Update: 5 years after wife's death, ex-Gladstone cop found guilty of arranging killing

A Clackamas County jury on Friday found former Gladstone police Sgt. Lynn Edward Benton guilty of orchestrating the 2011 killing of his wife in her beauty salon.

A jury of nine women and three men deliberated over five days before returning guilty verdicts against Benton for aggravated murder, criminal conspiracy to commit aggravated murder and attempted murder in the death of Debbie Higbee Benton in Gladstone.

The case will now move to the penalty phase as the same 12 jurors consider whether Benton, 54, should be sentenced to life in prison or put to death. Those deliberations will begin Tuesday.

The decision came after five weeks of testimony from more than 70 people. Benton didn't testify in his own defense.

Family members of both Benton and his dead wife were in tears as the judge read the verdicts to a courtroom packed with about 60 people. Benton, dressed in a black jacket and pants, later was led out of the courtroom by four deputies.

Prosecutors and defense attorneys declined immediate comment.

The Gladstone Police Department and city of Gladstone issued a statement less than an hour after the decision, offering "our condolences and deepest sympathies" to Higbee Benton's family.

"Debbie was a beloved member of our community and missed by those who knew her," they said. "There are no winners in this case and these lives are forever altered."

Tony Stephens, Higbee Benton's brother, got hugs from several investigators as he was leaving the courtroom.

"It's been a long six years," Stephens said afterward. "We are so happy to have this verdict come in the way it did -- guilty on all charges. Debbie is looking down on us and she is very happy right now."

He said he still has a recording on his phone of her voice that he listens to.

He thanked all the investigators, prosecutors and staff at the courthouse who have worked on the case or helped his family. He and his sister attended the trial almost every day.

Judy Gustafson, a family friend of Benton's, sat with Benton's father, mother and sister for several minutes after the courtroom cleared.

"Every ounce of evidence in this case was manufactured by the prosecution," Gustafson said. "Coincidences were handled like they were circumstantial evidence and they were coincidences. It's just a really, really badly handled investigation and prosecution."

Benton's family members all declined comment.

***

THE CASE

Benton was the first person tried in his wife's death. Susan Campbell, Benton's longtime friend, and Jason Jaynes, Campbell's son, also are accused of aggravated murder in the case. Campbell, 58, was once the prosecution's key witness whose cooperation secured grand jury indictments against Benton and her son. Jaynes, 36, is scheduled for trial in March. No trial date is set yet for Campbell.

Higbee Benton, 54, was found lying on her back in a storage room at the salon she had owned for at least 20 years. It was about 8:40 p.m. on May 28, 2011. She had been shot, beaten and strangled. Three people discovered her body - a friend who had come looking for her when she missed a dinner gathering, a firefighter and Benton. The friend initially found the salon locked and had gone to a bar next-door for help. An off-duty firefighter at the bar called Benton, and all three headed to the salon.

A county deputy medical examiner initially misdiagnosed the bullet wound and determined Higbee Benton had died of natural causes. Her body was re-examined the next day and the death was ruled a homicide.

THE ACCUSED

At the time of his wife's death, Benton had been a police officer for more than 20 years spending all but a year with the department in Gladstone, a town of about 12,000. He also was a CPR instructor, former homicide investigator, paramedic and public information officer for the Gladstone Police Department.

He met Higbee Benton in 2008 and they married in October 2010. Born Lynne Irene Benton, the sergeant spent the majority of his law enforcement career as a woman and began transitioning to male in 2010 before he wed Higbee Benton. He legally changed his name to Lynn Edward Benton.

After Higbee Benton's death, Benton was placed on leave from the police department. He never returned. He was fired in December 2011 after an internal investigation concluded he violated city policy by having pornography on his work-issued laptop. The investigation also alleged Benton engaged in a sham marriage to a Brazilian man in the '90s so the man would qualify for U.S. citizenship. No charges were ever filed in the marriage case.

Benton worked as a Greyhound bus driver until his arrest in November 2012 on suspicion of orchestrating the death of his wife.

THE PROSECTION

Prosecutors alleged:

-- Benton conspired with Campbell and Jaynes to kill Higbee Benton sometime after Jan. 1, 2010. He offered them $2,000 to kill her and arranged a job for Campbell at Higbee Benton's salon so Campbell could carry out the plot, making it look like a robbery.

