ELLSWORTH, Maine — A Trenton man pleaded guilty this week in Hancock County to charges stemming from a December 2009 party that resulted in one teen being stabbed and another dying of hypothermia.
Austin Kleffman, 23, also pleaded guilty on Monday in Hancock County Superior Court to a separate drug trafficking charge.
According to court documents, Kleffman sold oxycodone to another person in a November 2010 transaction in Ellsworth that was being monitored by the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency.
He also pleaded guilty Monday to two counts of failure to appear in court in November 2011 and again this past January.
Kleffman’s sentencing has been scheduled for Friday, March 16, in Hancock County Superior Court.
The Dec. 11, 2009, party, held in the woods off Oak Point Road, resulted in the death of Benjamin Britt, 20, of Bar Harbor.
Britt’s body was found in the woods early the next morning after police received a report that another attendee at the party had gone to Mount Desert Island Hospital in Bar Harbor for treatment of a superficial stab wound. When police arrived, they were told Britt had wandered off in the sub-freezing temperatures into the woods. Britt died from apparent hypothermia, police said.
Police who investigated the incident said people at the gathering had been drinking vodka as they hung out by a campfire and a makeshift shelter.
According to Kleffman’s defense attorney, Jeffrey Toothaker of Ellsworth, his client decided to plead guilty because police had separate audio and video recordings of him selling the oxycodone pill and of him buying vodka for the party.
But Toothaker added that it is not clear that the vodka purchased by Kleffman was a major factor in Britt’s death. He declined to elaborate on what other factors may have been involved.
“It didn’t cause the death,” Toothaker said.
Kleffman made an open plea, Toothaker said, which means there is no agreement about what kind of sentence Kleffman may receive.
Because Kleffman twice failed to appear for scheduled court hearings in recent months, he remains in custody at Hancock County Jail pending his sentencing, a jail official said Thursday.
Follow BDN reporter Bill Trotter on Twitter at @billtrotter.
Why has it taken over a year to bring this court
“…Kleffman twice failed to appear for scheduled court hearings in recent months…”
Plus the wheels of justice are kind of slow…
Um, it has been over 2 years…
Arraingment happens. Then a month or so passes to allow for discovery with a court date set for two months or so after arraignment. Then there are motions for continuances that more or less have to be granted because if they are not then the defense attorney will request a jury trial which will typically be scheduled for six months in the future. It is easy to stretch pretrial activities out for a year or so without much effort. And as mentioned the defendant did not appear in court twice which made the process even longer.
“It didn’t cause the death,” Toothaker said.
I would say that the alcohol was most definitely an indirect cause of his death. Had he not been drinking what might the chance be that kid would wander off alone into the woods, get so lost he can’t find his way out, get hypothermia and die….nope alcohol had nothing to do with it!
Well if this is a drug using crowd, which by the fact he was selling drugs to an undercover cop would lead you to believe, the individual could have been just as well high off something instead of just being drunk. In either case though, he could be guilty for supplying either.
Living in Trenton I will tell you that where this all took place is a known area of drug activity. I also have knowledge of the young man who froze in this case as he and I were employed by the same corporation and I had some supervision of him. If illegal drugs in addition to alcohol factored into this death I would not be suprised.
In no way did he deserve to freeze to death. Unfortunately this appears to be a case of mixing alcohol(possibly drugs) and sketchy people with the end result being something tragic.
I live in Trenton as well but I have no idea really where this took place exactly.
Horsefarm Road in Trenton of the Oak Point Road.
It certainly was an indirect cause but some of the blame should be put
on Britt. It was his ignorance that ultimately lead to his death.
and you call it ignoorance was you there he may have been chased into the woods how do you know ?? how can some one specculate when there are drugs and alcohall involved, those people were not ignorant they were on alcohall and drugs handed down by some other ignorant person and how can I say that ? I Have know Idea how they got them but those people went to school as you did it takes an igorant person to talk or call some one ignorant , or does it ? YES when a life has been taken people should shut to hell up untill the facts have been found let what ever system we have take the last voice not people speculating .
So what exactly where the charges related to the stabbing of one person and the death of another? BDN does not make that clear.
The two are one and the same.
The two are not one and the same, one died in the woods of hypothermia and the other went to MDI Hospital for treatment of a superficial stab wound.
What really suprises me is that he would plead guilty. I was under the impression that no one ever plead guilty these days. Even when someone is caught red handed with eye witnesses, videos, and other evidence they still plead not guilty. Tough break but when bad things happen after stupid choices, the consequences won’t be a slap on the wrist.
An open plea. That’s pretty hairy for the defendant.
Alcohol doesn’t kill. Dumb drug dealers do.
Alcohol kills more people then other drugs.
seems to me when something like this happens a lot of people already know the people first hand, also they seem to know the law better than the court system as they run on and on here . In my opinion when some ones family members have been killed either tragic or what ever who ever runs there mouth on here deserves the same fate as the one that is caught and punished for there ignorance , have you been an angel all your life or maybe just lucky ? I dont know , but I bet there are skeletons in your closet , watch out , no one is perfect . your talking about others that have lost there son or daughters like I did , I have it all copyed and put away for keeping , makes me sick what people say about others , thia page for comments should be shut down if any one wants to talk about people do it to there face I would be glad to give my address to talk about face to face what you can set at home and freely talk and type on here it would be a adifferent story and illegal to offend or maybe even asaulted after speeches such as this .
Toothaker is one of the slimest lawyers around and has gotten other murderers off!