BRENTWOOD – Convicted murderer Michael Benton said loyalty to Jesse Brooks and his millionaire father John "Jay" Brooks is what drew him into the murder-for-hire scheme to kill Jack Reid.

Benton (JAMES KIMBLE)

That loyalty was spelled out to Jesse Brooks, 32, now on trial for conspiracy to commit murder, while Benton visited him at the Brooks home in Las Vegas in August 2005, according to Benton's testimony. The visit came two months after Reid's killing in Deerfield.

"It was a short conversation," Benton said yesterday. "I told Jesse, 'I killed that man for your family.' He said he knew."

Benton, 33, formerly of Manchester, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder last year and stands to be a star witness in the trial under way against his former best friend.

Yesterday, Benton told jurors in Rockingham County Superior Court how Jesse Brooks joined in discussions about killing Reid in the fall of 2003, shortly after John Brooks hired Benton and Andy Carter, 31, of Derry, to murder Reid.

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"(Jesse) was pretty upset that Andy and myself failed at our attempts to get Jack Reid," Benton said.

In fact, Brooks returned to New Hampshire from where he was living in Beverly Hills, Calif., to aid his father after Benton and Carter aborted their attempts to shoot Reid outside of his trailer in Londonderry, according to Benton.

"He wanted to handle this problem and get it out of the way because he was tired of hearing of it from his father," Benton testified.

Jesse Brooks showed no surprise when Benton told him that he was going to Reid's trailer at night trying to kill Reid with a shotgun supplied by his father, according to Benton.

"(Jesse) said that it was 'go time' and that it was probably too late to get the property back that was stolen," Benton said. "(He said), there was no use in trying to interrogate him, and we should probably just try to kill him."

Reid was bludgeoned to death by Benton, John Brooks and two other men with a three-pound sledgehammer after being lured to a Deerfield horse barn on June 27, 2005.

The elder Brooks sought revenge against Reid and accused him of stealing a pair of moving trucks full of Brooks family valuables.

Reid was hired by John Brooks to help load the trucks on Sept. 30, 2003. They were left overnight at a Brooks-owned warehouse just outside of Manchester Airport when they were stolen.

Efforts to kill Reid came to a halt after a late-night attempt by Benton, Brooks and Carter to assault Reid at his Londonderry trailer went awry in the early morning hours of Nov. 8, 2003.

The confrontation ended with Reid firing five shots at what he suspected was a prowler, and several Londonderry police officers responding to the home.

"The discussion was we should stop pursuing Jack Reid for a while because the police were involved," Benton said.

Benton said that in the spring of 2005 he got a call from his friend Brooks, who was still living in California, asking for his help.

John Brooks and his wife, Lorraine, had moved to Las Vegas by then to start a venture in buying and flipping high-end homes. But the plot to kill Reid remained with John Brooks, according to prosecutors.

"I got a phone call from Jesse asking if he minded if his father got back in touch with me," Benton said. "His father was coming back to New Hampshire to take care of the problem we had."

John Brooks, who made his fortune as founder of the medical supply business PolyVac Inc. in the 1990s, is now serving life in prison for capital murder.

The defense began questioning Benton on the stand late yesterday. They are expected to attack Benton's memory today because he has repeatedly admitted that his addiction to crack cocaine and alcohol has clouded his recall of dates and the order of certain events.