Ex-FBI Agent Guilty in Plot to Kill Wife

A jury convicted an ex-FBI agent of trying to kill his wife, rejecting his claim that her lesbian affair with crime novelist Patricia Cornwell broke up his marriage and drove him temporarily insane. Eugene Bennett, who pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, was found guilty of attempted murder, abduction and seven other charges. The jury in Manassas, Va., recommended a 61-year sentence. Prosecutors said Bennett, 42, wove a complex plan to kill his wife, Marguerite, collect nearly $1 million in insurance money and get custody of the couple’s two young daughters. They said Bennett took his wife’s minister hostage and used the clergyman to lure Marguerite Bennett to a church where he threatened to blow up her and the clergyman.