Defendants Seek Wrongful Death Suit Dismissal

BERLIN -- Just days after the trial for accused murderer Matthew Burton was postponed for a second time, the defendants in a separate civil suit filed against the church where the victim worked and its pastor filed a motion to dismiss that parallel case.

Last August, a Worcester County grand jury indicted Burton, 29, of Dagsboro, on eight counts including first-degree murder and first-degree rape in the death of Nicole Bennett, 35, of Millsboro, whose body was found on a roadside embankment in Whaleyville in Worcester County on the morning of June 15 last year. Burton was scheduled to stand trial in February, but the trial has been postponed twice.

Meanwhile, the defendants in a separate wrongful death civil suit filed against the Bay Shore Community Church in Millsboro, where Bennett worked, and the church’s pastor Danny Tice filed a motion to dismiss the case this week although no action has been taken on the motion.
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