It has been nearly a year since Russell McMillen sat and watched, helpless, as a Caribbean judge ruled that three of the four men he believes killed his daughter would be set free.

On Monday night, he watched, again, as one of those men, Alexander Benedetto, laughed and joked his way through his first major television interview on CNN's "Larry King Live."

"I resent very much his trying to make a big joke out of this whole thing. My daughter was murdered," Russell McMillen, 84, said in an interview with Courttv.com. "I had to go identify her body in the morgue. I saw what happened to her and he's kind of laughing and joking?"

Lois Livingston McMillen

The 36-year-old Benedetto was acquitted in May of the January 2000 murder of 34-year-old Lois McMillen, a Connecticut artist who was staying with her parents on the Caribbean island of Tortola. Benedetto taped the Larry King interview on Friday in New York — on the very morning he was supposed to appear in Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court on the island of Tortola to answer a charge of conspiracy to obstruct justice.

That was the only charge that remained after High Court Justice Kenneth Benjamin ruled May 3 that insufficient evidence was presented during a six-week trial to yield a lawful guilty verdict on a murder charge. In January, however, an appeals court ordered a new trial for Benedetto, ruling that Benjamin should have let jurors decide his guilt.

The same court upheld the May 10 murder conviction of Benedetto's longtime friend, 38-year-old fellow New Yorker William Labrador.

Benedetto, who once dated Lois McMillen, told King Monday night that he wanted to go back to answer the conspiracy charge but feared that he would be immediately arrested on the reinstated murder charge.

Benedetto, Labrador, and two co-defendants acquitted of McMillen's murder, Michael Spicer and Evan George, were imprisoned in Her Majesty's Prison at Balsam Ghut for five months before a jailhouse informant told police Labrador had confessed to the crime.

"I would have gone down there, Larry, with my head held high as an innocent man to defend my honor, and my dignity, and my innocence," said Benedetto, who appears to have regained the weight he lost during 16 months in prison. "I was put in a situation where I was really faced with a difficult decision."

King told Benedetto, "You're a fugitive of not guilty."

Parents Upset

Russell McMillen said Benedetto's demeanor during the interview was inappropriate and did not reflect the seriousness of both Benedetto's situation and the Jan. 14, 2000, murder of McMillen's daughter.

"Benedetto really exhibited no remorse about Lois. Hell, if you are innocent and have had some kind of relationship in the past, you'd say, 'Hey, this is a terrible thing,' " Russell McMillen said. "He sorted of laughed and joked about it, at least that's what I thought."

Reached Tuesday by Courttv.com, Benedetto declined to comment specifically about his remarks on "Larry King Live." He instead issued a prepared statement:

"I am innocent," the statement read. "There is no evidence to support the charge against me. The court in Tortola has already found that … and it is absolutely incomprehensible to me that after an acquittal I am now being told that I must return to Tortola to answer the same charge."

"It makes absolutely no sense whatsoever," he said in the statement, "and that is precisely why I am pursuing the matter in the highest appellate court..."

Benedetto called Courttv.com back on Wednesday, however, to address Russell McMillen's criticism.

"As far as my demeanor is concerned, which even Mr. King kindly alluded to was nervousness, this was the first time in my life that I had ever been in front of television cameras taping a live show," Benedetto explained. "Believe me, this monstrosity in no way or form has been funny. In fact, the results have been devastating to my family, loved ones and businesses. My heart goes out to the McMillens. They lost a daughter, and I said that on the program."

Prosecutor Terrence Williams said he did not watch the Larry King interview and declined to comment about Benedetto's appearance.

Williams said his boss, the attorney general for the British dependent territory, has not decided whether to seek Benedetto's extradition from the U.S. for a second murder trial. "We're awaiting a decision by the Privy Council [the British territory's highest court]," Williams said, referring to Benedetto's request to appeal the January ruling reinstating the murder charge.

At the first trial, covered extensively by Courttv.com, prosecutors presented no evidence linking any of the defendants to the rocky shoreline where McMillen's body was found laying face up by a passerby.

Williams promised in his opening statement to the nine-member jury that he would link Spicer to the crime scene by sand evidence but experts testified that the miniscule amount of sand — .003 grams — could have come from other places on the lsland and could have been on Spicer's sneaker for some time.

During the CNN interview, Benedetto referred to the sand evidence as "voodoo forensics."

Russell McMillen said he is sure Benedetto's comments about the police investigation and King's observation that tourism might suffer because of Benedetto's appearance on his show will not sit well with prosecutors. Benedetto's general demeanor, which even King referred to as "nervous laughter," was disturbing, the victim's father said.