Karma: Man tries to kill someone, then he ends up having him as his cellmate

Karma: Man tries to kill someone, then he ends up having him as his cellmate

By  John “Hennry” Harris

Karma. It is the understanding that an action or deed starts the entire cycle of cause and effect of the ethical consequences of that initial action or deed. Simply put, what goes around comes around. Eric Bennett, 27, of Bladen County, NC was introduced to karma in a jail cell this week.

Bennett was arrested and charged with attempted murder in February and as luck/fate/karma would have it one of his alleged victims wound up in his jail cell.

Shawn Melvin, 39, was arrested for failure to appear in court, failure to pay child support and driving with a revoked license.  After being booked, Melvin was placed in a cell, coming face to face with the man who tried to kill him about six months earlier.

Melvin immediately attacked Bennett and gave him a healthy dose of karma to the head.

Bennett was taken to the hospital and treated for a lace-ration on his head.

Bladen County Sheriff’s spokesman, Captain Rodney Hester, says the jailer did not know of the history between Bennett and Melvin.

“Elizabethtown Police Department investigated the original case back in February,” Hester said. “Mr. Melvin was asked if he had anyone in the jail that he would not want to be in the same cell with, and he answered no to that question.”

I seriously doubt new arrests are given a jail roster to look over and determine if there is a potential problem inmate. I do not think that even Shawn Melvin would know he would be face to face with Eric Bennett that day. Now, I am not saying Melvin did the ‘right’ thing … but I understand. Hopefully, Bennett learned a lesson and is actually quite lucky that he wasn’t killed.

Assault was added to Melvin’s list of charges and he bonded out.