A St. Lucie County judge imposed the sentence after jurors voted 11-1 to recommend death for Otto Lenke.
FORT PIERCE, Fla. — A Florida judge has sentenced former police officer and firefighter Otto Lenke to death for the 2021 murder of motorcycle shop owner Richard Benson, bringing the trial-court phase of a case built in large part on surveillance video to a close.
Circuit Judge Michael Linn imposed the death sentence Oct. 14 at the St. Lucie County Courthouse. The ruling followed an 11-1 jury recommendation in May that Lenke receive the death penalty. The same jury convicted him of first-degree murder with a firearm and first-degree arson of a structure in Benson’s death at Fast Frank’s Cycle Concepts in Fort Pierce.
Benson was killed Feb. 17, 2021, inside the motorcycle business he had operated in the community for years. Investigators said surveillance video from the shop became a key part of the case. Prosecutors said the footage showed Lenke entering the business with his face concealed, shooting Benson and using an accelerant to set a fire before leaving.
Prosecutors presented the video during Lenke’s trial and again relied on the circumstances of the killing while asking jurors to recommend the state’s most severe punishment. Assistant State Attorney Brandon White described the crime as extensively planned and argued that its circumstances supported a death sentence. Jurors ultimately agreed by an 11-1 vote.
Prosecutors said jealousy was the motive. They told jurors that Benson had been dating a woman with whom Lenke previously had a romantic relationship. Investigators had identified that relationship as a possible factor in the case shortly after Lenke’s arrest in 2021. The prosecution maintained that the killing was deliberate rather than the result of a spontaneous confrontation.
Lenke had worked as a Melbourne police officer and later as an Indian River County firefighter. Prosecutors emphasized that background during the case, arguing that his years in law enforcement gave him knowledge that he tried to use while planning the crime. That argument became part of the state’s case for treating the murder as calculated and premeditated.
Investigators arrested Lenke within days of Benson’s death after Fort Pierce police worked with other agencies and reviewed surveillance evidence. Early in the investigation, detectives said information from members of the public also helped them identify a suspect. Lenke was held while the case moved through years of pretrial proceedings before reaching a jury in 2026.
The jury convicted Lenke May 8. During a separate penalty phase later that month, jurors considered whether he should receive life in prison without parole or death. Florida law required a supermajority recommendation before the judge could impose a death sentence. The jury’s 11-1 vote cleared that threshold, leaving Linn to make the final sentencing decision.
Benson’s relatives watched the Oct. 14 proceeding remotely. Prosecutors said the sentence represented justice for Benson and his family. Lenke’s court-appointed attorneys declined to comment after the sentencing, according to published reports.
The death sentence does not end the case. Florida death sentences receive automatic review by the Florida Supreme Court, and Lenke’s conviction and sentence are expected to be examined during that process. Any execution would depend on the outcome of the appellate and post-conviction proceedings that follow a capital sentence.
Author note: Last updated October 15, 2026.