Benavides was born in Mission, Texas in 1947 and graduated from McAllen High School. He earned his bachelor's degree from the University of Houston in 1968, and graduated from Bates College of Law at the University of Houston in 1972. After five years in private practice, Benavides was appointed, and subsequently elected, to a judgeship in Hidalgo County, Texas.

Benavides spent the next fifteen years working his way up the Texas judicial system. He served on the 92nd Judicial District Court of Hidalgo County from 1981 to 1984, and then the Thirteenth Court of Appeals for nearly eight years. From 1983 to 1989, he also was a member of the Texas Juvenile Probation Commission. In 1991, Texas Governor Ann Richards appointed Benavides to a twoyear term on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, the court of last resort for all state criminal cases. Last year, Benavides served as visiting judge on the state's Supreme Court. While he has written over 200 criminal opinions, Benavides has only been reversed once in Texas.

Benavides, who has been praised by both prosecutors and defense attorneys for his work in Texas, is often applauded for his compassion and fair-mindedness. A senior official of the Hispanic National Bar Association said recently of Benavides, "You will never find a person with a bigger heart."

Benavides has poured much of his heart into many projects outside the courtroom, most notably the Ramiro H. Guerra Youth Village, a residential facility in Weslaco with 52 beds for male juvenile offenders. While serving as a county judge in the late 1970s, Benavides secured the funding and facilities needed from the commissioner's court, the city and the state to establish the program. The center helps counsel teens who have committed minor offenses, and tries to mend the often strained relations that exist between troubled children and their parents.

It was this work at the Guerra Youth Village that first drew President Clinton's attention to Benavides. Then-Governor Clinton met Benavides during the presidential campaign and was so moved by Benavides' civic contribution that he named him one of 53 "Faces of Hope" honored at the Presidential Inauguration celebration last year.

Benavides lives in Austin, Texas with his wife of twelve years, Augusta Camille Zapffe Benavides. They have two daughters. (SOURCE: http://clinton6.nara.gov/1994/01/1994-01-27-president-nominates-ten-federal-judges.html ).