| Honorific Prefix: | The Honourable |
| Birth Date: | 1863 |
| Birth Place: | Atchison, Kansas, US |
| Death Date: | January 30, 1922 (aged 58) |
| Death Place: | Denver, Colorado, US |
| Occupation: | Criminal attorney |
| Party: | Republican |
Horace G. Benson (1863 – January 30, 1922) was an American criminal attorney.
Benson was born in Atchison, Kansas, in 1863, and is of English descent. His mother died at a young age, and he and his father moved to Colorado, living in Denver in 1872, Del Norte in 1874, and Placerville in 1876.[1] He attended Colorado public schools.[2] On October 24, 1884, he was admitted to the Colorado Bar Association.[3]
As a lawyer, he prosecuted 31 murder cases, losing 6, and defended in 27 murder cases, losing 1. Notably, he defended Gertrude Gibson Patterson in the trial for her husband's murder; she was found not guilty.[4] [5] [6] He served as a plaintiff in a corporate case in the Colorado Court of Appeals in 1914.[7] He defended Italian immigrant Frank Eli in a robbery case in 1897; he was found not guilty.[8]
In 1910, Benson ran as a Republican for Colorado Senate, getting 9.6% votes—13,881 votes—losing to William H. Sharpley. In 1916, he ran for the Denver District Attorney's Office,[9] getting 37.9%—23,796 votes—winning the election.[10]
Benson died on January 30, 1922, aged 58, in a hospital in Denver, of complications during abdominal surgery.[11]