Brooksville man wins new trial

By JOHN FRANK, Times Staff Writer
Published December 4, 2007

ADVERTISEMENT Jeffery Scott Sipple, 62, is nearly five years into his 12-year prison sentence for the January 2003 shooting death of his girlfriend.

A 62-year-old Brooksville man who penned his legal appeals by hand from his prison cell won a new trial Friday when the 5th District Court of Appeal ruled that his attorney made a error that likely contributed to his 2004 conviction for manslaughter.

Jeffery Scott Sipple is nearly five years into his 12-year prison sentence at Sumter Correctional Institution for the January 2003 shooting death of his girlfriend, Tiffany Hampshire, 23, who was found shot three times and left under a pile of blankets inside the couple's home in Brooksville for two days.

On Feb. 25, 2004, a jury found Sipple, then 59, guilty of manslaughter - a lesser crime than the second-degree murder charge sought by prosecutors. One month later, Circuit Judge Jack Springstead sentenced Sipple to prison and three years of probation.

The appeals began soon thereafter. Sipple wrote them by hand: all capital letters on blank white paper with a blue ballpoint pen. He lost most, won a couple, but never earned a new chance at freedom until last week.

In a rare 2-1 decision, the three-judge panel granted Sipple a new trial because his trial attorney, Michael Connell of Tampa, failed to object to an instruction given to the jury that "clearly prejudiced" his case, the justices found.

At trial, Connell argued that Sipple acted in self-defense and the gun fired accidentally after Hampshire pulled a gun on him and a struggle ensued.

The problem came when the jury was told about an exception to the self-defense argument that applies if the death is caused during the commission of another crime. The court found it didn't fit this case because Sipple was charged with just one count of murder.

"We believe that had the jury not been given the improper forcible felony instruction, there is a reasonable probability that Sipple would have been acquitted," wrote Associate Justice Thomas Sawaya, with Chief Judge William Palmer concurring.

Associate Justice C. Alan Lawson disagreed, issuing a three-line opinion that said he didn't think the instruction was improper or prejudicial.

The decision overturns a 2005 ruling by Springstead, who dismissed Sipple's claims of ineffective counsel.

Kevin Beck, Sipple's appellate attorney, said his client's family is pleased with the outcome. They hired Beck to represent Sipple after years where Sipple led the charge on his own.

"He was right all along," said Beck, an attorney with the Tampa law firm Cohen, Jayson & Foster.

Sipple's legal future is now up in the air. Assistant State Attorney Bill Gladson said his office is reviewing its options and assessing the appellate court's decision.

Beck believes a new trial could be more difficult for prosecutors. They can only charge him with manslaughter, not the original murder charge, he said. Also, Sipple's criminal past -two other felonies - likely won't be an issue because the appeals court previously ruled it didn't pertain to the case.

Hampshire was shot during argument in the early morning hours of Jan. 30, 2003 and found two days later by her friends who came looking for her when she didn't show up to work. She was the chief pharmacy technician at Walgreens in Brooksville.

John Frank can be reached at jfrank@sptimes.com or 754-6114.

[Last modified December 3, 2007, 20:20:01]