Church pays to settle suit over worker's killing

The church where Nicole Bennett provided day care to children, and where her accused killer, Matthew Burton, also worked, will pay $467,000 as part of a settlement in a lawsuit Bennett's family filed against the church, according to courthouse documents.

The lawsuit brings finality to a civil action Bennett's husband, Kevin Bennett, launched in the wake of her murder. Nicole Bennett failed to come home on June 14, 2012 from Bay Shore Community Church near Gumboro, where she worked. Her body was found in a ditch on Maryland's Eastern Shore, not far from the church, the next morning.

Burton, 31, who could face the death penalty if convicted, was arrested weeks later and charged with her murder. He fought extradition from Maryland, where prosecutors originally intended to try him, for years but was extradited to Delaware on Feb. 4. He is charged with rape and first-degree murder and has pleaded not guilty.

Kevin Bennett filed the wrongful death suit against the church; its pastor, Danny Tice; and Burton in April 2013. The suit claims the church allowed Burton to work as a custodian for two final weeks after its leaders learned he had been convicted of sex offense against a child in 2004.

The church failed to inform Nicole Bennett about Burton's past or why he was being let go, according to the suit. On Burton's last day of work, the lawsuit says, he kidnapped and killed her.

Tice and Bay Shore denied being culpable for Bennett's death, and in 2014 they unsuccessfully sought to have the lawsuit proceedings put off until then end of Burton's criminal trial, which has yet to begin. Burton, who was not represented by an attorney in the civil case, has had little participation in it, according to court records. The case had been set to go to trial on Sept. 9.

A May 5 petition to Superior Court Judge Andrea L. Rocanelli said the parties, in mediation in February, agreed to a settlement that would have the defendants pay Kevin Bennett $392,000 and pay the couple's three daughters, ages 14, 10 and 4, $25,000 each. The plaintiffs agreed to dismiss the case under the settlement agreement, stating the church's offer to settle was "reasonable and proper," according to the petition.

Rocanelli agreed to place the settlement petition under seal on May 12, and a court record shows she approved the settlement petition on May 19. The settlement document remained available in the court's public records system on June 1.

Calls to attorneys for Bennett and for Tice and the church were not immediately returned Monday.

A pretrial hearing in Burton's criminal case is set for June 8, and the trial is scheduled to begin in April.

Contact James Fisher at (302) 983-6772, on Twitter @JamesFisherTNJ or jfisher@delawareonline.com.