By Thomas Scheffey
The Connecticut Law Tribune
June 17, 1996
The death penalty is so unusual in Connecticut, and in the entire New England region, that it must be re-examined for its constitutionality as we head into the 21st century.
That argument is being asserted by Haiman Long Clein, the former Old Saybrook lawyer who now faces trial, and possibly death, on charges of hiring a hitman to kill Anson "Buzz'' Clinton III of East Lyme two years ago.
Probable cause to prosecute Clein was found April 2, when he waived his right to proceed after three days of testimony, just before testimony of alleged co-conspirators was about to be rendered admissible.
In pretrial defense motions filed May 6, Clein contends that the Connecticut Supreme Court has not examined the death penalty as cruel and unusual punishment since 1969, in State v. Davis. (The brief does not cite State v. Ross, in which the court upheld the death penalty's constitutionality, in this context.) Listing the five Connecticut prisoners who have been consigned to death row -- not counting Michael Ross, whose death sentence was overturned in 1994 -- a pretrial defense brief for Clein declares, "These are the only five persons under sentence of death in the seven state region of New England and New York state." In light of the fact that no one has been executed by this state in more than 30 years, "It is now appropriate and, arguably, constitutionally required that the court's ruling be re-examined in the light of contemporary circumstances and the advent of the 21st century."
For the Defense
Clein's lawyer, Robert M. Axelrod, is a Florida transplant who maintains law offices in Meriden. Axelrod also gave state prosecutors notice that Clein may claim a mental disease or defect defense. There have already been hints of a drug habit. In late March, during the probable-cause hearing, staff in Clein's former New London and Old Saybrook law offices testified that on several occasions, Clein appeared to be buying cocaine in $1,000 quantities from a longtime client, inside his Old Saybrook law office.
This alleged drug-dealing client and friend, Mark Despres of Deep River, is also the alleged hitman charged with shooting Clinton on March 10, 1994. Despres' Bridgeport-based defense lawyer, Michael A. Fitzpatrick, argued against the unsealing of the state's arrest and search warrants in the case, in an action brought by The Day of New London. The motion to open the file was prepared for The Day by Thomas W. Boyce Jr., of New London's Faulkner & Boyce, and New London Superior Court Judge Joseph J. Purtill ordered the unsealing on May 17.
Both Clein and Despres are incarcerated awaiting trial, and a third man charged with the identical murder-for-hire, murder and conspiracy counts, Joseph Fremut, has been free on bond since last Dec. 27.
Axelrod, in an interview last week, added the additional contention that murder-for-hire should not bear a harsher penalty than if the contractor had simply done the deed himself.
"If you go out and murder your wife," posits Axelrod, "you are not subject to the death penalty, but if you lack the courage, or for some other reason pay someone to commit murder, you do face the death penalty, even though in effect you are doing less than the murderer who pulls the trigger."
Fighting Death
Both Axelrod and Fitzpatrick filed motions in May to prevent prosecutors from asking prospective jurors questions that would create a pro-capital punishment "death qualified" jury. They also requested disclosure of the "aggravating factors" -- the formula of criteria that add up to a death penalty -- the prosecution is planning to prove. o trial dates have been scheduled, but Fitzpatrick, a Bridgeport solo, says he cannot be ready until fall at the earliest. New London State's Attorney Kevin T. Kane says neither Clein's nor Despres' trials are yet scheduled. Fremut, according to defense lawyers working on the case, may well avoid prosecution on any serious charges.
Although much of the state's case was presented in the three days of the probable-cause hearing, in which nearly two dozen witnesses testified, the highly detailed arrest and search warrant affidavits -- whose contents are vigorously contested by defense counsel -- shed new light on the complex case. Clein, who fled arrest last Dec. 15, was a fugitive in a 52-day escape attempt that ended Feb. 5 in Sunset Beach, Calif., when he was nabbed by FBI agents.
Cathy's Call
The crime at first had no leads at all. When police found Clinton's body near his 1981 Firebird at the Rocky Neck connector in East Lyme, they had no suspects or motives, and few clues. But two-and-a-half months later, according to the affidavit by a state police detective supporting Clein's arrest warrant, the police got a tip from a woman who identified herself as Cathy White. White said she knew who did the killing. She explained that she is the girlfriend of Joseph Fremut, who is a part owner of a Texaco gas station in Deep River.
On May 25, 1994, White broke the news to State Police Detective John Turner, according to Turner's detailed 14-page affidavit supporting Clein's arrest warrant of Dec. 13, 1995:
"Ms. White stated that while at Joe Fremut's Texaco Station, on or about the last week of February 1994, she overheard Fremut and Despres talking about how Despres was following a guy around but Despres never had the opportune moment `to do him' because someone was always around."
