Lynn man found not guilty of armed robbery

SALEM – After spending 14 months in jail awaiting trial on armed robbery and kidnapping charges, Roshaun Bennefield of Lynn, has been found not guilty.Bennefield, 22, who last lived at 13 Moulton St., went on trial last week for participating in an incident in Lynn in September 2006.A Superior Court jury, comprised of eight men and four women, deliberated for two and one-half hours over a two-day span finding him not guilty of both charges.Prosecutors accused him of participating in an incident on Sept. 29, 2006 in which a 22-year-old Lynn man was held confined in a car and robbed at gunpoint.Defense lawyer Randi Potash told the jury that her client was in the “wrong place at the wrong time and was merely present,” and the jury agreed.Potash blamed the incident on Chad Garrett, 23, of Lynn, who admitted to the crime earlier and is now serving four to six years in state prison.Police searched Garrett?s home after his arrest and reportedly found evidence of drug dealing and marijuana plants. The gun used in the incident was found in his vehicle, police said.Bennefield, who did not take the stand in his own defense, was immediately released from custody following the verdict.He was indicted by an Essex County grand jury in January 2007 and has been held in custody in lieu of $5,000 cash bail since his arrest.Judge Howard J. Whitehead presided over the three-day jury trial.