Former Gilman School teacher Christopher Bendann just lost a major round in court. A federal appeals panel on Thursday upheld his child-sex-abuse convictions and left in place the 35-year federal prison term he received, rejecting a barrage of challenges to how the trial and sentencing were handled.
Appeals Panel Backs Trial Judge
According to the Fourth Circuit, Chief Judge Albert Diaz, writing for a three-judge panel that also included Judges Steven Agee and A. Marvin Quattlebaum, found that Senior U.S. District Judge James K. Bredar neither abused his discretion nor committed clear error. The court heard oral argument in May and issued its opinion last Thursday, closing the door for now on Bendann’s attempt to undo the verdict.
Trial Record and 35-Year Sentence
As noted in a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, a federal jury convicted Bendann in August 2024 on multiple counts, including sexual exploitation of a child, possession of child sexual abuse material and cyberstalking. Judge Bredar sentenced him on January 21, 2025, handing down a 35-year prison term.
Court filings and the appellate record describe misconduct stretching from 2017 to 2019, when prosecutors said Bendann groomed a Gilman student, recorded sexually explicit conduct, and then threatened to release that material publicly.
Passcode, Competency and Disclosure Fights Fall Flat
The panel rejected Bendann’s argument that his suicidal ideation meant the district court should have ordered a competency hearing, agreeing instead with the lower court’s conclusion that he was competent to stand trial.
The judges also sided with the trial court on a key piece of digital evidence, endorsing the finding that Bendann entered his iPhone passcode “unprompted” while agents were executing a search warrant. That meant the phone evidence stayed in…