JEFFERSON CITY (St. Louis Record) – Hays attorney Bryan Eugene Bennett, who sentenced to probation last summer on a drug charge, was indefinitely suspended following a Dec. 4 Missouri Supreme Court order.
The Supreme Court handed down the suspension order saying the court will entertain no application for reinstatement for six months from the date of the order. The court also ordered Bennett to pay all costs in the matter.
Bennett was admitted to the bar in Missouri on Sept. 22, 1999, according to his profile at The Missouri Bar's website.
About a year ago, Bennett, then 41 and a political science professor at Fort Hays State University was arrested for drug possession with intent to distribute, according to a Hays Post news report. Bennett was arrested at Rarick Hall on the university's campus on suspicion of distribution of marijuana/more than 25 grams, distribution or possession of marijuana within 1,000 feet of a school, possession of drug paraphernalia, no drug tax stamp and use of a telecommunications device to facilitate a drug transaction, according to the news report.
During his subsequent bond hearing, Bennett received a letter of suspension from the university, according to the news report.
In August, Bennett pleaded no contest in Ellis County District Court for a felony charge of possession with intent to distribute a hallucinogenic drug and was placed on 18 months probation, according to a Hays Daily News report. The charge to which Bennett entered his plea stemmed from allegations that he sold a marijuana edible to a police informant.
Bennett faces a possible 15 months in prison if he violates his probation.
After Bennett's sentencing, the Supreme Court issued a show cause order in the Missouri office of chief disciplinary counsel's case against him. Bennett did not file a timely response to the order.