This is a true story of a murder-for-hire crime that befell two families where the saying 'love unites' did not singularly apply but where love eventually divided into obsession, degraded lust, revenge and tragically, resulted in murder.
Here is the gist: 10 March 1994. Anson 'Buzz' Clinton III was gunned down on a dark road along the highway in East Lyme, Connecticut. His 1986 Pontiac FireBird was still idling nearby. In the weeks, months and years that followed, investigators gradually uncovered the shocking truth that Clinton was killed over a child custody-and-visitation battle with his wife's parents.
The murder, masterminded by Buzz' sister-in-law, Beth Carpenter, a lawyer, and arranged by her lover and employer, Haiman Clein, is not just about a domestic battle gone terribly wrong. It is part of a story of tangled and sordid lives with a bizarre and strange cast of characters that include a devil-worshipping hit man and his son, a drug-addicted prostitute, among others, and features the omnipresent triumvirate - sex, money and drugs.
On the good side, it is also the story of how one mother, Dee Clinton (now deceased) dealt with the loss of her son and her uncompromising effort, along with the relentless pursuit of two dedicated Connecticut State Police detectives and determined prosecutors, who, for nine years, pursued those responsible for the murder of Buzz Clinton.
The trial was held in February 2001, seven years after the devil-worshipping hit man, Mark Dupres, pumped five bullets into Buzz Clinton.
More than a year later, on 12 April 2002, the jury found Beth Carpenter guilty of capital felony, murder and conspiracy to commit murder and sentenced her to life in prison without parole. Polling of the jury indicated that they found Beth Carpenter guilty on all counts. She is now incarcerated at the Janet S York Correctional Institution in Niantic, Connecticut.
Her ex-lover, Haiman Clein, is serving a thirty-five year sentence and the hit man, Mark Despres, is serving a forty-five year sentence. As recently as October 2010, Beth Carpenter filed a petition of habeas corpus to reduce her life sentence but her current status remains unchanged.
This book, published in 2004, is divided into four sections - the events leading up to the murder; the investigation that follows; Beth Carpenter's flight to England and Ireland to escape arrest and her extradition charges; and lastly, the courtroom trial.
Murder-for-hire is a crime of desperation and ruination and is an act that can only be committed by none other than fools. In many ways, it is a sad true story. Judge Robert Devlin Jr could not have put it better when he, during the sentencing of Beth Carpenter, said that "this case is largely about a tremendous loss of human potential."
About the author: Ernie Dorling spent over twenty-five years in local and federal law enforcement. He has taught and lectured on various criminal justice courses in Germany and the US including the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, in Glynco, Georgia. Ernie is also the author of With Consciousness of Guilt: the Sexual Predator Among Us (2000). He currently teaches criminal justice at Tunxis Community College and lives with his wife in Connecticut.
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