Benny Charles Brooks III, age 30, has received the maximum possible sentences stemming from a home invasion and murder that took place in in Laveen in June of 2018.
Brooks, along with two other men, wearing ski masks and armed with an assault rifle and handguns, forced their way into a Laveen home. The trio zip tied the home’s residents and threatened to kill them. One resident, Matthew Corral, untied himself, wrestled a gun away from the attackers and shot and killed one of attackers; Brooks, in turn, killed Corral. During the incident, a total of 24 rounds of gunfire were exchanged.
In May, a jury found Brooks guilty of 16 felony counts: two counts of first-degree murder, one count of first-degree burglary, one count of armed robbery with a deadly weapon, one count of aggravated robbery, five counts of aggravated assault with a dangerous weapon, and six counts of kidnapping.
Brooks was sentenced to two concurrent life sentences for the murders. He received an additional 25-years for the remaining 14 counts, also to be served consecutively.