Campbell takes deal, will testify in Higbee Benton murder case
OREGON CITY, Ore. (AP) — A woman implicated in a murder plot pleaded guilty Friday to a lesser charge, and she's expected to testify against a former police officer accused of hatching a plan to kill his wife after she had second thoughts about his sex change.
Susan Campbell pleaded guilty to attempted aggravated murder on Friday. She was initially charged with aggravated murder and could have faced the death penalty.
Campbell is expected to testify against Lynn Edward Benton, 50, a former Gladstone police officer who underwent a female-to-male sex change procedure about a year before marrying Deborah Higbee Benton. Authorities say Benton began plotting to kill his wife shortly after the marriage.
“She is cooperating fully. She has an agreement and the state expects her to live up to it, which she will do,” Campbell's lawyer Daniel Woram said on Thursday.
Benton has pleaded not guilty and disputes prosecutors' allegations, said his lawyer, Pat Birmingham. He hasn't yet seen the evidence against Benton and wasn't prepared to discuss the case, Birmingham said.
Campbell's son, 32-year-old Jason Jaynes, appeared in court Friday afternoon and pleaded not guilty to attempted aggravated murder and conspiracy charges. His bail was set at $1 million.
His mother will have to testify against him, as well.
A grand jury indictment accuses Benton of plotting for more than a year to have Higbee Benton killed and offering to pay Campbell and Jaynes to do it.
It alleges that Campbell and Jaynes tried to kill Higbee Benton in November 2010 and that Benton tried to kill her the following February.
Higbee Benton was found dead in her beauty salon on May 28, 2011, and an autopsy showed she had been shot, beaten and strangled. The medical examiner described the attack as "kill, kill and overkill."
At Campbell's bail hearing last year, Oregon City police Detective Brad Edwards testified that she confessed to entering the beauty salon and shooting Higbee Benton. Prosecutors said they believe the shot wasn't fatal and that Campbell quickly called Benton, who was working at police headquarters.
Higbee Benton's brother, Tony Stephens, told reporters "it was a big relief" to see Benton arrested. He referred to Benton using the female pronoun and said the family knew only that she'd had her breasts removed.
"We trusted her and feel betrayed by her," Stephens said. "We took her into our family and accepted her for being in love with our sister."
Benton, born Lynne Irene Benton, spent almost 25 years with the Gladstone Police Department before he was fired last year on unrelated matters.
Benton completed the sex change about a year before marrying Higbee Benton in 2010. Prosecutors have said the relationship was rocky and Benton moved out about a month before the killing.
Edwards, the police detective, testified in December that Higbee Benton appeared to have issued an ultimatum for Benton to halt an ongoing gender reassignment, The Oregonian reported at the time. The timing of her demand was not immediately clear.
Edwards said Benton also was worried that a report of domestic violence would end his law-enforcement career.
Benton has been transferred from the Clackamas County Jail to Marion County. Since Benton was a police officer in Clackamas County, jailers fear Benton could be harmed by prisoners who he has arrested.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.
KATU News contributed to this report.
this is sad, weird and interesting all at the same time. ann rule should write a book about this case.
The victim was having doubts about marrying the former cop,because of her-his gender issues.Yet,she married anyway? Benton was planning her death,before they got married? This is really messed up!
Put Benten into GP. you do the crime you do the time. No special Teatment for Officer's who Break the law. They should be treated the same as every other person who gets arrested. Also Officers who Break the Pubic's Trust should get a Harsher Punishment.
Did Higbee not have any clue that so many attempts on her life had been made? I think I would have started to get a funny feeling... Or, did she report it, and no one listened because of Benton's position on the force?
If it weren't for the sex change piece of this story, the news and everyone else would be focusing on the fact that, what we have here is a dirty cop. I get the fact that there's a salacious aspect to the story, but when you take the men & women's signs off the restroom door, we still have a dirty cop. One that got fired after 25 years of service. One doesn't simply change from good guy to bad guy overnight, so I'm focusing on how many of those 25 years were spent upholding the law vs. breaking it?
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Justice is supposed to be blind. So, it really shouldn't matter if s/he stands or squats in the restroom.
 @Don_Keyshow But the thing about that, is that it tied in with the motive behind the murder.
 @Don_Keyshow Still waiting for the actual word if Benton got sliced & diced. Actually, she was a great cop that worked with the county to make some incredible cases. We go after drug users that used to be productive members of society and Benton was on such massive drugs to get what she thought would be a better life...
This article states: "Authorities say Benton began plotting to kill his wife shortly after the marriage," but over the last few days, i have been reading articles by other news media outlets that the Indictment alleges Lynn Benton's plot to kill Higbee Benton started before their marriage. Which is it? Someone needs to get their facts right.
 @Michael L. Before. Higbee did not want to be 'married' to some it with a 'fake' penis...
Hopefully the death penalty will be "on the table" for the Benton. She was a cop and knows all the laws concerning this and yet chose to kill someone. While she didn't pull the trigger she was the one who made it happen.
 @RalphCramden Steroids and God knows what else transformed her into someone us old cops have no real way to wrap our heads around. Perhaps in her case it was/is the power of her wanna be penis...
 @bonedÂ
She was still licensed as a paramedic in 1997.
 @Jack_Bauer  @bonedÂ
For sure. Nothing like having an instructor charged with murder.
 @RalphCramden  @boned I had her as a criminal law instructor at PCC.
She was a pretty good teacher and seemed very passionate about the subject and teaching.
Made this story all the more disturbing.
 @boned Â
She really is a piece of work for sure. I knew her when she was a paramedic in Multnomah county. She was weird then.
I used to work the 'female Lynn Benton' because she was city and I was county and you have no idea how crazy this really is amongst us old cops that knew her when...
Good Lord! Which prison do you put Lynn Edward Benton in? Men? Womens?
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As others have chimed in...cray sh-it indeed!
 @Dirtman The last I heard she had not actually been sliced-and-diced which would put he/she/it in a women's prison, but I am still trying to find out the truth from a friend that knew them both...