Married white Mississippi cop will avoid death penalty with guilty plea after shooting dead his black mom-of-four lover after she ‘fell pregnant’

Matthew Paul Kinne, who was arrested in May 2019 for the fatal shooting of Dominique Lashelle Clayton, has entered a plea deal for a life sentence

Kinne who is white and is married, pled guilty to avoid to the death penalty with guilty plea after shooting dead his black mom-of-four lover after she ‘fell pregnant’

Kinne then a four-year veteran of the Oxford Police Dept was indicted in August 2019 on a capital murder charge, which could result in the death penalty in Mississippi

Authorities have said Kinne broke into her home and shot Clayton, 32, in the back of the head while she slept

Her family has sued the city of Oxford and Kinne’s employer, Oxford Police Department, for $5 million

Family members have alleged she and Kinne were in a relationship

She also allegedly said at the time she was afraid he might harm her because she told him she might be pregnant

Kinne could be jailed for life at his sentencing, scheduled for Friday

A white former police officer in Mississippi will accept a life sentence without parole in the 2019 shooting death of a black woman with whom he was allegedly having a romantic relationship, after she reportedly told him she was pregnant.
Assistant district attorney Mickey Mallette in Lafayette County and attorney Carlos Moore, representing the family of Dominique Lashelle Clayton, confirmed the plea agreement with former Oxford police officer Matthew Paul Kinne, to the Oxford Eagle on Monday.
Kinne is set to be sentenced Friday at the Union County Courthouse in New Albany.
Kinne was indicted in August 2019 on a capital murder charge, which has only two possible penalties: death or life without parole. He pled not guilty at the time, and has been awaiting trial ever since.

Prosecutors said Kinne broke into Clayton´s home and shot the 32-year-old mistress in the back of the head as she slept. The mother-of-four was was found dead by her 8-year-old son on May 19, 2019.
The victim, Dominique Lashelle Clayton, a black woman and mother-of-four, was home alone that Saturday May 18, because her four children were spending the night with their uncle. When the children came home on Sunday, her eight-year-old son went inside with hopes of luring his mother out for a prank. He came back outside alone and told his family she was dead.
Kinne was arrested the day after the body was found, and fired three days later.
Two other police officers also resigned in the next month, the Eagle reports. Kinne had been with the department for four years, and just a few months before the shooting, in January, the Oxford Police Department named Kinne its mounted patrol officer of the year.
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Kinne was facing a possible death sentence after he was indicted on a capital murder charge by a Lafayette County Grand Jury in August 2019. He pled not guilty during an arraignment in September 2019.
While he was awaiting trial since in August 2019, Kinne was transferred from the Panola County Jail to the Union County Jail after a photo surfaced which showed him eating a meal at the guard desk unsupervised and unrestrained. It did nothing to alleviate the trepidation of the Clayton family at the first hearing in September 2019, when the felt the interaction between the judge and the murder suspect was too friendly and the judge too conciliatory with the defendant.
In September of that year, Kinne’s attorneys claimed he was unfit to stand trial, and ordered a psychological evaluation for him.

Kinne had been with the Oxford Police Department for four years at the time of his arrest.
Family members have claimed that Clayton and Kinne were in a relationship, despite his marriage to another woman. ‘He bought my sister a car, he had it in his name,’
The victim’s sister, Shyjuan Clayton, told WHBQ-TV, her sister was having an affair with Matthew Kinne, an officer with the Oxford Police Department. Kinne had been charged with murder in the case.
“She was having an affair with Matt, the police officer with OPD,” Shyjuan explained.
“(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.”
“He bought my sister a car and kept it in his name,” Shyjuan continued.
“He was about to get her a house. He just basically didn’t want his wife to find out.”

Clayton’s family has since sued the city of Oxford and the Oxford Police Department for $5 million, saying officials failed to supervise Kinne.
Their attorney Carlos Moore of the Cochran firm, said Kinne was on duty when he entered the home. Clayton’s family has said previously that Kinne would visit Clayton between 1:30 a.m. and 4 a.m. from Wednesday to Saturday while on-duty and in uniform.
Oxford police caused the family undue stress by first saying that she might have killed herself even though no gun was found, Moore said. The claims against the police department include “gross negligence, negligent/intentional infliction of emotional distress, reckless disregard, and negligent/gross negligent supervision, hiring, training, and retention of the officer/individual in question.”“
Ms. Clayton suffered and her relatives continue to suffer mental and emotional pain and anguish,” Moore said in a press release.