A 65-year-old convicted child molester and three-striker who spent decades behind bars has been sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for seriously injuring his wife. An Orange County Superior Court jury earlier this year found Gary Blane Bentley guilty of two felony counts of corporal battery on a spouse resulting in a traumatic condition, according to a statement by the Orange County District Attorney’s Office. It was the latest in a long string of convictions for acts of violence that included slitting a girlfriend’s throat and stabbing a 5-year-old girl’s eye, the statement added. On June 24, 2022, Bentley punched his wife repeatedly in the face and then dragged her back into the bedroom of their La Palma apartment before his wife was able to break free, prosecutors said. Covered in blood and nearly nude, the woman escaped by banging on her neighbor’s door and begging for help, according to the statement. La Palma police officers tracked Bentley to Long Beach and took him into custody. Prosecutors say the attack was a culmination of years of unreported domestic violence against the woman. In 1982, Bentley was convicted of attempting to murder his then-girlfriend and maiming her 5-year-old daughter, who was left permanently blind in one eye. He was sentenced to 11 years in prison. In 1990, he was convicted of continuously sexually assaulting a child under age 14 in Los Angeles County and ordered to spend 17 years behind bars. He was convicted of another sex-related offense in 2007, but his 25 years-to-life sentence for that crime was overturned several years later. In 2011, Bentley was convicted of indecent exposure in Los Angeles County and received a six-year prison sentence. He was still on probation for that crime when he attacked his wife. A third strike means he automatically received a far heavier sentence. “Gary Bentley and the reign of terror he has inflicted on women and children throughout his entire life is exactly why California’s Three Strikes Law exists,” Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said in a statement. ”There are certain individuals who have inflicted so much pain and violence on other human beings that they cannot continue to live among civilized society.“For decades, Gary Bentley has committed crime after crime with callousness, without remorse, and there has not been a single period of time when he has lived a law-abiding life,” Spitzer added. “Society is safer as a result of the incredible advocacy of the La Palma Police Department and Deputy District Attorney Sharlene Mandella to ensure justice for the victim in this case and to prevent future women and children from becoming victimized.”.
https://www.ocregister.com/2025/11/25/convicted-child-molester-gets-25-years-to-life-for-attacking-wife-in-la-palma/