Saints and Pelicans Owner TOM BENSON's estranged heirs have "appealed a judge's decision finding the 87-year-old mentally fit to manage his empire, arguing Benson should have testified in his competency trial," according to a front-page piece by Katherine Sayre of the New Orleans TIMES-PICAYUNE. A lawyer for his daughter, RENEE BENSON, and grandchildren, RITA and RYAN LEBLANC, yesterday in a statement said that his "refusal to take the witness stand 'further evidences Tom Benson's diminished capacity and serves to suppress the truth.'" Orleans Civil District Judge KERN REESE last week found Benson "mentally competent after an eight-day trial." Reese "closed the trial to the public and has sealed the case." Reese in his ruling said that he "had interviewed" Benson at Saints HQ in April (New Orleans TIMES-PICAYUNE, 6/25). Benson's attorney, PHILLIP WITTMANN, yesterday said that he "was not surprised by the filing." Wittmann: "After all, what else could they do?" He added, "We believe we made the right decision (in keeping Benson off the stand). They had no right to call him to the stand, and he had every right to refuse to take the stand. They had a very heavy burden of proof that they did not meet" (AP, 6/24).
