Arkansas Man Accused Of 1992 Cold Case Murder In Santa Ana
SANTA ANA (CBS) — Nearly two decades since Tommy Lamont Haslip was involved in a deadly shooting in a Santa Ana convenience store parking lot, he has led a trouble-free life in a small town in Arkansas, but at long last, his past has caught up with him, thanks to two local police detectives, authorities said Thursday.
Haslip is now behind bars, waiting for a preliminary hearing at which a judge will determine if there are grounds to try him for murder in the Aug. 1, 1992, slaying of Terry DeWayne.
Through "good old fashioned police work" that mainly involved interviewing witnesses again, the Santa Ana investigators were led to Haslip's home in Earle, Ark., Santa Ana police Cpl. Anthony Bertagna said today.
Haslip moved to Arkansas shortly after the shooting and settled down with his school teacher-wife and their five children, according to Haslip's attorney, Dennis Gaughan.
"He started a family, he's married, he's a blue-collar worker and this incident that occurred on that day is so far from his distant, distant memory" that he was surprised when officers knocked on his door, Gaughan said.
Haslip told investigators he was at the scene of the shooting, but denied being the triggerman, Bertagna said.
Bertagna acknowledged that Haslip has stayed out of trouble since the shooting but added: "Unfortunately, when you commit murder it can catch up to you. Just because you started a new and better life doesn't mean you aren't responsible for your crimes."
Haslip pleaded not guilty May 7 last year to murder and street terrorism with sentencing enhancements for committing the slaying for a gang and shooting a gun, according to court records. His preliminary hearing is scheduled for Nov. 7.
Authorities are working to have co-defendant Terrance Lamont Timms, 39, extradited from a prison in Dallas where he is serving time on an unrelated crime, Bertagna said. Another co-defendant, Darrell Lynn Booth, 47, of Corona, was being held on $1 million bail in Orange County Jail, according to jail records. He was arrested May 26 of this year.
Booth and Timms are charged with murder with a sentencing enhancement for committing the slaying for a gang, according to court records. Booth's preliminary hearing is scheduled for July 8.
Earlier on the day of the shooting, Haslip's little brother got into an argument at a party and was beaten up by people associated somehow with DeWayne, Bertagna said.
"So the little brother tells Tommy, who is a very, very large man, that he got beat up so Haslip, Booth and Timms drove around looking for retaliation for the beating his little brother had gotten earlier in the day,"
Bertagna said, adding that the victims had had nothing to do with the beating.
DeWayne and a 20-year-old man were waiting in a car parked at the 7-Eleven at 302 E. 17th St. while their friend was in the store to buy something, Bertagna said.
Three or four suspects walked up to the car and an argument followed, escalating into the shooting, Bertagna said. One of the men shot a 9 mm handgun seven to 10 times into the car, killing DeWayne and wounding the other man, Bertagna said.
After interviewing Haslip, the investigators were eventually led to Timms, who was living in Baloh Springs, Texas, Bertagna said. Then investigators sought Booth, he said, adding that the U.S. Marshal's office helped Santa Ana police track down the three men.
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