[1] Graduated from High School at Escuela Libre de Música in Hato Rey.
He obtained a bachelor's degree in business administration from the Interamerican University of Puerto Rico, a Master of Criminal Justice (with Summa-laude qualification) from the same institution, and the Juris Doctor degree from the University of Puerto Rico School of Law, where he graduated in 1988.
Prior to being appointed on February 4, 2009 to the Supreme Court by Governor Luis Fortuño he had been appointed by former Governor Aníbal Acevedo Vilá as a Superior Court judge, for which he was unanimously confirmed by the Senate.
He is the son of a former Superior Court judge, his namesake, appointed in 1969 by then Governor Luis A. Ferré.
He is the son of Erick Kolthoff-Benners, the first Afro-Puerto Rican member of the islands' judiciary.