According to the affidavit, White told the detective that the day after Clinton was killed, Despres came to the station and talked with Fremut about a planned trip to Florida, but Despres said he couldn't leave yet because he hadn't received his money.
Later, when they were alone, Fremut explained to White that Despres had "gone through with it," luring Clinton to a deserted highway on the pretext of buying an old tow truck Clinton was selling for $3,000, Turner writes. (Despres' son, Christopher, testified in the probable-cause hearing that his father brought him along during the murder, and that he was present when his father allegedly fired six shots from a .38 revolver at Clinton's torso. As car lights approached on the deserted road, Despres got back in the car, drove over the body and they sped away, Christopher testified. He's 17 now, but was 15 at the time of Clinton's killing.)
Shortly after Clinton's death, Fremut told White that Despres complained he was having trouble sleeping, but his son was sleeping fine, according to the Turner affidavit.
The day after White contacted Turner, state police seized eight rifles, three shotguns, a derringer and two 9 mm Taurus handguns from the Deep River home Despres shared with Esther Lockwood, his mother, according to a search warrant executed that day.
On June 2, 1994, Fremut's Texaco was searched, and police recovered live ammunition at the bottom of a dumpster that exactly matched the bullets "removed from the body of the victim," according to Turner's affidavit in that search.
But from June 1994 to the summer of 1995, Despres disappeared to Florida. For a year and a half the investigation was nearly invisible, as detectives gathered phone records and interviewed witnesses on the periphery of the case.
High Tension
On Oct. 29, 1995, the police finally obtained arrest warrants for Fremut and Despres, on capital felony murder, conspiracy to commit capital felony murder and murder. Fremut was arrested at home without incident. Despres made a bigger splash. He was located by police, and filmed by a TV crew at the home of his girlfriend, Jocelyn Johnson, where he was pulled from the trunk of her car. She was arrested for hindering prosecution.
Turner's affidavit in Clein's arrest warrant recounts statements from Cathy White, Joseph Fremut, Mark Despres, Chris Despres and Jocelyn Johnson:
After his arrest, Fremut was interviewed in custody in the presence of his attorney, F. Mac Buckley, a prominent Hartford defense specialist. Fremut said Despres approached him "back in January or February of 1994 and told him that he had a contract to kill Buzz Clinton who was a man that was molesting his kids," Turner states. "Despres told Fremut that the father-in-law of the victim set the murder up through Mark's attorney who Fremut knew to be Haiman Clein of Old Saybrook."
Clinton was married to Kimberly Carpenter Clinton, whose sister, Beth Carpenter, was an associate in Clein's New London satellite office. The firm's bookkeeper and others testified at the probable-cause hearing in March that Clein, who is married and has five children, made no secret of his romantic, obsessive involvement with Beth Carpenter. Carpenter, in turn, seemed protective, to the point of obsession, of her young niece, Kim's daughter by another man. Witnesses at the March probable-cause hearing testified that Beth Carpenter repeatedly expressed her hatred and fear of Clinton, and attempted to wrest legal custody of her niece from her sister and Clinton. either Beth Carpenter nor her father, Richard Carpenter, has been charged or implicated in any way in the criminal proceedings. Carpenter, according to her lawyer, criminal-defense specialist Hugh F. Keefe, of New Haven's Lynch, Traub, Keefe and Errante, is currently in London.
In the presence of his public defender lawyers, Bruce A. Sturman and James McKay, Despres testified in custody on Dec. 8, 1995, according to Turner. Turner's affidavit recounts Despres stating that in early 1994, "he was approached by Haiman Clein, who is a friend and also his personal attorney. Mr. Clein stated to Despres that he wanted Anson Clinton killed because Anson was molesting a little girl and the courts were not doing their job. Despres stated he did not know Clinton and all the initial information about Clinton was learned from Clein."
Despres turned to Fremut for help in the murder, Turner states, because Despres "did not know how to do it." During the probable-cause hearing, Despres' son Chris testified that his father had gone out searching for Clinton about 10 times. Johnson, Despres' girlfriend, recounted in the probable-cause hearing that one night Despres, dressed in camouflage, came to her house for help in getting directions to Clinton's residence. And in the Clein arrest affidavit, Turner states that Fremut told of going with Despres to the convalescent home in Essex where Clinton worked as a nurse to locate his wrecker and "learn his routine in order to find the opportune time to kill him."
By this time, according to Turner's affidavit, the pressure was increasing: Fremut said Despres told him his "lawyer had called and told that he had to do the murder right away and the lawyer did not care if the family found the body or not."
