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Ex-Cop Charged In Murder Of His Lover, A Mother Of 4, Reportedly Set To Take Plea Deal
A former Oxford, Mississippi police officer is reportedly scheduled to accept a plea deal in the murder of a local woman with whom he'd been having an affair.
A former Mississippi cop accused of killing his lover in what his attorney has called "crime of passion" is reportedly scheduled to plead guilty this week.
Matthew Kinne, 38, a former officer in Oxford, Miss. was charged in the 2019 murder of Dominique Clayton. On Friday, he is scheduled to take a plea deal in the case that will result in a life sentence without the possibility of parole, according to the Oxford Eagle.
Clayton was a 32-year-old mother of four when she was found dead by her eight-year-old son in May 2019 after her kids had spent the previous day with relatives, according to Fox13 in Memphis. According to the indictment against Kinne, detectives with the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation said they believe that Kinne broke into Clayton's house while she slept and shot her in the back of the head.
Clayton's sister, Shyjuan Clayton, told Fox13 immediately after the murder that her sister had been having an affair with Kinne, and that he'd been known to enter her house without permission.
"[He was] real possessive and stalking her... kept sneaking in her house I guess he did this so he wouldn’t have to tell the wife," she said. "He bought my sister a car and kept it in his name... He was about to get her a house. He just basically didn’t want his wife to find out."
Kinne was arrested soon after the murder and subsequently fired by the Oxford Police Department; the leadership of the force publicly opposed any bond being set for their former officer.
"We are frustrated with today’s hearing regarding the issue of bond. There is NO ‘reasonable’ bond, which can be set in this case," said Oxford's then-Interim Police Chief Jeff McCutchen in May 2019. "He is a danger to our community and should not be released. We share in the frustrations of the community, stand with, and support the Clayton family. This is about justice for Dominique Clayton.”
Kinne's attorney, Tony Farese, requested a psychiatric hearing for his client in September 2020, according to the Oxford Eagle, suggesting he might have been planning an insanity defense.
On Tuesday, Farese explained that Clayton's threats to tell Kinne's wife of their affair pushed him to the point where he "broke," according to CBS affiliate WREG in Memphis.
“This has been a law-abiding citizen, a law enforcement officer, he had no prior history and he literally got pushed to the brink of breaking and he committed a crime of passion,” Farese said.
In June 2019, Clayton's surviving family filed a notice of their plans for a wrongful death lawsuit against the city of Oxford. The Oxford Eagle noted this week that there has since been no public update on that potential suit's status.
