State's Attorney Reviewing Benito Case

DEERFIELD, IL - Lake County State’s Attorney Michael Nerheim is in the process of reviewing the case of Deerfield High School Spanish teacher Carrie Benito, who was charged with misdemeanor battery last month following an alleged incident in which she placed her hands over a student’s throat during a class discussion.

“We are currently reviewing the entire case file in this matter,” said Nerheim, adding that the review process will include the “analysis of the statements of all occurrence witnesses.”

A change.org petition that began to circulate recently by members of the Deerfield community who support Benito has reached more than 2,000 signers as of Tuesday afternoon. The petition requests Nerheim drop the charge against Benito, who was touted as an excellent and popular educator. But the number of Benito supporters won’t sway Nerheim.

“As always, this office will not make any decisions based upon opinion polls,” he said. “Rather, any final decision will be based upon facts, our criminal statutes and Illinois case law.”