Man, Given Death for Rape, Murder, Praises Prosecutor

Martin James Kipp, 30, was given a death verdict by a jury Monday for the rape and murder of a Huntington Beach woman.

Kipp not only took the verdict calmly, but after the jurors filed out, he turned to the prosecutor, Deputy Dist. Atty. Melvin L. Jensen, and said: “You did a nice job, Mel.”

The same jurors had convicted him less than two weeks ago of first-degree murder in the Dec. 30, 1983, murder of 19-year-old Antaya Yvette Howard, a former basketball player at Marina High School.

If convicted in an upcoming trial for a 1983 murder in Long Beach, Kipp, whose wife and stepson were arrested four months ago on suspicion of helping him plan an escape from the County Jail, could become only the second man in California to be under death sentences from separate counties.

2nd Death Penalty Sought

Los Angeles County prosecutors in that case are seeking the death penalty for Kipp in connection with the rape and murder of Tiffany Frizzell of Puget Sound, Wash., whose body was found in a Long Beach motel room on Sept. 17, 1983.

Michael A. Horan, Kipp’s attorney, said he was sure that his clinet’s comment to the prosecutor was meant sincerely. “I think Martin believes the jury did him a favor,” Horan said. “He knew what was coming, and he doesn’t want to spend the rest of his life in prison.”

While Horan appeared dismayed after the verdict, Kipp, straightening his long hair which flows halfway down his back, seemed at ease and smiled later when talking with deputy marshals.

Horan explained that his client was thankful that the jurors, who deliberated two days in the penalty phase, at least wanted to think about it over the weekend before returning the death verdict Monday morning.

But several jurors said afterward that evidence related to Kipp’s previous criminal background was overwhelming and that they could find only one mitigating circumstance in his favor--that he had turned himself in.

Some of the jurors interviewed Monday also said they hoped that Kipp would be executed. “I can’t wait; he deserves to die,” said one woman juror, who asked that her name not be used for fear of retaliation.

But Maxine Britton of Huntington Beach, mother of the Orange County victim, said she doubts that Kipp will ever be put to death. “But at least with this verdict I know he won’t be getting out on parole. I want him locked away.”

Britton said she “just sat down and cried” when she was called at home Monday and informed of the jury’s death penalty verdict.

In almost all murder verdicts, the judge asks the court clerk to individually poll the jurors to make sure they agree with the verdict announced. But on Monday, defense attorney Horan took the unusual step of asking the judge to let him conduct individual polling.

“I don’t know, maybe I was hoping that one of them wouldn’t have the nerve to say yes,” Horan said, shaking his head.

Horan had argued to jurors that Kipp had had a difficult past and that his abandonment by his mother at an early age may have affected his attitude toward women. Yet despite being visibly shaken by the verdict, Horan said he was not surprised, adding: “It was a very aggravated case.”

Earlier Rape Conviction

Kipp, a transient who was staying with friends in Huntington Beach, was raised on an Indian reservation in Montana and had served three years in prison for a previous rape. He had been released just a few months before the slaying of Antaya Howard. He turned himself in for a parole violation in January, 1984, just a few days after she was murdered. But prosecutors have indicated that they believe he may have been trying to hide himself in the system to avoid suspicion in the two murders.

Witnesses testified that they saw Kipp with Miss Howard near the Newport Pier the night she was killed. Her body was found in her car in a Huntington Beach alley five days later. Kipp’s fingerprints were found inside her car, and also inside the motel room where Tiffany Frizzell was killed in Long Beach.

On April 18, 1987, Kipp’s wife, Linda, and her 16-year-old son were arrested on suspicion of helping Kipp plan an escape from the jail. Prosecutors have alleged that Linda Kipp tried to enlist the help of someone who was an undercover Sheriff’s Department investigator. The trial in that incident is pending.