Recounting more of Fremut's testimony, Turner says that on the night of the killing, March 10, 1994, Despres and his son came to Fremut's apartment in Ivoryton and described in detail what had happened. Fremut and White left for Florida two days after the murder. About a week after Fremut returned, Turner writes, Fremut met with Despres, who reported "he got paid down at his lawyer's office and his lawyer told him that `this kind of makes us brothers.' "
Despres told detectives, according to Turner, that he supplied cocaine and marijuana to Clein at one time, but stopped after the murder to avoid suspicion. Despres said his lawyer told him that if he got arrested not to say a word, and that Clein would bail him out, and get him cash and a passport to get out of the country, Turner recounts.
Jocelyn's Account
It didn't work that easily, according to the written statement Turner says he got from Jocelyn Johnson, Despres' girlfriend. She said Despres told her Clein approached him in January or February 1994, to kill Clinton for $3,000. Clein described Clinton as "someone who was sexually abusing a child," according to Turner's affidavit.
"Ms. Johnson stated that Clein told Mark Despres that the court system was not going to resolve the issue so Haiman was going to take care of the matter himself."
Two or three days after Clinton was murdered, Despres and Johnson went to Foxwoods Casino, where Johnson said Despres told her he'd been paid $1,800 by Haiman Clein that afternoon for the murder, says the Turner affidavit. Despres was worried the bills were marked, and cashed them in for chips. Later, when Despres was in Florida, Johnson recounted that "Haiman was sending money to him in order for Mark to survive," according to Turner.
In Despres' statement, Turner recounts, Despres said he accompanied Clein to the Bank of Southeastern Connecticut in Waterford, and that Clein emerged and gave Despres $3,500 in $100 bills. Later, the arrest affidavit states, after Despres left Connecticut, "Clein would Federal Express between $200 to $800 every two weeks," to Despres in Florida, and Despres stated that, beginning in early 1994, Clein overall paid him between $15,000 and $18,000.
On Dec. 12, 1995, state police executed a search warrant on the Bank of Southeastern Connecticut, and discovered records that showed that on March 15, 1994, five days after the murder, Clein presented a check made out to himself for $3,500, on his lawyer's trust account, according to the affidavit of state police Detective John Szamocki. Two days after the bank search, Szamocki requested a search warrant for Clein's Old Saybrook office, to locate, among other things, records of disbursements from Clein's lawyer's trust account. According to the probable-cause hearing testimony of two secretaries who were present when the police came to the law office Dec. 15, Clein phoned in while the search was in progress. Shortly thereafter, Clein became a fugitive.
Phantom Witness
Axelrod, Clein's defense lawyer, says that the statements in the arrest warrant affidavit "are completely uncorroborated." He emphasizes how much of the state's information comes from Catherine White, who has never appeared as a court witness. She has also not appeared on any witness lists supplied to the defense, and is not expected to be called at trial. "If she's the backbone of the state's case, that says a lot about the case," comments Axelrod.
Axelrod is not the only lawyer who questions the truth of the contents of the affidavit. "A great deal of what is said in there by White about Fremut is now known to be incorrect," says Fremut's lawyer, Buckley. "And [White] has since claimed to me that a lot of what she said was not true."
White could not be located for comment.
Keefe, representing both Beth Carpenter and her father, Richard, disputes the allegation in the affidavit that Richard originally called for the Clinton murder. "Obviously, this is double or triple hearsay," says Keefe. "It's not true and it's not believed by the state," since no charges have been brought against Richard Carpenter.
"We're not going to comment on any part of the investigation, including what we believe or don't believe," says lead prosecutor Paul E. Murray, supervisory assistant state's attorney. "You can draw your own conclusions."
Despres' lawyer, Fitzpatrick, also questions the strength of the state's case. "Proving a murder is one thing, proving a murder-for-hire is another," he says. "There are many elements to prove in a murder-for-hire. In this case, it's by no means a dead-bang winner for the state."
Dee Clinton, the mother of the murder victim, said last week she expected more talk, in court and out, that would cast her son in a bad light. But she was crystal clear in her insistence that her son never hurt his wife or her daughter. "He wasn't perfect. But he was, in his heart, a gentle soul," she says. She calls the allegations "vicious lies," adding that, "A hearse doesn't have a luggage rack. All that you take with you when you go is your integrity and good name."
Clinton says that she has been able to come to terms with her son's murder on many levels, but that one fact still haunts her: "The most horrific thing about this is how many people knew this was going to happen, how many people had heard -- and did nothing."
(The Connecticut Law Tribune is an affiliate publication of Court TV.)
Copyright 1996, American Lawyer Media.
