Dee Vance Benson

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American judge (1948–2020)

Dee Vance Benson (August 25, 1948 – November 30, 2020) was an American jurist who served as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Utah . He was nominated as judge by President George H. W. Bush on May 16, 1991, and confirmed by the United States Senate on September 12, 1991. In May 2004, Chief Justice William Rehnquist appointed Benson to serve as a judge of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court for a seven-year term.

Benson was born in Sandy, Utah and graduated from Jordan High School . In 1973, he received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Brigham Young University (BYU) and a Juris Doctor as a member of the charter class of the J. Reuben Clark Law School at BYU in 1976. That year he also played professional soccer with the Utah Golden Spikers of the American Soccer League .

From 1976 to 1984, Benson practiced law in private practice. He was a Counsel, U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on the Constitution from 1984 to 1986. He was a Chief of staff, U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch from 1986 to 1988. He was a Counsel, Iran-Contra Congressional Investigating Committee in 1987. He was an Associate deputy U.S. attorney general from 1988 to 1989. He was a U.S. Attorney for the District of Utah from 1989 to 1991.

Benson was a federal judge to the United States District Court for the District of Utah . He was nominated by President George H. W. Bush on May 16, 1991, to a new seat created by 104 Stat. 5089. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on September 12, 1991, and received his commission on September 16, 1991. He served as chief judge of the district from 1999 until 2006. He took senior status on January 1, 2014, and died of brain cancer in 2020, at his home, in Sandy, Utah.

Early life and education

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Benson is of Swedish ancestry. He was born, along with his identical twin brother, Lee Benson, on August 25, 1948, in Sandy, Utah. After graduating from Jordan High School, Benson served an LDS mission in Sweden. Benson then attended BYU in Provo, Utah , where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1973, majoring in Physical Education with a minor in political science. That same year, Benson became a member of the charter class at the J. Reuben Clark Law School at BYU. While in law school, he served as the editor for the _BYU Law Review _. Benson went on to receive his Juris Doctor in the spring of 1976.

In addition to his legal studies, Benson played professionally in the American Soccer League which has since been disbanded. He was a member of Utah's team, The Golden Spikers for the 1976 year. He later stated that it made him "realize that I didn't have a future in professional soccer." With soccer as a passion and an affinity for teaching, Benson started and coached the first soccer team at Hillcrest High School in Midvale , Utah.

Career

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Upon graduation from BYU, Benson accepted a position with a Salt Lake City firm then known as Martineau & Maak where he stayed less than one year. He was then offered and accepted a position as a litigator with the firm Snow Christensen & Martineau, where he remained until 1984.

During his eight-year tenure at Snow Christensen, Benson took a two-year leave of absence to accept a position with the construction company Ralph M. Parsons Company based in Pasadena , California . With Ralph M. Parsons, he lived in a developing Saudi Arabian city known today as Yanbu . His duties as legal counsel for Parsons included reviewing contracts as well as handling lawsuits that arose with general contractors and employees.

From 1984 through 1989, Benson served in various U.S. government posts in Washington, D.C. , including:

• Counsel to the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on the Constitution from 1984 to 1986 – Notable issues that arose during his employment included The Balanced Budget Amendment.

• Chief of Staff to Senator Orrin Hatch from 1986 to 1988

• Counsel to the Iran-Contra Congressional Investigating Committee 1987, where he helped write the minority report with Dick Cheney .

• Associate Deputy Attorney General to Deputy Attorney General Harold G. Christensen; Christensen was his former senior partner at Snow Christensen

In 1989, Benson was appointed United States attorney for the District of Utah. He was recommended to the post by his former boss, Senator Orrin Hatch to replace U.S. attorney Brent Ward . Benson's recommendation was further supported by Senator Jake Garn and by United States Attorney General Richard Thornburgh . He was sworn in under an interim appointment on March 7, 1989. He received a presidential nomination from President George H. W. Bush and confirmation by the United States Senate before being sworn in on August 8, 1989. Benson held this post until 1991.

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In 2011, Judge Benson sentenced eco-activist Tim DeChristopher to two years in prison for disrupting an oil auction in 2008. Benson had barred DeChristopher's defense team from explaining to the jury why he disrupted the auction. Critics have accused Judge Benson for doling a harsh sentence to DeChristopher. Peter Yarrow , folk singer and member of Peter, Paul, and Mary, wrote in an editorial for the Los Angeles Times, that DeChristopher's actions were comparable to leaders of the civil rights movement.

"Tim is a hero to me," wrote Yarrow. "Throughout American history, acts of civil disobedience have led to change. Think about the Underground Railroad that helped escaped slaves to freedom, or about the courageous actions of people like Rosa Parks, who refused to stay in the back of the bus simply because of their skin color. Without this kind of defiance of unjust laws, our country would likely still be denying people of colour basic freedoms."

In 2012, Judge Benson denied convicted felon Dewey MacKay's request to remain free pending appeal of his guilty verdict. However, Judge Benson, without objection from the prosecution, did allow MacKay to remain free pending appeal of Benson's denial. MacKay, an orthopedic surgeon from northern Utah, was convicted in August 2011 of 40 counts related to illegally prescribing pain killers. Between 2005 and 2009 MacKay prescribed over 3.5 million pills of opiate painkillers. During the appeal hearing, Benson said that the jury's verdict had sufficient evidence, but expressed sympathy towards MacKay and his family and stating that the 20-year mandatory minimum sentence issued by Benson was "too long'. "It's very easy to get almost teary-eyed over the health issue alone," Benson said. "This is so hard for people who love and admire and respect this man, which is many." Benson told MacKay's family that he "can't even imagine" the "nightmare" they are going through. "It must be like a black cloud," he said. He said that America's jury system is not perfect, but added that jurors in MacKay's case performed their jobs diligently. MacKay's attorney's used his failing health and large numbers of prescription drugs he takes as reasons why MacKay should stay out of prison.[_citation needed
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Publication

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Benson is the co-author of a textbook on evidence, described by online retailer West Thomson as follows: "This treatise examines each article of the Utah Rules of Evidence in a practitioner-friendly format. The current language and relevant legislative history for each article is presented, followed by checklists and an analytical overview of the Utah case law and United States Supreme Court cases interpreting each evidentiary rule. Differences that may exist between the state and federal rules of evidence are also outlined."

Selected rulings

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**Impact Energy Resources, LLC, et al. vs. …