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By John Springer
Court TV
NEW LONDON, Connecticut (Court TV) -- A year before her brother-in-law was murdered, Beth Carpenter appeared to have an argument with him after a court hearing, a court official testified Tuesday in Carpenter's murder trial.
The August 16, 1993, hearing was held to consider a complaint by Carpenter's parents, Richard and Cynthia Carpenter, that another daughter was hampering their court-ordered visits with the Carpenters' granddaughter.
The then 3-year-old child, Rebecca Carpenter, was at the center of an often-bitter battle that involved: her mother, Kim Carpenter Clinton; Kim's husband, Anson "Buzz" Clinton; Kim's sister, Beth Carpenter; and the sisters' parents.
Prosecutors say the dispute over visitation, which started out as a custody battle, precipitated the March 10, 1994, shooting death of Buzz Clinton, who was 28.
Prosecution witness John Gage, now a deputy clerk in another courthouse, testified that a judge modified a visitation decree at the end of the acrimonious 15- or 20-minute hearing in 1993. Gage recalled that Buzz Clinton said something to Beth Carpenter as he left the courtroom that caused her to get out of her chair and follow him to the exit.
He said Carpenter and Clinton appeared to be arguing but he could not hear what was said.
Gage also testified that Beth Carpenter had been sitting with her boss, attorney Haiman Clein, throughout the proceedings but did not participate. Clein is expected to testify later in the trial that he hired Clinton's killer with knowledge, cooperation and approval of Carpenter.
Clein, who remains incarcerated, pleaded guilty to hiring hitman Mark Depres and agreed to testify against Carpenter, his former employee and lover, to avoid the death penalty.
On cross-examination by Carpenter's lawyer, Hugh Keefe, Gage said he did not mention that Clein attended the 1993 court hearing when he was interviewed by state police in November 2000. Keefe also brought out that Gage had told police that Buzz Clinton made his inaudible remark to Richard Carpenter, not Beth Carpenter. Gage said that the Carpenters were "bunched up" at the counsel table and he may have assumed that the comment was directed at Beth Carpenter by the manner in which she rose from her chair quickly.
"You're not just embellishing your testimony, are you, Mr. Gage?" Keefe asked rhetorically.
As the ninth day of the evidentiary portion of the trial concluded, Judge Robert Devlin Jr. was listening to the official court recording of the 1993 hearing about visitation outside the presence of the jury. On the tape, Buzz Clinton is heard receiving permission to act as his wife's representative in the absence of a lawyer.
Sounding very much like a lawyer, Clinton can be heard asking Cynthia Carpenter questions designed to show that there were good reasons for two missed visits with her granddaughter. On one occasion, Clinton's wife had just given birth to another child and on another, Rebecca, Kim's daughter from a previous relationship, had an eye doctor's appointment.
Devlin will resume listening to the recording on Wednesday before deciding which portions jurors may hear. Prosecutor Kevin Kane apparently will have some success in getting the recording into evidence to counter the defense's attempt on cross-examination of Gage to prove that the Carpenter family left the hearing room happy to get everything they were seeking.
Kane has told Devlin several times, with the jury absent, that testimony about the visitation battle over Rebecca -- and Beth Carpenter's concerns about her niece's care in the Clinton home -- provide the motive for the murder conspiracy, which jurors have so far heard so little about.
If convicted of murder and conspiracy, Carpenter faces life in prison.
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