Palmer pleads guilty in death

By Ed Runyan

The coroner’s office first ruled the death a suicide but later called it homicide.

WARREN — Beau Palmer was convicted of involuntary manslaughter Tuesday for killing Clint Zimmerman with a single gunshot to his chest.

The homicide had baffled investigators since it happened last July.

Palmer, 25, of Clermont Avenue Northeast, was sentenced to five years in prison after pleading guilty to killing Zimmerman, 28, at the home on Logan Avenue Northeast where Zimmerman, a father of three, lived with his parents.

Former detective Mike Krafcik, now a patrolman, and members of Zimmerman’s family say Zimmerman was apparently killed over a dispute involving a woman.

Palmer, however, didn’t have a dispute with Zimmerman, Krafcik said. He was just “along for the ride” the day that he and three other men went to Zimmerman’s house, Krafcik said.

Palmer fired a single gunshot from the open window of a car in which he was riding as it drove away from the front of Zimmerman’s house July 17, 2008, Krafcik said.

The four men in the car had been at the house to confront Zimmerman just before the gunshot was fired, Krafcik said.

Zimmerman was standing in the doorway as the car drove away, with the gunshot fired from about 50 to 70 feet, Krafcik said.

The Trumbull County Coroner’s Office initially ruled the death a suicide, in part because Zimmerman had gunshot residue on his hands and because a gun was found nearby, Krafcik said.

A person can have gunshot residue on his hands just from handling a gun, Krafcik noted.

But soon after Zimmerman was found dead in a chair near the front door, police discovered a voice mail Zimmerman received, indicating that Zimmerman and another man were going to be involved in a fight the next day.

After police gave the coroner’s office additional information, Dr. Humphrey Germaniuk, the newly elected county coroner, who had been the county’s forensic pathologist since 1998, amended Zimmerman’s death certificate Dec. 2 indicating that Zimmerman’s death was a homicide.

“It was a he-said, she-said with guns,” Barbara Loomis, a neighbor to Zimmerman and a family friend, said outside of court, where Judge Peter Kontos presided over the case.

Palmer was initially charged with murder, improperly firing at or into a home from a motor vehicle, being a felon in possession of a firearm and tampering with evidence. He could have gotten 15 years to life in prison.

Palmer’s plea bargain reduced the murder charge to a third-degree felony punishable by up to five years in prison. He pleaded guilty to the three other felonies, plus specifications that he used a gun.

Chris Becker, an assistant county prosecutor, said Palmer threw the gun in the Mahoning River after the shooting.

John B. Juhasz, Palmer’s attorney, said the prosecution and defense agreed to the plea bargain because both sides faced the possibility of losing at trial.

Amanda Loomis, another neighbor of Zimmerman’s, read a letter in court to Judge Kontos from Wayne Zimmerman, the 31-year-old brother of the victim, saying his brother “may not have been an angel, but he was the type of person who would have helped someone in need.”

Wayne Zimmerman is a sergeant serving in the Army in Texas, having served two tours of duty in Iraq.

Clint Zimmerman was convicted in 2007 of carrying concealed weapons and improperly handling firearms in a motor vehicle and placed on five years probation.

Palmer was convicted in 2004 of breaking and entering and sentenced to six months in prison.

runyan@vindy.com