ATLANTA — According to the Cobb County, Ga. district attorney’s office, Anna Benson, the estranged wife of former major league pitcher Kris Benson, did not have an attorney-of-record as of Wednesday afternoon, almost 72 hours after her high-profile arrest.
Representation will certainly be forthcoming as Benson, a former model and star of the short-lived VH-1 reality show "Baseball Wives," is being held without bond in the Cobb County Jail on charges of aggravated assault with a weapon, criminal trespass and possession of a firearm in the commission of a crime.
"We do not know, at this point, if she will be provided with a public defender or if she will be hiring her own attorney," Cobb District Attorney spokeswoman Kim Isaza said on Wednesday afternoon. "There is obviously a lot of interest in the sports media about her case."
ESPNNewYork.com reported Wednesday that Kris Benson was issued an emergency restraining order against his estranged wife and that a judge has required Anna Benson undergo psychological evaluation. Kris Benson has also been granted full custody of their three children and Anna's visitation rights have been revoked.
Both Bensons will also be subject to random drug testing.
According to Criminal Warrant No.13-W-6600 signed by Cobb County District Judge Louis Feingold, Benson alleged entered her estranged husband's home at 8:17 Sunday night (July 7), and "made an assault upon the person of [Kris] Benson with an expandable metal baton, which when used offensively can be a deadly weapon, by swinging it at him while screaming she was going to hit him."
The warrant alleges that Benson did, in fact, hit a computer monitor with the baton. Then, according to the warrant, she, "removed (a) handgun from her purse and held it in a threatening manner and demanded money ($30,000) from the victim, which the accused said he owed her."
The police report indicates that Benson was wearing a bulletproof vest and ammunition belt at the time of her arrest.
According to the police report, Benson told officers on the scene she was angry that Kris hadn't picked up the couple's three children and that she was there "to discuss money."
When asked why she was wearing the vest, according to the arresting officer's written report, "She said that it was a new model she was testing for a company. She said she had to wear it for an extended time to get it to ‘mold to her body.'"
Benson also allegedly told officers she hadn't done anything wrong and that she "didn’t understand why we were making such a big deal out of this."
Kris Benson, who pitched at Clemson from 1993-96 and played on the 1996 U.S. Olympic team that won the bronze medal in Atlanta, was the first overall pick by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 1996 MLB draft. He played six seasons for the Pirates.
He then played two years for the Mets and one for the Orioles, before making sporadic appearances for the Texas Rangers and Arizona Diamondbacks (2009/10). Plagued by shoulder injuries, Benson retired in 2011 with a 70-75 record and 4.42 career ERA.
On Tuesday, July 9, Kris Benson appeared in Cobb County Court to petition for sole legal and physical custody of the couple's three children. As of Wednesday afternoon, the judge had not ruled on that request.
If convicted, Anna Benson faces 20 years in prison for aggravated assault, plus five additional years for brandishing a firearm during the commission of a felony and one additional year for misdemeanor criminal trespass.
The next hearing is scheduled for Aug. 22.
