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Hernando Today

Five-Year-Old Murder Case Reopened

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By KYLE MARTIN

Hernando Today

Published: May 20, 2008

BROOKSVILLE - A new trial is in the works for a man accused of second-degree murder.

Jeffery Sipple was found guilty in 2004 for the shooting death of his live-in girlfriend the year prior. He reportedly spent two days in his home on WPA Road with the body before traveling to Tennessee to visit family.

Following his conviction for a lesser charge of manslaughter, Sipple, 63, was sent to prison for 12 years. That's where he began a lengthy appeal process that finally succeeded in reopening the case.

The appeals court ruling hinges on a jury instruction given out just before deliberations. That gave jurors the option of agreeing with Sipple's claims of self defense and finding him guilty of a lesser charge, which they did.

But it's not so simple.

Killing someone that's trying to kill you is called "justifiable homicide" in Florida. But to make that argument, as Sipple did, requires that you be charged with more than one crime.
Sipple was only charged with one thing - second-degree murder - but his attorney made no objection to the erroneous jury instruction. That's one thing that convinced the appeals court a new trial was needed.

Their decision also banked on the difference between self defense and an accident. An arrest affidavit detailing the night Tiffany Hampshire died explains further.

On Feb. 1, 2003, a friend of Hampshire's went to check on her because she hadn't heard from Hampshire for a few days. She discovered the body covered in a blanket in the master bedroom.

The lead investigator was examining the grim scene when he got word that the victim's boyfriend, Sipple, wanted to meet him at the county jail.

From the jail, Detective Billy Beetz took the suspect to the sheriff's office where he reportedly got this statement:

Three days earlier, on Jan. 29, Hampshire slipped out of their home without telling Sipple where she was going. He eventually got a call from her outside a Brooksville feed store and Sipple went to pick her up.

Back home, Hampshire pulled a pistol on him and Sipple rushed her with a pillow in his hand. The gun went off. Hampshire was struck in the pinkie and the thigh.

She collapsed on the floor, then picked up the gun and pointed it at Sipple again. A struggle ensued. The gun went off again, this time striking her somewhere between the chest and stomach.

Hampshire limped off to the bedroom, laid down in a recliner and died.
Sipple covered her completely with a blanket.

He never called 911 or got help and spent the next two days at home with the body, according to the affidavit.

On Jan. 30, he went to his brother's house in Hillsborough County, then to Tennessee to visit family. At some point on the trip, Sipple told his brother what happened and the brother immediately drove back to the county jail.

Four years later, the appeals court picked up on Sipple's initial statement to investigators that the death was an accident. That's in contradiction to self defense. Self defense is an admission to a crime but it seeks to justify that action on the basis of self protection. There's no need for a self defense argument if the episode was an accident, the appeals court ruled.

Sipple, who is free on $50,000 bond, has a court appearance scheduled for this Friday.

Reporter Kyle Martin can be reached at 352-544-5271 or kmartin@hernandotoday.com.

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