-- Higbee Benton didn't die when Campbell shot her with the lone bullet in a .25-caliber pistol. Campbell called Benton in a panic, then left. The sergeant went to the salon with Jaynes and watched as Jaynes beat and strangled his wife. They both then returned to work.

-- Benton stood to gain financially and professionally from his wife's death. Higbee Benton had told others that her husband was becoming more aggressive with her since transitioning to male, including causing her to tear her rotator cuff in her shoulder. Benton wanted to prevent the allegations from affecting his police job. Benton admitted to police after his wife's death that he once held her against a wall. He said he moved in with his sister a month before his wife died because he was nervous she may make allegations that could affect his career.

-- Jaynes took part because he owed Benton a favor for shelving a 1999 police investigation into Jaynes, who was the suspect in a sexual abuse case.

-- When Benton responded to the scene, he appeared to check only his wife's pulse and declare her dead.

-- Benton had a personal cell phone that he appeared to hide from investigators until it rang in his jacket pocket during an interview with a detective. He claimed he didn't use the phone often, but records showed nearly 300 incoming and outgoing calls on the phone between March 2011 and May 2011. The majority of the calls involved Campbell's cell or home phone, including one suspected to have been made by Campbell to Benton after she allegedly shot his wife. Investigators found Jaynes and Campbell deleted all their texts from the day of Higbee Benton's death.

-- Benton also tried to cause his wife to overdose on her prescription fentanyl sometime in or after February 2011, but she survived.

THE DEFENSE

Defense attorneys said:

-- There's no physical evidence of an agreement to kill Higbee Benton nor any physical evidence that the fentanyl overdose attempt occurred.

-- No physical evidence shows Benton and Jaynes participated in the killing.

-- Investigators found no phone calls or texts among Campbell, Jaynes and Benton showing they met at the salon that night.

-- Witnesses told police that Benton was visibly distraught upon discovering his unresponsive wife. He checked only her pulse because he was experienced enough to recognize when someone was dead.

-- Investigation mistakes included the medical examiner's fumbling the original cause of death and no testing for DNA evidence on Higbee Benton's neck and other places on her body.

-- The large number of phone calls between Benton and Campbell wasn't unusual because they had been friends a long time. Campbell was once a caretaker for Benton's grandmother and watched Benton's Jack Russell terrier. There's no evidence Benton deleted anything from any of his phones seized by police.

-- Benton told police that Campbell was likely the last person to see his wife alive because she worked at the salon and had been trying to help Benton and his wife reconcile.

-- Higbee Benton never filed any police reports of domestic violence against Benton.

KEY TESTIMONY

The prosecution's key witness was Travis Layman, a repeat felon who was held with Benton in protective custody at the Multnomah County Jail for at least three months in 2015 and said the two became friends.

Layman testified that Benton confessed to the entire plot that led to his wife's death, enlisting Campbell and Jaynes because he "didn't have the nerve" and saying that he should have stopped trying to kill Higbee Benton after an unsuccessful attempt using fentanyl.

Layman agreed to testify in exchange for a possible reduced sentence in a robbery case against him.

The defense later called another inmate who testified that Layman had lied about the fentanyl attempt. Layman denied lying.

OTHER DEFENDANTS

Jason Jaynes has never admitted to having a role in Higbee Benton's death. He was charged with aggravated murder after another jail inmate told investigators that Jaynes admitted that he helped kill Higbee Benton as a favor to Benton. He's serving a sentence of more than 14 years in prison for third-degree rape, third-degree sodomy and using a child in display of sexually explicit conduct related to the 1999 sex abuse case. Police reopened the investigation after discovering it while investigating Jaynes in the Higbee Benton murder case.

Susan Campbell was arrested June 3, 2011, and pleaded guilty in 2012 to attempted aggravated murder as part of a cooperation agreement with prosecutors to testify against Benton and Jaynes in exchange for a 10-year sentence that later was increased to 16 years after she was convicted of witness tampering in her son's sex crimes case. She also pleaded guilty in a separate drug case and was sentenced to 30 months in prison. Clackamas County Circuit Judge Kathie Steele revoked the cooperation agreement just before Benton's trial after determining Campbell had repeatedly violated the deal.

-- Everton Bailey Jr.

ebailey@oregonian.com

503-221-8343; @EvertonBailey