shelby County’s Jail East for women, Mote said by telephone that Benjamin had picked her up while on duty Saturday and shot himself as they discussed his failed attempts to date her niece, who turned 18 that day.
“I told him she’s got a little boyfriend; she’s not going to be with you,” Mote said.
Benjamin, in the final stage of a no-contest divorce from his second wife, had strained his finances giving the younger woman money, Mote said.
Benjamin had taken out an $80,000 life insurance policy with Mote’s niece as the beneficiary, Mote said. He wanted to draw his retirement benefits and “knew some stink was fixing to come up,” she said.
Troubling questions about the sergeant’s relationship with a younger woman quickly surfaced after the shooting. Police disclosed that a Crime Stoppers tip helped lead them to the theory that Benjamin was involved with a young female relative of Mote’s as well as Mote.
However, Mote said Thursday that she was no more than a friend to Benjamin.
Mote said she did not realize that Benjamin, who had talked about what he was going to do, would shoot himself.
“I never thought he’d go to the deep end,” she said.
Meanwhile, Mayor A C Wharton said Thursday that he has asked Armstrong to pursue hate-crime charges against Benjamin for his false report about a Hispanic man having shot him.
Benjamin also may face felony charges for filing a false police report, city spokeswoman Mary Cashiola said Thursday night.
At the news conference, Armstrong and Weirich declined to shed light on why the charges against Mote had been dropped or the current direction of the continuing investigation.
Armstrong said it is still not clear to police whether Benjamin was shot with his own gun. And at this point, police can’t accurately describe Benjamin’s relationship with Mote.
“I think it’s pretty difficult for us now to accurately describe any relationship with any of the characters in this investigation,” he said.
Armstrong left unclear whether Benjamin, who remains at the Regional Medical Center at Memphis, is talking to investigators. Assigned to the Vehicle Theft Bureau, he is suspended with pay from his $56,299-a-year job.
He said the police response to Benjamin’s false claim cost about $11,000.
Armstrong said he is hoping to meet with Hispanic community leaders “to make it perfectly clear that it is an isolated incident.”
Benjamin was promoted to sergeant in November. His personnel file since joining the force in 1997 includes accusations of stalking a female officer, kissing a police clerk’s neck and insubordination.
Armstrong noted that none of the senior officers who determined Benjamin’s punishments considered the incidents firing offenses.
One of Mote’s daughters, Stephanie Mote, 19, said the family had insisted since her mother’s arrest that “the truth is that Norman Benjamin shot himself.”
“The Lord has answered my prayers,” she said.
Copyright 2011 The Commercial Appeal