14 DAY TRIAL // A man has burned down his neighbor's home, with him and his three-year-old daughter still inside, over the length of the grass on his lawn.
According to 9 News, 58-year-old Phillip Roger Bennett of Cartersville, Georgia became enraged over Marty Corbitt's unkempt lawn and decided to set his house on fire.
"Slapped me across the face and said, 'Mow your grass.' My grass was too tall for him. I was going to cut it today, and then he set my house on fire," Corbitt details, while still in shock over the incident.
Bennett has no history of violence towards residents on his street, but he reacted to Corbitt's failure to comply with his complaints over the lawn by cursing and slapping him.
After the dispute over the appearance of the lawn raged out over the course of a week, he told Corbitt that he was setting his house on fire.
"He kicks my door, tells me I've got five seconds to come outside. I turn around and call 911. And while I'm on the phone he comes back with two gas cans in his hand," he recalls.
He used a brick to break a kitchen window and poured gas inside the house, starting a blaze with his lighter.
"Walks up to my kitchen door again, takes a gas can, smashes it against the glass, breaks the first pane. Then he turns around and grabs a brick, throws it through the window.
"And then he grabs a gas can and starts pouring it into the kitchen. And as he's pouring he takes his lighter and lights it. And flames were everywhere," Corbitt recounts.
He dubs the incident attempted murder as his daughter was still inside and she was put in danger.
"I ran back to my little girl's room, grabbed her, ran out the back door over to my neighbor's and watched the house burn," he says.
Bennett has fled after the incident and he is still missing. He has a criminal record and police have described him as armed and dangerous.